by Carol Anne Scott

Original "Heart Beats" staff (back row, left to right): Pat Girvan; Pauline Freeley; Maureen Devine; Betsy Robichaud; Michael de Sario; Don Aguiar; (next row, left to right): Kay Creighton; Joan Brown; Adrian Cillo; Carole Anne Scott; Kathy Henry; and Jim Cassidy. Missing from photo: Rev. George D. Vartzelis; Billy Clinton; Joe Craven; Maria de Sario; Theresa Donovan; Jim hnprescia; Jayne Macaluso; Dick Matulis; and Pam Wieher. (Photo by George R. Capone)

This issue of "Heart Beats," our 61st, marks the paper's official 15th anniversary. Over the years, we have told the tales of Roslindale and our Sacred Heart community, accentuating the positive aspects of both. All of us are volunteers; some of us have been here since the paper's inception; others have left, returned and left again.

In these pages, we estimate that we have presented over 1,500 stories accompanied by more than 900 photos, along with about 100 puzzles and quite a few memorable cartoons, especially those by our former associate pastor, Fr. Terence Moran. We have brought you to Roslindale Village for "Broom to Bloom" clean-ups, summer concents, "Nights Out" on crime, international festivals, parades, and tree lightings.

At times we've taken on a national focus with articles about places like the Smithsonian or NASA's headquarters. We've presented travel tales from around the country and around the globe by writing about Alaska, New Mexico, Utah, the Holy Land, Turkey, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and Ghana, among other exotic locales.

We've even catapulted our readers into the wonders of outer space as they mentally accompanied Dr. Albert Sacco, Jr., a Worcester Polytech professor turned temporary astronaut who performed science experiments on the space shuttle. "Heart Beats" has covered interfaith eumenical services, along with the 1998 rise of the Greater Boston Interfaith Association and its ongoing efforts to unite people of many different beliefs in a social justice mission encompassing the entire Greater Boston area.

It has been a time of great change in our local community. Who would have imagined that the cost of a home in Roslindale would have almost quadrupled since 1989? Who could have envisioned that over the past fifteen years, the Village, a burnt-out shell of its former self, would have been transformed into its current collection of gourmet restaurants, delicious bakeries, and eclectic shops, all anchored by the Village Market?

"Heart Beats" has been privileged to tell the stories of the community leaders, entrepreneurs, and common citizens who have shaped the face of our area. In our very first issue in September of 1989, our founding father, Rev. George D. Vartzelis, expressed our hope for the future of the paper, saying, "May we share our joys and concerns in a way that challenges and affirms us all." We think that we have fulfilled our mission and hope to do so for many more years. That opening edition presented an unforgettable portrait of our lively parish and our Roslindale community. In it, we wrote about the dedicated team working hard to prepare for Main Street's autumn International Festival and annual Roslindale Days Parade.

Sacred Heart's energetic and enthusiastic associate pastor Rev. Ronald D. Coyne had just returned from a parish trip to thank the altar boys for their dedicated service by bringing 102 of them, 93 other children, and their 8o adult chaperones to Florida. Note that those were the days before the major trans-formation when girls were accepted into the ranks of what has appropriately been renamed "altar servers."

Some things don't seem to change over time though. For example, that initial issue had an article recruiting members for the Sacred Heart Adult Choir, as pressing a need now as it was then.

Certain news stories in the paper itself have stayed constant, as each year we have reported on the Color Guard, the Board of Trade, the Ecumenical Thanksgiving service, Sacred Heart's World Marriage Day celebrations, its Easter Sunrise Services, Lenten Retreats for Seniors, the Cook Offs, and Lip Sync contests. People new to our area might mistakenly think that it always was as it now is. In fact, over the past fifteen years, the work of numerous civic groups and committed individuals led to the positive changes that have revitalized Roslindale. From a community standpoint, we reported on all of them.

One of our initial stories featured the reconstruction project, begun in 1989, that transformed St. Nectarios from a one-level edifice into the beautiful bell-towered church that it is today. We wrote about the 1992 arrival of commuter-rail services to Roslindale Village in the reopened system linking our area to downtown Boston. Constant coverage of the Village Market's approximately five-year struggle to come into being was provided in stories on issues ranging from setbacks due to the presence of underground oil-storage tanks to matching grants and local funds raised through the sale of shares for the Market, all culminating in a feature about its 1998 opening. "Heart Beats" delivered the news of the original Southwest Boston Senior Services' (later known as Ethos') outreach efforts through its ombudsman program for seniors in nursing-care facilities and its attempts to provide outreach assistance to seniors living independently or with caregivers.

We've presented stories on the Faulkner Hospital's renovation campaign and on the Italian Home for Children's addition of a new school. By featuring articles on Healthy Roslindale, Neighbors Together, and Casserly House with its outreach to immigrants, we've reported on the efforts of other groups to improve our local community.

