Cesar Avilés Valle traveled from Puerto Rico last week to help organize and participate in this year’s National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan, and attended the Sunday, June 2 Puerto Rican Cultural Day Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, celebrated each year one week before the parade.  

“We are a group from Aguada; we came with a group from San Germán – all dedicated to helping with the Puerto Rican parade,”  Avilés Valle told The Good Newsroom before the afternoon Mass. “It is important for us to help with all the events leading to the parade.”  

He noted this includes the special Mass – and he said he is grateful to the Archdiocese of New York and St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the annual liturgy that precedes the parade. “That is why I’m here.” He is a member of a unicycle group that will be in the parade. Avilés Valle’s home parish is Iglesia San Francisco de Asís, in Aguada, Puerto Rico.                                    

Father Eric Cruz, director of Bronx Services, Catholic Charities New York, served as principal celebrant and homilist of the Mass. He was born in the Bronx of Puerto Rican ancestry. Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of Catholic Charities New York, concelebrated the Mass. About 1,200 people attended.     

In welcoming remarks, Father Cruz noted the importance of the sacred gathering in preparation for the lively parade, and in celebration of “nuestra Isla del Encanto.” (our Island of Enchantment).

“Above all, we give thanks to God that we are able to gather here in this spiritual house,” the priest said later in his homily, thanking also all persons who helped make the Mass possible. “We are sons and daughters of God. We are sons and daughters of the Virgin Mary…The Lord calls us to manifest His presence in the world, more today than before.” 

Father Cruz noted the troubling unrest and dire poverty in many places of the world today, saying, “The Lord tells us today that there are other forms of hunger and thirst – the lack of companionship, of friendship; the lack of forgiveness and mercy; the lack of hope, and above all, love.”

He spoke of the holy significance of the consecrated Bread and Wine, the Body and Blood of Christ, “they sustain us spiritually – soul and heart, spirit, so that we may be fed and take Him to others, take to others the food of love; to be with others, the stranger, the immigrant.” And the priest said the love of Christ “is a love that gives life, so that we may be transformed and forge ahead – with Him, never alone.”  

Noelia Torres, who was among colorfully clad women in traditional dress in the entrance procession, told The Good Newsroom she was there “because I am Catholic and I am faithful to my religion. This is a very important day for us because we are representing our culture, and we give thanks to God for all the blessings He has given us.” 

Torres said she and the other colorfully clad women will participate in the parade; they are members of a dance group. Torres’s home parish is the Church of Notre Dame, West 114th Street, Manhattan.  

Marian and other special Spanish Mass celebrations at St. Patrick’s Cathedral are sponsored by the Office of Hispanic Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York. The 67th annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade is scheduled for Sunday, June 9, starting at 11 a.m., in Manhattan. It will travel up Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street.            

Organizers noted the cultural and Catholic-based significance of Our Lady of Providence, patroness of Puerto Rico. A figure of Our Lady of Providence was among items displayed at the steps of the sanctuary during the Mass. Toward the end, a female vocalist from the choir sang the “Ave Maria.”