Archbishop Timothy Dolan visited Providence Rest Nursing Home as part of his pledge to visit all Catholic missions and works in the Archdiocese of New York during his tenure as its spiritual leader.
Dolan held a Mass for the residents and visited all of the units on Wednesday, April 13, both before and after taking a tour of the facility and meeting with patients and their families.
The Archbishop even took time to meet with kitchen and maintenance staff of the sprawling elder care and rehabilitation facility at 3304 Waterbury Avenue.
The Mass was broadcast on closed circuit television for those too frail to attend and then the Archbishop made the rounds of the hospital.
He has made it a point to visit every Catholic church, school, and facility in the archdiocese while here as Archbishop, he said, a large task that includes 400 parishes and 200 church schools.
The visit had special significance to the residents of the facility, as well as to the children in the day care facility on the grounds of Providence Rest, who put on a musical performance for the Archbishop.
“Most of the residents are Catholic, and it makes them feel important because Archbishop Dolan is taking a personal interest in them,” Susan Steinberg, Providence Rest’s administrator said. “This is special because he is the holiest man in the entire region, and he is personally visiting with them.”
This is the second time Archbishop Dolan has gone out of his way when invited to the nursing home, said Providence Rest’s CEO Sister Seline Mary Flores.
“Last year he graciously agreed to be the honoree at our gala fundraiser,” Flores said. Both John Cardinal O’Conner and Edward Cardinal Eagan visited the facility, remembered longtime staff member and assistant nursing director Joanne Marmo, who has been at Providence Rest for 23 years.
For Grace Silvestri of Pelham Bay, whose husband is a patient, the Archbishop’s visit brought her hope and was literally an answer to her prayers.
“It was very emotional for me because Archbishop Dolan hugged me, blessed my husband and asked how long we had been married,
