Hundreds of people took advantage of picture-perfect weather to attend the Rise Up Festival at the Mary, Help of Christians National Shrine in Stony Point on Saturday, August 9.  

The afternoon event opened with games and food, then continued with the Rosary, followed by Eucharistic adoration, and then a closing Mass celebrated by Archdiocese of New York Auxiliary Bishop John S. Bonnici. 

Before Mass, priests heard confessions beneath shady trees near the Mary, Help of Christians outdoor altar, with adoration and music preceding the Mass.  

Father Manny Gallo, SDB, director of the Marian shrine, and others concelebrated. A Knights of Columbus color guard from Council 581 accompanied the procession. 

In his homily, referring to the day’s Gospel reading (Luke 12:32-48), Bishop Bonnici recalled where he was a year earlier, waiting to hear confessions at his parish in Larchmont. A young man walked in and asked if the confessional was open. After relating a story about how his Buddhist and Muslim friends knew more about Catholicism than he, a Catholic, did, the young man said, “‘After that experience and being a bit humiliated, I figured that I needed to hit the reset button. And the best way to do that was to go to confession — to cleanse my soul and to grow up spiritually so that I could then give witness and truly proclaim the good news, not only with words but maybe with the way I live,’” he told the bishop, who is the episcopal vicar for Westchester and Rockland Counties, and pastor of the parish of St. Augustine and Saints John and Paul Churches. 

“This young man has never missed Mass since. He took that confession to heart. He grew up spiritually, and he truly is trying his very best to proclaim the good news, not only with words but the way he’s living his life as a young sophomore in college. It’s never too late,” Bishop Bonnici said.  

Father Gallo thanked Bishop Bonnici in his closing remarks. “You really support us, and you really are a friend of the Salesians. Thank you for being here for the inauguration Mass in January, and you accepted the invitation right away to be here with us. I want to thank you for being here. I know you’re busy, so thank you for the support. Pray for us, and we’ll pray for you,” he said. 

“I really hope for some kind of renewal — just being together,” Father Gallo told The Good Newsroom, about what he hoped people would get out of the experience. “There were a lot of families, a lot of children, so renewed fellowship and meeting new people. Some people have not been here before, so it’s beautiful to have new volunteers who could come back again and feel that family welcoming spirit,” he said. 

About 30 miles northwest of New York City in Rockland County, the shrine, run by the Salesians of Don Bosco, is a site for daily devotion, Mass, and confession. It first opened in 1946. It is also one of eight pilgrimage sites designated within the Archdiocese of New York for the 2025 Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Francis.