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At a time when many families were thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts, the Ocean City (Md.) Lodge of the Sons & Daughters of Italy was looking ahead to 2022, kicking off its planning for the return of its St. Joseph’s Festival and the festival’s cornucopia of homemade Italian foods and baked goods. The festival was last held in 2019, with...

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Monsignor James Turro is a man of a few words. Literally. His homilies are legendary for being excessively brief: about four or six sentences. So, don’t unwrap a piece of hard candy or gaze too long at your missalette. It’s over. Why? “I fought against making the pulpit a classroom,” Turro told me as we sat in the dining room of Our Lady of Mercy R...

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Father Ferdinand Buccafurni, pastor emeritus of the former St. Donato Parish in Philadelphia, died Dec. 16, 2021 at Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood. He was 91. He was born in Calabria, Italy. After moving to the United States in 1940 with his family including parents Vincent and Marina (Mazza) Buccafurni and residing in Philadelphia, he attended St. M...

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On Nov. 27, for the first time in two years, the pews at Montclair's Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church were packed, and voices joined in prayer and song. "It was such an important occasion, and so beautiful," said Marielena Marzullo, a longtime parishioner who grew up on Pine Street two doors down from the church, and attended its grammar school, now...

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When Ariel Toaff, the descendant of a prestigious rabbinic dynasty, was studying to become a rabbi, almost no one at his yeshiva wore a yarmulke. Even those few pupils who did cover their heads during classes, took hats and yarmulkes off once they left the school. Drinking kosher wine at meals was out of the question: “It was something meant only f...

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The Italian town of Assisi, in the central Umbria region, will project images of Giotto's Nativity frescoes onto the façade of the Basilica of St Francis over the Christmas season. The video-mapping project, which was hugely popular last year, will see Giotto's Nativity scenes beamed onto the exterior of the Basilica di S. Francesco, dedicated to I...

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On April 11, 1968, Sister Angela Pia Camillotti, F.M.I.J., along with Sister Angela D’Alessandro, F.M.I.J., arrived in the United States to begin their mission, specifically in New Jersey, helping to educate the children of the Diocese of Camden, initially the children of Saint Margaret Regional School, Woodbury Heights.   After 53 years in the Uni...

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Ciao fratelli e sorelle! Please check out our updated list of Italian and English/Italian Masses! Spread the information to your friends and family. And please let us know of any other parishes to add. Grazie! Click here for for the latest google docs spreadsheet The Italian Mass Project can also be found on Facebook For more information email ital...

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Figuring out what God wants from you can feel really confusing, but St. Francis Xavier Cabrini shows us how it’s done. Her gift for discerning and submitting to God’s will makes her an amazing role model for modern women and men. It’s a little funny that “discerning God’s will” is such an opaque prospect for many of us, because this approach is “en...

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In Italian-American households, the Feast of the Seven Fishes (also known as Festa dei Sette Pesci or La Vigilia) is celebrated on December 24. This Christmas Eve celebration kicks off the holiday festivities with a huge dinner consisting of seven courses of fish and seafood. This tradition stems from the Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from...

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