St. George Maronite Catholic Church to celebrate new home during two-day festival

Posted 9/11/14

There will be a rather unusual celebration in Cranston this weekend.

St. George Maronite Catholic Church, which was founded on Providence’s Federal Hill in May of 1911 and has had three …

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St. George Maronite Catholic Church to celebrate new home during two-day festival

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There will be a rather unusual celebration in Cranston this weekend.

St. George Maronite Catholic Church, which was founded on Providence’s Federal Hill in May of 1911 and has had three different locations in its storied history, will host its once highly-popular parish festival Saturday and Sunday.

This weekend’s two-day event will also be held in celebration of a marvelous milestone for the church.

“This is our first festival since we moved to Cranston,” said Tina Saker, a parishioner at St. George and publicity chairman for this weekend’s event. “We’ll have Lebanese food and pastry, children’s entertainment, alcoholic beverages, a grand raffle and more.”

The festival will run from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday on the parish’s grounds at 1493 Cranston St., formerly known as St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, which St. George Maronite Church purchased in July 2013.

“It should be lots of fun for families and friends of the parish,” said Paul Eacullo, a native Cranstonian who owns and operates Paul V. Eacullo Insurance Agency. “The emphasis has been placed on good, old-fashioned fun with some great food and music.”

Eacullo, who is also a proud parishioner at St. George, added, “Chairman Anthony Budway and the all-volunteer committee have done a great job in organizing a two-day event that everyone hopes will grow in years to come.”

For now, though, it’s all systems go. And if you like Lebanese food and pastry and live music, St. George will be the place to be this weekend.

Among the many fine foods that people can enjoy this weekend are the famous shish kabob, shish tawook, kibbe (baked and stuffed), kafta, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba ghanouj, taboli, wraps and much, much more.

From the time festival grounds open Saturday until they close Sunday at 6 p.m., the festival will feature everything from children’s potato sack races, a bouncy house and face painting to a traditional Lebanese dance performance by St. Basil’s Dance Troupe, a Saturday Liturgy and more live Lebanese musical entertainment by Mitchell Kaltsuna’s band.

“Bring your family and friends,” Shaker said in an encouraging tone of voice. “There’s free admission and parking, family fun, Middle Eastern food, beer ... we’ll have it all. Please bring your family and friends for a fun weekend in support of St. George’s Maronite Church.”

And, as Shaker emphasized, “the festival will be held rain or shine and under tents.”

The highlight of Sunday’s schedule will be the grand raffle drawing at 5:30 p.m.

Perhaps the most important part of the re-born festival will take place Sunday morning following the 10:30 Liturgy. That will be, according to the schedule provided by Shaker, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross and Procession of the Cross led by the Rev. Edward Nedder, the parish’s priest.

It was Nedder’s leadership, along with the St. George Building Committee, that led to the purchase of the former St. Anne’s Church back in July 2013, when the first mass was held in the “new” church.

“The parish is once again flourishing with new families,” said Tony Simon, another proud parishioner at St. George Maronite. “Also, many of the original families who have carried on their faithful traditions across generations are also active in our parish.”

Simon, who also provided information about the parish, explained that St. George’s story is one of “perseverance and community.”

It’s also about Rhode Island’s close-knit Lebanese community, which began immigrating to this country in the early 1900s.

As most Rhode Island immigrants did, the Lebanese community originally settled in the Federal Hill area of Providence, and the original St. George Church was established on America Street off Atwells Avenue. The original building still stands today.

In the 1970s, with the community continuing to flourish and grow, St. George parish purchased and renovated an abandoned Episcopal church at 50 Main St. in Pawtucket, and the parish continued to thrive until 2005 when a devastating fire burned the property to the ground.

However, the people Simon and others called the “extraordinary parishioners of St. Raymond’s Roman Catholic Church” on North Main Street in Providence opened their arms and welcomed the St. George community to share its church for masses and community activities.

“The [St. George] parishioners were incredibly thankful for the warm hospitality and kindness showed to our church by St. Raymond’s and the Rev. Edward Peroni,” Simon said.

St. Raymond’s served as St. George’s home for the next eight years until the again thriving parish moved to Cranston.

And, people like Eacullo, Budway, Saker and Simon will probably tell you, many of those people from St. Raymond’s will probably be at this weekend’s festival helping St. George Maronite celebrate its two-day feast and new home.

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