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Priest bases sermons on life lessons from a Youngstown family
Priest uses Youngstown family for
By LINDA M. LINONIS
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 his 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. Other related books are “Rose Street Revisited” and “Remembering Our Rose Street.”
Father Rudjak founded the Ethnic Heritage Society and received its Vision Award in 2011 for his efforts to save Mahoning Valley’s varied ethnic history and traditions. He has taught ethnic studies, ethnic politics and American migration studies at Kent State and Youngstown State universities. “I come from an ethnic background, having grown up in a Brier Hill Italian neighborhood and attending St. Casimir Church,” he said. “It was a melting pot,” he said of the church of Polish heritage that attracted other ethnicities. He is Polish.
“I was curious about Rose Street. ... I had heard some stories about it,” Father Rudjak said. “The book creates an atmosphere not unlike the Christmas story.”
Father Rudjak said that the Leone family story on Rose Street, which is behind St. Stephen Church on the East Side, “relays the sense of extended family. The Leone experience is one of support and bonding in the family and community.” He wanted to convey the idea of the church as part of the extended family.
Father Rudjak said the Leone family left a village of Barrea in the Apennine Mountains in Italy. They came to America to forge a better life. During difficult times of the Great Depression and two world wars, the family persevered. “They relied on their faith,” he said.
Another message Father Rudjak relayed was “if something bothers you in your life, change it and move beyond it.” He said the book contains a segment revealing Josephine confiding in a caring neighbor about a family issue, receiving advice and support. Josephine follows the neighbor’s suggestion, and the situation improves.
He admitted the last sermon for this upcoming final weekend of Advent is his favorite. It’s about anticipating the arrival of a guest. “The men of the family go off in their suits, walking down to the New York Central Railroad Station that was at the end of Wilson Street,” Father Rudjak said. “The family wants a perfect dinner for their guest.” But, the men wait and wait, and no one arrives.
Father Rudjak said Josephine prays the guest will come. A stranger does come to the door and the family invites her in. “She doesn’t speak Italian and the family doesn’t speak English,” he said. It’s clear she is hungry, and during the Depression, this was not uncommon. She eats the meal with the family, then leaves.
“This shows the idea of being hospitable ... as a family and as a church family,” he said. “The family didn’t know the woman but welcomed her. I liken it to the idea of hosting angels and even God in the form of a stranger.”