The Ides of March mean many things to many people. To some it means 'watch your back!' To others it means two major feast days for people of certain ethnic backgrounds. The Irish (and all who are Irish for the day) proudly wear their green and feast on corned beef and cabbage dinners with soda bread (with or withour raisins) on the 17th in honor of St. Patrick! Fortunately there is a day to recover before the Italians (and all who are Italian for the day) proudly wear their red and feast on zeppoli in honor of St. Joseph!
I belong to a small group of priests who meet monthly to pray, share in a discussion of the host's choosing, and, most importantly, eat - and eat very well! March was my turn to host, and this year's meeting fell on St. Patrick's Day. And so, while I did not have corned beef and cabbage, I did decorate properly with green, we did have beef - albeit the tenderloin - along with a wonderful salad of mixed field greens with julienned apple and pear, dried cranberry, candied pistachio, gorganzola cheese, golden raisins and finished with a honey balsamic dressing. The 2nd course was a cavatelli (nothing Irish there!) with a vodka cream sauce. Then came the beef with a balsamic demi-glaze and a baked scrod with cracker crumb & dill topping, along with roasted red potato and roasted asparagus. Dessert was a Shamrock Pistachio Delight! Told you we eat well!
On the Sunday following the feast of St. Joseph each year, Archbishop Mansell confers the St. Joseph Medal on an individual or couple from each parish of the Archdiocese whom their pastor has nominated for dedicated service to the church through the years. The prayer service was at the Cathedral with standing room only. St. Thomas was pleased to have honored Mr & Mrs Patrick Baker. They have assisted pastors here for decades going back to the founding of our school, and including service through the Ladies' Guild and other committees. In addition, they are known throughout the Archdiocese for their generosity toward priests, being the founders of Patrick Baker & Sons religious goods store right here in Southington. I can remember visiting their store as a kid when it was just a tiny storefront at the juncture of Farmington and Asylum Avenues in Hartford! Congratulations to the Baker's for an honor well-deserved!
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