AMHS Warmly Welcomes Fathers Polo and Zanon

I n the March/April Notiziario,

we said farewell to Father Ezio Marchetto, pastor of Holy Rosary Church, and thanked him for all his support of the Society during the seven and a half years he was here with us. And now we welcome Father Pietro Paolo Polo and Father Andrei Zanon, who came to Holy Rosary in February. AMHS has extended an honorary membership in our Society to each of the new priests. Some AMHS members may have already attended Mass at Holy Rosary or watched the Mass in Italian which is live-streamed each Sunday. Since mid-February, either Father Polo or Father Zanon has delivered a wonderful homily and been given a warm welcome by parishioners. We hope to have them as our guests when we resume in-person events at Casa Italiana, hopefully in the nottoo-distant future. AMHS member Maria Marigliano, who is also Holy Rosary’s Directory of Liturgy and Music, has provided some biographical information on the two new priests, both of whom celebrated their birthdays during the short time that they have been with us.

Father Pietro Paolo Polo was born on February 20, 1943 in Romano d’Ezzelino, Vicenza, Italy. After attending seminary in Italy, he was sent to Staten Island, New York, and was ordained a priest in 1968. While serving as assistant pastor in several parishes, Father Peter (as he is usually called) obtained a master’s degree in Italian Literature and Romance Languages in 1978 and a master’s degree in Religious Education and Biblical Studies in 1981. Soon after, Father Peter was asked to take on more important roles for his Scalibrinian order. From 1990 to 1998, he was the Executive Secretary of the American Committee on Italian Migration and the NYC Italian Apostolate Coordinator while residing at the Scalabrinian Seminary in Jamaica, N.Y. For his next assignment, Father Peter was called to Rome, and from 1998 to 2009 he was General Secretary of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles/Scalabrinians.

In 2007, Father Peter suffered a stroke and spent time in rehabilitation in Rome. In 2010, he returned to the United States and was eventually appointed Local Superior of the New England Scalabrinian Community and Spiritual Advisor to the Scalabrini-Dukcevich Center for Migrants in Providence, R.I. Father Andrei Zanon was born on March 6, 1990 in Joaçaba, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. His great-grandparents emigrated from the Veneto region in Northern Italy. He entered the seminary of the Missionaries of St. Charles/ Scalabrinians in 2008 in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and took his first religious vows on June 1, 2013 — a special date for the Scalabrinian Congregation since June 1 commemorates the death of its founder, Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini.

To continue his studies in preparation for the priesthood, Father Andrei was sent to study theology in Bogotá, Colombia. During his first three years of theology as part of his pastoral ministry, Father Andrei worked at the Scalabrinian Web Radio in Spanish. Before his ordination, he spent a year helping parishes on the outskirts of Valencia and in Venezuela and Colombia. Father Andrei was ordained a priest on December 21, 2019 in Herval D´Oeste, Santa Catarina, Brazil, near his hometown. After his ordination, he was sent to the United States to begin his priestly ministry at the parish of Our Lady of Pompeii in New York City. Father Andrei describes himself thus: “I am excited to learn, to give my best in this new mission in which I have a lot to learn considering that I am young in the mission and with little experience, some of my characteristics have always been availability and punctuality, also responsibility and joy.”