Blessed Sacrament Parish, Burton at 6340 Roberta Street, Burton, MI 48509-2438 US - 1974 Hall

Hall in 1974: "THIS HALL WAS BUILT BY THE PARISHIONERS OF FORMER SAINT JOSEPH HUNGARIAN PARISH IN MEMORY OF THEIR FOREFATHERS WHO BUILT ST. JOSEPH CHURCH IN 1921 AND IN GRATITUDE TO BLESSED SACRAMENT PARISH FOR GIVING THEM A NEW PLACE TO WORSHIP. 1974" I; your pastor, as their fellow Hungarian, can assure you, people of the original Blessed Sacrament Parish, that in their heart there is now gratitude and recognition over the fact, that you were big enough, great enough, furthermore, loving enough to open the door. More than just that, to open your hearts for them and offer a spiritual home and spiritual family when they lost their own. At this point I would like to mention two very important facts. In 1976 circumstances necessitated the disbanding of the Young Ladies Sodality. I felt very bad about it because there was nothing I could offer to our teenage youth. On a certain Saturday evening after the Mass as I was acquainting myself with the Parishioners a lady told me, that she had been an active leader and organizer of CYO in the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. The next Saturday I asked her name, and if she would be willing to lend her expertise to help organize a youth group here in our parish. The lady's name was Mrs. Shirley Hillaker. Here is an accounting of that time as written by Lisa Kania, now President of our CYC.: "When I was asked to give a short talk about the history of our C.Y.C. in the presence of Bishop Sullivan, I really thought that this would be a real job. Then it occurred to me and I really didn't have to research our C.Y.C.'s History because I was always there. I remember, it was back in 1976 when my mother and Mrs. Hillaker were having one of their hundreds of coffee discussions and the first thought of a youth group for our Parish materialized. Being a little kid at the time, I didn't realize what was beginning or that this beginning would play such an important role in my life. But Mom and Mrs. Hillaker saw a real need for religious and social activities in the lives of the youth, so they did something about it. With thoughts in mind, but empty pockets they began. Soon interest sparked the adults of our parish and people like Mrs. Carbone, Mrs. Hayden, and other parents became involved. My sister, Luann, was elected as the first Youth Fellowship President. This small group began the activeness of the teens in our parish. A few years later, my sister, Lori was elected President and the feeling of Christian Fellowship grew even more. Christian duties like helping my Mom supervise Easter Egg Hunts, Halloween Parties, and Christmas Stores for the young children (which we still do today). I began to get older and by then Fr. Phillip Schweda, OFM came to our parish and the Youth Fellowship that I knew became the foundation of the C.Y.C. of today. However there were a few changes. First of all, the love Christ had for His Church became the cornerstone of our Catholic Youth Community. Second, Fr. Phil introduced to us the point system to everyone active by doing chores, etc. Third, we then were able to buy certain things, like jackets, with our points so other people knew we belonged to something special. Finally, we were' able to take trips as a group. Thanks to the bus we bought from Bishop Sullivan for $1.OO, we were able to visit people in the nursing homes, have retreats in DeWitt and go skiing. With the work Fr. Phil and our adult advisors, Jim and Eva Puppan, the youth group of our parish has grown even larger and our identity has become known to many people. Especially when we drive around in our customized silver bus. I feel very privileged to have been here when the C.Y.C. first began and I feel fortunate to be here now as our C.Y.C. President to see it continue to grow and touch the lives of so many other people. But we must remember that it is the responsibility of each one of us to care for Catholic Youth Community. We must nourish it with our concern. We must prune the occasional bad branches. But most of all, we must protect it with our helping hands. We have something special here at Blessed Sacrament, we not only can grow in faith, but we can grow in friendship wider the guidance of our leader, Fr. Phil and the adults who care." As your pastor I cannot say often enough or loud enough without our youth we have no future. We have to nurture this youth organization that I call with total confidence: Junior Parish. In 1977 in Flint, Mich., everybody was talking about the Greek Festival and their success. Late fall after a Bingo night, as we were having our midnight lunch with the Bingo workers, Mr. Hubert Cushman confronted me with the idea of having an ethnic festival next year, rather than just a parish picnic that 24 parishes have in the Genesee region. I tell you, everybody stopped chewing his or hers sandwiches and there was silence, but you know Hugh as well as I do we now have a yearly ethnic festival, I was the one who broke the silence, saying: Well I have no expertise in put- ting on Festivals, but I can guarantee the genuine ethnic atmosphere with genuine cultural flavor, but it must be the parish who presents it, the first chairman was Harry Martinbianco. When Sunday evening came during that First Festival, there was the drawing, finally the first prize, the ticket was drawn, Harry started to announce "Ladies & Gentlemen the winner..." He turned red and started again "Ladies and Gentlemen this is my ticket, 1 cannot accept it, He showed it to me... I ordered another drawing". That evening we could not reach the couple in Mt Morris who won that $1,200.00 first prize. Next morning we reached them. Soon a couple was walking up our walkway both with white canes and dark glasses. Both of them were blind. When they heard about the sum they started to cry and shake. They told us that they were broke, and never in their life won anything before, we all cried with them, it was so wonderful, so emotional. Our festival is very successful, the six past festivals generated about $75,000.00. Beginning with 1982 festival, we earmarked the revenue for further development of our parish. We are all proud to read all around the city the poster of our festival: Blessed Sacrament Parish presents its Sixth Annual Hungarian Festival.

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