BLUFFTON—At Christmas, Father Ronald R. Cellini received a profound gift: a papal honor and the title of Reverend Monsignor. On March 15 the gift continued with Mass and a celebration.
Then the parish family from St. Gregory the Great Church and School kept up the momentum by lauding him with a catchy song and, drum roll please, a brand new car!
The Chrysler 200 came as a surprise thanks to the creative orchestrations of Sister Canice Adams, the school principal, and a crowd of excited students. She arranged to have the school bus placed in front of the car and when Msgr. Cellini exited the church, the throng of children and well-wishers chanted “Move the bus!” It pulled forward to reveal the fundraising efforts of his parish.
Pope Benedict XVI named Msgr. Cellini a Chaplain to His Holiness on Dec. 23, 2011, but the honor is about more than titles and gifts.
During Mass, Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone told the packed church that the conferral honored the parish and the diocese because it showed unity and support.
The bishop pointed out two themes from the reading and Gospel that day. The first was from Jeremiah 7:23-28: “Walk exactly in the way I command you, so that you may prosper.”
“Do what God wants and you will find joy,” the bishop said. “Sometimes people think the demands of the Lord restrict us — just the opposite. “
“Think of the kind of world this would be if everybody took the Ten Commandments and lived to the best of their ability,” he said. “The world would be quite different.”
The second was the theme of unity from Luke 11:14-23: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
“If we could only as Christians come together and use all the energy that we waste arguing with each other, we would see an image of what Jesus came to institute,” Bishop Guglielmone said.
All was harmony at St. Gregory though.
After Mass the students sang a rousing tune written by their music teacher Linda Burkett, with the catchy refrain, “Monsignor, God bless you.”
Msgr. Cellini thanked the priests, nearly 25 of whom had attended, and said he loved being vicar for clergy.
He also expressed his gratitude to his sisters Donna McDole and Eileen Leasha, and cousins, for coming from Pennsylvania, friends from his former parishes of St. Peter in Beaufort, the Knights of Columbus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Sister Canice, Marsha Williams, Father David Nerbun, parochial vicar, and particularly the people of St. Gregory.
“Everyone has been so supportive,” he later said in an interview. “Everyone has taken this as an affirmation of their work and that makes me feel good because we’re all working together.”