On Thursday, Mike's nephew Salvatore, made his Confirmation. It was held in San Giovanni Battista Church in Aversa. Mike was his sponsor.
Thank goodness it was a relatively cool day, because the church was packed. There were 50 young people making their Confirmation and when you added in all the friends and relatives, along with the regular congregants, it was standing room only.
There was a lovely choir that presented several hymns and of course the Bishop was there to preside over the entire event. The priest at this church is a young man who is very energetic and has helped to rejuvenate the whole parish.
Today, I attended mass at 11 o'clock and it was the first communion mass for our parish in Cervinara. It was such a nice service, but exceptionally long...over 2 hours!
There were four children taking their first communion. They were all dressed the same in beautiful white embroidered robes. The girls both had their done up fancy, with flowers and pearls. The boys were so cute with their sneakers poking out from under their robes. The four of them sat on special chairs that had been draped in white fabric and flowers. There were bundles of white roses on every pew. Once again, it was standing room only.
A girls' choir sang all the prayers and Don Giorgio gave a lengthy homily about the importance of the whole process. There was a photographer there taking pictures of every child during the ceremony.
While I didn't know any of the children involved, it was so nice being able to participate and watch as they took this step forward in their development. It is obvious that the whole church community was very invested in their progress.
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