By Nicole Falco
Blessed Sacrament Church made it official. The Rev. Gerald Cestare was installed as pastor Nov. 14.
The installation took place during the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass. The Rev. Gregory Cappuccino, former pastor, returned to Valley Stream from his new parish in Wantagh for the occasion.
Cestare-s first day as pastor was actually July 1, the day after Cappuccino's transfer became effective, but his installation wasn-t held until this month to allow him and the members of the congregation time to get acquainted with one another.
It was a little bit of a surprise, said the 40-year-old pastor of his appointment by the bishop. But I-m just thrilled to be here. I think that more and more with the shortage of priests, you-ll see more and more younger priests being named pastors. I think the bishop feels confident in younger priests and asking them to take the responsibility. I hope it-s a sign of the future. I think there are a lot of young guys that have a lot of energy.
Cestare comes to Valley Stream after having spent six years as an associate pastor of St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre. Prior to that, he spent five years at Our Lady of Grace in West Babylon.
Cestare has only nice things to say about the parish he-s been entrusted with. He noted that a family friend who attended the installation made a very intuitive observation about Blessed Sacrament. He said that it was obvious that the people of this parish really believe in what they are doing ... and the second thing he noticed is that they really love their church, Cestare said. He made those observations after just spending one day here.
The congregation won-t see major changes in the way things are run. For that Cestare credited his predecessor. Father Greg has done a tremendous job of motivating people, Cestare said. Father Greg and I share a vision of ministry and of parish, so there isn-t a real shift in the way things are happening. I-m proud to say that. It-s rare coming into a parish and they-re already doing the kinds of things you want to do anyway.
Cestare didn-t always plan on becoming a priest. Growing up in Smithtown, he attended St. Anthony-s High School, an all-boys school at the time, and then St. Joseph-s College in Patchogue, where he earned a business degree. While becoming a priest may have been in the back of this former altar boy-s mind, it wasn-t until he was offered a job as a youth minister -- he was challenged to do it -- that he realized it was something he could devote his life to. After two weeks, I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life, he said.
Cestare made a pilgrimage to Rome to do some soul-searching, and returned with his mind made up. He entered the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington and was ordained in 1995. It was a surprise to my family and friends, because I had a very different life planned for myself, but they were very supportive, Cestare said.
While he didn-t immediately make use of his business degree, it is certainly coming in handy now that Cestare has been named pastor. Besides parish ministry, he is also responsible for finances. Like most churches, Blessed Sacrament faces financial restraints, but Cestare said he is committed to meeting the needs of the parish and school little by little. The church has also had to make do with only two full-time priests -- Cestare and the Rev. Frank Nelson. Cestare credits the church-s deacons and many lay volunteers with helping him and Nelson run the church smoothly.
Here everybody is involved in making whatever we are doing happen, Cestare said. The people here feel a real sense of ownership about their church.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
