TRUMBULL—Wednesday, November 4, was the liturgical memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, who served as Archbishop of Milan in the 16th century, and was one of the truly great pastors and saints in the Church’s history. “The name of St. Charles is especially familiar to us here at St. Catherine’s, because our ‘mother parish’ in Bridgeport—from whose territory our parish was formed in 1955—is named for him,” said Father Marcello, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Trumbull. “There is a beautiful stained glass window of St. Charles about half-way along the north wall of the church, on the Blessed Mother’s side,” he explained.
On Sunday, November 8, St. Catherine of Siena welcomed Msgr. Christopher Walsh, pastor of St. Charles 
Borromeo Parish, for a special blessing and dedication at their 11 am Mass. “When we were doing the Christ at the Center project last year, I wanted to incorporate some tangible link with our ‘mother parish’ as part of that project,” Father Marcello explained. “Earlier this year, Msgr. Walsh gave us a pew that for many decades was located in the lower church of St. Charles. Generations of students of St. Charles School – including my father and grandmother—attended Mass there, and generations of faithful sat, knelt, and prayed there at Masses, Novenas, Adoration and other devotions.”
The pew became available to St. Catherine’s due to the fact that many pews in the lower church of St. Charles were removed years ago to make room for Religious Education classrooms.
Jim Panullo, director of Parish Operations and a skilled woodworker, cut the pew down and refinished it.
“The pew is available in St. Catherine’s Memorial Chapel to provide a place for quiet prayer and contemplation, and as a tangible link with the parish in Bridgeport from whose territory our parish was carved out, and from which so many of our original families came,” said Father Marcello. “I am grateful to Linda Marini and her late husband Enrico for underwriting the cost of the project,” he added.
