Priest focuses on lessons from book about local Rose Street family for advent sermons

YOUNGSTOWN

Anticipation, expectation and reflection are the hallmarks of Advent, the season of awaiting the birth of baby Jesus at Christmas.

For his homilies on the four Sundays of Advent, the Rev. Joseph Rudjak tried a distinctively Youngstown approach.

He based the sermons on experiences and life lessons conveyed in the book, “Rose Street: A Family History” by Carmen J. Leone.

Father Rudjak is pastor of Holy Apostles Parish with sites of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, 421 Covington St., and St. Stephen of Hungary, 854 Wilson Ave. Online information about the book describes it as a “family biography in the form of a novel dealing with the author’s immigrant parents between 1907 and 1946.”

Leone, a native of Youngstown, is a Youngstown State University graduate and taught at Cardinal Mooney and Struthers high schools and Pennsylvania State University, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and YSU. He wrote the book as a Christmas gift to honor the love and courage of his parents, Josephine and Carmen Leone, who raised five children and Josephine’s six siblings.

Read more about the book and the sermons in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.