New York priest Krizolog celebrates Golden Jubilee with US Slovenians
New York, 14 August - Father Martin Krizolog, the priest who has been heading the parish Church of St Cyril, a Slovenian church in New York, for more than three decades, has recently celebrated his Golden Jubilee in the company of more than a hundred Slovenians in Pennsylvania.
Saylorsburg, US
Father Martin Krizolog, the Franciscan priest who is heading the parish Church of St Cyril, a Slovenian church in New York, celebrating his Golden Jubilee with more than a hundred Slovenians in Pennsylvania.
Photo: Robi Poredoš/STA
Krizolog has been heading the church in East Village, Manhattan, which was founded in 1916 and is still the spiritual and cultural centre for Slovenians in New York, since 1992.
Mija Branc, who has been hosting the traditional Slovenian "picnic mass" in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania since 1996, said that Krizolog was like a "magnet" who attracted even those who were not regular churchgoers, and that he had a "certain charisma".
Krizolog, who held his first mass in Slovenia 50 years ago, is happy he has "chosen this calling. I never got bored because I like to be with people. This is what makes me happy and I will carry on until I go to the happy hunting grounds."
Having worked as a priest in the US for 31 years, the Franciscan says that in a country where there were over a thousand religions, one learned about tolerance and respect for fellow human beings.
"This is what gives me great satisfaction and it is also about the mission of a priest - to be respectful and patient with each other," he added.
The "golden mass" was attended by a delegation from the Slovenian Embassy in Washington, and the Slovenian ambassador to the UN, Boštjan Malovrh, who came from New York.
After the mass, Krizolog called for donations to the victims of the recent floods in Slovenia and the fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
The picnic that followed the mass featured Slovenian traditional dishes, including the ričet stew, and was attended by Slovenians from New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and also from Slovenia.