Annual Festa - All Things Italian
By Amanda Hudson, News Editor
August 8, 2019
ROCKFORD—The 41st annual Festa Italiana drew all ages to the grounds of Boylan Central Catholic High School for three days of fun, food, faith and culture Aug. 2-4.
“The emphasis on family, on the shared history of migration and on the centrality of faith and life, joined to the food and festival make this a most-worthy event,” said Bishop David Malloy in his letter in the Festa Italiana program. He expanded on those thoughts in his homily at the mid-Sunday-morning Mass he celebrated under a tent in the center of festival grounds.
“What we are celebrating here is the Italian culture,” said Bishop Malloy. “The culture you bear ... is something the world has benefited from for centuries.”
The bishop spoke of the art, the food and the sense of family as gifts of the Italian culture.
“Even more,” he said, “(are) the saints who have so inspired the world ... it is important for you to think deeply about what it is that you bear.”
Faith and culture are answers to the problems so prevalent in today’s world, Bishop Malloy said, reminding those gathered that “none can (escape) the task, the gift, and especially that witness to that faith of the Italian culture.” He encouraged youths and adults alike to be witnesses to the Catholic faith as a part of that Italian culture.