Husband and wife fully committed to new parish

Photo by James A. McBride

In photo, Father Patrick Brady, pastor of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, Northfield, stands with Mary Ann and Peter Marchetti in front of an image of St. Gianna and her children.

NORTHFIELD — Some people might take vitamins or have a cup of coffee to get their day started but for Peter Marchetti, attending daily Mass is the only way to do it.

“I make an attempt to attend Mass each day,” he said. “It’s a great way to start the day.”

Peter is a member of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish, formed just one year ago. Prior to that he was a parishioner of St. Bernadette, where he also attended daily Mass. St. Bernadette merged with St. Peter in Pleasantville to form St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish.

“A novena and Rosary are celebrated on Tuesdays,” said Peter.

He and his wife, Mary Ann, were appointed to the core team to help in the transition of the merged parishes. Peter was a parishioner at St. Bernadette since 1983, but his stewardship goes back to the 1960s at St. Peter where he was a lector and a member of the choir. He and his wife are now members of the St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish choir.

“I’m also a cantor at the church but I’m not a regular,” he noted. “I help out when needed.”

His musical talents go back many years when he was a member of a barbershop quartet. He’s no longer a member — he harmonized for some 20 years — and he pointed out the quartet appeared at church functions, local events and at nursing homes.

A one-time RCIA sponsor, Mary Ann initiated a quilt project to allow the merging parishes to help form St. Gianna Beretta Molla’s bi-lingual community. Many of the parishioners at St. Bernadette and St. Peter were and are Hispanic.

“Each person involved in the quilt project,” said Peter, “was asked to make a square about their family or something to do with family. There are some 80 squares made into two separate quilts. Both are hanging in St. Bernadette’s.”

Mary Ann and Peter are members of the pastoral council and both give their time and talents to Father Patrick Brady, pastor of St. Gianna since May 2010.

Father Brady said “There is nothing the Marchettis wouldn’t do for St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish. They’re generous beyond expression and both were very active core team members.”

He noted that both gave their time to a special event that had occurred on July 13. Gianna Emmanuela Molla, a physician and daughter of St. Gianna, visited the parish on that day.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian laywoman who was canonized in 2004. When she was two months pregnant and a tumor was discovered in her uterus, St. Gianna Molla opted for a risky operation to remove the tumor that preserved the life of her child rather than undergo a hysterectomy. Six days after giving birth to Gianna she died from complications.

For more information on stewardship contact Deacon Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.