'By the Sea'

City Island dwellers celebrate Christ and community at Mass

By CLAUDIA McDONNELL

The setting was perfect: sunlight sparkling on Long Island Sound, a cloudless blue sky, a steady but gentle breeze. It looked as though St. Mary Star of the Sea parish on City Island had a special assist for the outdoor Mass and picnic that drew more than 400 people Aug. 1. If it did, no one would be surprised. Parishioners talk about their island in the east Bronx as though it were a little bit of heaven.

"It's gorgeous. It's the nicest place in the world," said Tom McMahon, outgoing parish council president, who proposed the idea for the Mass and picnic. He and his wife, Helen, have lived on the island for 30 years. They have four children; two are graduates of the parish school and one attends it.

"Everybody pretty much knows everybody, so we take care of each other," Mrs. McMahon said. "If you notice somebody's mail is out, you find out why...The kids all know they can go into any house at any time if they're ever in trouble."

Father Robert J. Moore, pastor of St. Mary's, told CNY, "You can't go anywhere on this island without seeing someone you know." If someone needs help, people pitch in without being asked, he added.

Ben DiGregorio, a retired police captain, has lived on the island with his wife, Virginia, for 30 years.

"This is our hidden jewel," he said.

McMahon, director of the Sanitation Department's environmental police, said his military service in Vietnam gave him the idea for the Mass.

"I'm a war vet," he said. "I used to go to Masses outside all the time." He had a lot of help from the new parish council president, Jane La Scala.

"It's a wonderful way to bring the families together to pray and have some fun," she said.

Father Moore called the event a celebration of the island's environment and an opportunity for evangelization. He celebrated Mass at an altar set up in front of the chain-link fence that separates the schoolyard from the sound. Behind him, the American and Vatican flags billowed in the breeze. Boats rocked at anchor or cruised across the water.

"As beautiful as this is," Father Moore said in his homily, "it does not compare to God's love for us. This is but a pale reflection of his love for us, and what awaits us."

He told the congregation, "Our priority must be Jesus." He remarked that dying people he has spoken with were better able than anyone to zero in on what is most important in life. "Not one person said anything about job, house, car, vacation," he said. "It was about people, and ultimately it was about God."

He stressed the importance of the Eucharist and of coming to Mass each Sunday. There is no substitute, he said, for participating in the Eucharistic sacrifice, sharing the sacrament that is truly Jesus' body and blood.

"That is what makes us Catholics," he said. "It is important for us to be what we're supposed to be."

He spoke of his happiness at St. Mary's and of the goodness of its parishioners.

"I want to be nowhere else," he said.

He also spoke of the shadow that fell across the celebration. The Sebastian family, members of the parish, were involved in a car crash in Fairfax, Va., in July while on vacation. Anexy Sebastian, 49, and her 10-year-old niece were killed. Mrs. Sebastian's husband, Joseph, was injured. Their daughter, Anjulee, 14, a sophomore at Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, and son, Sunjay, 11, a seventh-grader at PS 175 on City Island and an altar server at the parish, are hospitalized in Virginia in serious condition.

Father Moore announced that there will be a Memorial Mass for Mrs. Sebastian at St. Mary Star of the Sea Friday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m. He and Deacon William J. Mueller went to visit the family in Virginia, and Father Moore noted that when asked what they needed, they requested prayers. DiGregorio told CNY that Mrs. Sebastian, a nurse in the emergency room at Jacobi Hospital, used to "go all around the island" helping anyone who was sick.

After Mass, people enjoyed clam chowder, hamburgers and hot dogs. One table held a tempting collection of cakes, some of them inscribed, "Happy Birthday, Father Moore." The pastor turned 50 that day. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday," but he put the focus on them.

"This evening we celebrate the parish," he said. He also said the Mass and picnic will be an annual event.

A dead-end block alongside the schoolyard was set up as an arcade where children could shoot baskets, pop balloons pinned to a board, toss water balloons and knock down towers of plastic bottles. Stephen Swieciki, 11, played the part of an amusement-park barker to perfection.

"Step right up," he hollered. "Knock down the bottles...I think we have a winner!" To CNY he said, "I felt like volunteering. I like to do stuff for the community."

A disc jockey provided music for dancing.

Main sponsors of the event were island business owners Richard Riordan of Royal Marina and Dianne and John O'Sullivan of O'Sullivan Travel. Riordan said he wanted to help because of "the hard work of the priests."

"It's a pleasure to work with people who have their heart and soul in the parish--and they do," he told CNY.

Concelebrants were Fathers Augustine Badgley, parochial vicar, and Jerome D'Rosario, summer assistant. Deacon William J. Mueller assisted.

Mrs. O'Sullivan said the parish is "a wonderful Christian community."

"I'm very proud to come from City Island," she said. "Never will I ever leave."

Armando Candelaria moved there two years ago. He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children, Michael, 2, and Alexis, 2 months. Candelaria, a landscaper and painter who was born in Puerto Rico, remarked that his former Bronx neighborhood was scarred by drugs and murder. He noted the contrast.

"Everyone gets along here," he said. "Since I've been on the island, I haven't seen anybody fight." He said City Islanders welcomed him and his family, and he couldn't be happier.

"I've got a house here," he said. "I'm staying here till I die."