A major "parish" event took place on
March 14, 1976 - the Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of Resurrection-Ascension Church.
On that occasion, our Bishop, Francis Mugavero was the main celebrant. The homilist was Msgr. Joseph Parks
-- a fitting choice -- who had served at R.A. for 27 years. Remarkably, no one, then, [or to this day]
has ever come close to his tenure. For the Mass celebration, the con celebrants were Fr. Dooley,
our Pastor, along with Fathers Doody, Igoe and Avvento and our formerly assigned priests, namely,
Fathers Fagan, Masaitis, Haggerty, Connelly and Msgrs. Asip and Dunnigan.
Within two years after that great celebration,
the parish experienced some changes in personnel. To be exact in 1978, Sr. Pat Wilson transferred,
followed by both Fr. Doody and Fr. Avvento. Fortunately, for the parish, two younger priests were
appointed to this parish. Fr. Ceriello was the first to arrive. He "took over" both the coordination
of the liturgy (Sr. Pat Wilson's responsibility) and, eventually, the BINGO and Spring Bazaar when
Fr. Igoe transferred to Connecticut. Very shortly, thereafter, Fr. Ceriello was joined by Fr. Murphy
who, literally, "took over" the HEARTS of the parish.
For the next four years, life was very tranquil
in R.A. However, in October of 1982, another serious tragedy struck when Msgr. Dooley died of a heart
attack while sitting in his own living room. The parish, once again, was visibly shaken and saddened.
Although Msgr. Dooley had been here for only eleven years, it seemed like he had been with us much longer
-- simply because of that special, and endearing, relationship which had developed between himself and
the parishioners.
Shortly before the end of 1982, Bishop Mugavero
appointed Msgr. Joseph P. Bynon to succeed the deceased, Msgr. Dooley. Subsequently, in January, 1983,
Bishop Mugavero [personally] installed Msgr. Bynon as the 8th pastor of Resurrection Ascension Church.
Frs. Murphy and Ceriello, on their part, cooperatively and generously, "familiarized" Msgr. Bynon to the
parish before they moved on [one and a half years later] -- Fr. Murphy to a new assignment and,
Fr. Ceriello to the US Navy as a chaplain.
One of the initial challenges Msgr. Bynon
encountered was the growing "disenchantment", within the parish, toward the Spring Bazaar. It is
noteworthy that at this time, the social climate was also changing whenever such "open-air" gatherings
took place. It appears that our Woodhaven Blvd. location attracted too many young adults and, with them,
came all the social ills of the 80's - drinking, smoking pot, and reckless behavior.
Consequently, the Parish Council recommended
measures that would include deterrents such as better lighting, and more police attention. However,
even these significant improvements did not change the situation for the better. Finally, in 1984,
with the approval of the Council, Msgr. Bynon had no other alternative but to cancel the Spring Bazaar.
To offset any loss of income, the parish, in
January 1985, adopted the practice of tithing - or sacrificial giving. This notion, based on the
Scriptures, called for contributing a specific percentage of one's income to God's Church. The
response was quite gratifying. Notably, the parish had, voluntarily, equaled the income that was
previously generated by the Bazaar.
Nevertheless, despite this accomplishment,
there lay, on the horizon, a few "gut wrenching" situations -- of greater concern than stabilizing the income!