Looking toward distant shores due to the Sacred Heart connections of Sean Ahearn, founder and president of Project Lighthouse, "Heart Beats" also reported on this successful initiative to assist the people in El Salvador.

Other news items were specifically tied to certain events. Perhaps the most significant from a parish standpoint was the celebration of Sacred Heart's Centennial, which began on June 18, 1993 with a concelebrated Mass featuring guest homilist and Sacred Heart native son, Rev. Kevin O'Connell, SJ. It was followed by a barbecue bash reminiscent of the ox roasts originally held by Msgr. Cummins to raise funds for construction of the church. As part of the weekend of events, Msgr. Kelley, accompanied by members of the Liturgical Committee, blessed the streets from the Arnold Arboretum to Roslindale Village.

Our paper covered other Centennial celebrations ranging from the spiritual, including a 1993 Parish Mission and the June 8, 1994 closing Triduum, to the social, including a Field Day for youth and a 990-person Parish Reunion at Lombardo's held on October 8, 1993.

Knowing that the parish's old pipe-organ had just about breathed its last, thereby necessitating the purchase of a new one, the Centennial festivities also encompassed a benefit Gala. Held at Waltham's Westin Hotel, it featured performances by the parish's cantors, Deborah Coleman and Karyl Ryczek, accompanied by parish organist, Bob Newman. Successful in these fund-raising attempts, the new Rodgers digital organ was officially installed on March 22, 1995. "Heart Beats" was there.

Throughout the Centennial period, local historian and parishioner Neil Savage wrote a series of excellent articles for the paper on the history of Sacred Heart, describing the church's progress from "tent to temple" and featuring multi-faceted stories about many interesting items, including its stained glass windows.

With the 2001 merger of St. Andrew the Apostle and Sacred Heart parishes, "Heart Beats" took on an entire new region to cover. Our issues have featured stories about St. Andrew the Apostle School, the Forest Hills Cemetery, the transformation of the former St. Andrew's Rectory into a formation. house for the Sisters of St. Joseph, Law Day at the West Roxbury District Court, and the Forest Hills Athletics Program. "Heart Beats" has also presented portrayals of the local residents who were incorporated into our parish with the merger, including the late Joe Tulimieri, who won everyone's heart with his positive attitude, warmth, and kindness.

Despite our focus on being a "good news" paper, as a necessary part of reporting on life, sad stories have also filled our pages over the years. We have eulogized a long list of departed friends, including Sacred Heart's Deacon Paul Sullivan; associate pastors, Rev. Robert J. Maguire, S.J. and Rev. Leon Beauvais; unofficial parish nurse, Sr. Mary Melaragni;. longtime Sacred Heartfirst-grade teacher, Sister St. Rose Scanlon; spirited parish volunteer, Grace Iantosca; and "Heart Beats" own Betsy Robichaud.

In the paper's pages, we have also said good-bye to a few long-term organizations, including the Sacred Heart Italian Society which closed after over sixty years of service to the parish and the Holy Name Society at Holy Name Church. When in June of 2002, St. Clare High School was closed by the Archdiocese, sadly ending its nearly fifty-year mission of educating young women, "Heart Beats" published an editorial by the youthful Dave Erwin on the subject.

Not shying away from the more difficult to discuss topics, the paper has covered news of the tragic sexual abuse scandal that recently rocked the Boston Archdiocese and of the Archdiocesan reconfiguration process.

We've focused on local heroes, among them Second Lt. Christopher J. Frame who received the Air Force Achievement Medal for Valor for his assistance in rescuing 53 people from the rubble of a bombing in Saudi Arabia; Paul Donato who died in Vietnam and for whom the Cummins Highway Bridge at Hyde Park Avenue was named in 1997; Gerald P. Dewan, a New York firefighter killed trying to save others in the September 11 terrorist attacks; and Mark Bavis, a passenger on one of the ill-fated flights driven through the towers on that epoch-changing day.

Through it all, we have tried to see the good branches in our lives together as a community of faith and as a nation. Looking at the stack of newspapers from inception to the present reveals an amazing collection of tales told and treasured stories presented.

In addition to sharing the good news of our own community, we also were able to assist St. Brendan's in Dorchester in their efforts to start a parish newspaper, "The Grapevine.". About five years ago, when former Sacred Heart associate pastor, Father Ron Coyne, was stationed at St. Brendan's, he contacted me to ask for our assistance with this project.

Over the summer, we met with their editor, Marty Allen, and her volunteer staff to discuss what had worked for us over the years and how we had gone about getting started on "Heart Beats." Soon they too were off and running. Even after Father Coyne had been transferred, "The Grapevine" continued to flourish. This effort has resulted in the spread of the good news throughout another vibrant parish community.

"Heart Beats" hopes to continue to share the stories of Sacred Heart, Roslindale and its environs far into the foreseeable future!