MORE GOOD NEWS

ABOVE: Michael and Sabrina Arcuri with their family: sons Carmen Joseph and Nicholas Francis; daughters Dominque Terese and Sophia Rose. Michael Arcuri has accomplished a lot in his years on the planet. He has been a college football player, a lawyer, district attorney, Congressman, family man and much more. Most of all, he loves the […]

For nearly a year, Mount Carmel / Blessed Sacrament’s pastor, the Rev. Jim Cesta, has been splitting his weekend worship between Mount Carmel / Blessed Sacrament and St. Anthony & St. Agnes parishes.

Our parish has a long history of worship with music. The musical roots of our parish date back years from the likes of organists George Schindler and Helen Ehlinger to our present Music Ministry Director Peter Elacqua, who has continued that noble tradition of orchestrating hymns and creating original pieces.

As the 50th anniversary of ordination to the Catholic priesthood comes very soon in the month of May for me and a few of my classmates, many thoughts and reflections come to mind. Of course, the church has changed and progressed in many ways since the late 1970s — in ways that recognize the church […]

  On Sunday, April 14, 2024, 14 children received their First Holy Communion with their families and friends in attendance. The children, under the guidance of Terri Panuccio, K-6 Faith Formation director, received the Sacrament of Reconciliation in February and have been preparing for this day for months. The children’s last names are not published […]

ABOVE: Joann Cavo-Campbell, left, and the Italian Heritage Club of the Mohawk Valley recognized the historical importance of the Italian Community Bake Oven in Little Falls in a ceremony in October 2022. At right is Philomena Cerone, a club member and board member of Preserve Our Past in Little Falls. Our parish is composed of […]

David Elacqua has the music gene. He grew up in a musical family, plays in the parish choir and is choir director at History Old St. John’s. Even with all that, he’s considering going to medical school. He’s marching to his own beat. You majored in music and biology at Colgate University. How did you […]

Vanessa Jones is a relative newcomer to the parish, having joined the congregation a bit over a year ago. But in that short time, she has made quite an impact. She became a fully initiated Rome Catholic at the 2023 Easter Vigil, sings in the choir and teaches in the Faith Formation program. Not bad for […]

ABOVE: Students work on an assignment in Mary Beth Harrod’s class at St. Mary of Mount Carmel / Blessed Sacrament Parish. Harrod is Faith Formation leader for grades 7 through 10 at Historic Old St. John’s Parish in Utica. By FRAN PERRITANO Faith Formation for junior and senior high school students in the Utica region […]

In this issue of “More Good News,” we focus on how the Catholic parishes and communities of faith are cooperating in religious education and looking forward to sharing ways to schedule services and utilize buildings to meet the challenges of the present and future. As our bishop has shared with pastors and priests, deacons and […]