Fourth Lourdes Retreat at St. Mary Parish in Stamford: Highest Turnout To Date

On Sunday the 4th Lourdes Retreat at St. Mary Parish in Stamford was celebrated by Father Juan Gabriel Acosta and Bishop Frank Caggiano.

About 1200 people attended, which was the highest turnout to date.

Bishop Caggiano noted that St. Mary’s in Stamford was one of the largest congregations in the diocese, and the church can accommodate about 3,000 people.

 

The event was organized by Greenwich’s David D’Andrea who shared poignant remarks during the event.

He said he had benefited from multiple miracles and was grateful to St. Mary Parish for hope and healing.

D’Andrea said he survived polio as a child, and later survived a rare lung disease. Also, as an adult he survived stage 4 rectal cancer, and this past March he survived heart failure and heart surgery.

“The most powerful tool is the rosary and the best act you can do is to help others,” he said.

Toward the close of the event, he said, “Let’s leave here today with more love in our hearts, hope in our dreams, healing in our arms. Our country sure needs hope and healing more than ever. Trust in God.”

Bishop Caggiano thanked Mr. D’Andrea for organizing the event.

“This really was your idea vision four years ago. You have persevered to allow it to happen here. Please God, be here next year to do it again,” Caggiano said.

Lourdes retreats typically focus on the theme of healing, drawing inspiration from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a site known for miraculous healings and pilgrimages.

But, as Father Acosta said, wounds take various shapes.

This year the event featured speakers including a woman named Barbara who started her remarks by describing herself as a survivor of abuse as a teen.

As an adult she said her 26-year-old son had shared with her that he was a survivor of clergy abuse throughout high school. She recalled how her faith waned over the years while her son struggled with rehabilitation.

She recalled confronting her son’s abuser, but not with rage or anger. After the clergy member sought help for his sin of alcohol, he asked her why she had offered him mercy, forgiveness and compassion. She recalled her reply was that was the true nature of God.

Still, she said her faith had waned as she watched her son go in and out of rehabilitation facilities.

“When he took his life in 2016, I lost my faith completely,” she said.

She recalled that a year later after she lost her son, learning that a statue of Our lady of Fatima was being presented for one day only at a Parish in Connecticut, on June 14, that day would have been her son’s birthday.

“So I went, still brokenhearted, still wondering isn’t our suffering enough? I sat there and I wept,” she said, recalling that a voice touched the depth of her soul. “It was the Mother of God. She did not release my pain. She shared it. And hope began to take its new form.”

The event also featured a procession out the church’s front doors and around the entire building. Everyone was given a candle to light outside or at home. At the close of the event attendees were offered water from the sacred spring in Lourdes, France to take home.

Victim Assistance Coordinator for the Diocese, Erin Neil LCSW, who leads the Safe Environment programs, welcomes people who attended the event to reach out to be part of her group of survivors. Contact her 203 650-3265 to learn about the group for survivors.