It was a beautiful night for blessings on the beach.

Breaking out their beach chairs, hundreds of parishioners from Blessed Trinity Parish in Breezy Point walked down to the shore and joined together for a service on the sand Thursday for the Feast of the Assumption.

At the end of the Mass, the priest blessed the waters, and parishioners were able to bring some home with them.

By Jessica Easthope

Father Anup Bilung had never been to the United States, but this summer, you can find him celebrating Mass at Our Lady of Angels Church in Bay Ridge.

“This New York international hub, the multicultural ethnic groups and language groups that live here, and I had the firsthand experience of seeing those things—what I had studied in the textbooks,” Father Bilung said.

Father Bilung was born and raised in the Diocese of Sambalpur in the state of Odisha—a missionary stronghold in East India. He’s currently getting his Ph.D. at the College of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome, where he’s studying pastoral theology and human mobility.

Father Bilung says he’s already been able to experience the universal Church—all at once in Brooklyn.

“It’s like a big basket of flowers, a bouquet,” Father Bilung said. “Some may focus on the individual flowers and admire them, but others might see all of the flowers and how beautiful they are together.”

Where he’s from, multiculturalism isn’t celebrated in the same way as in the Diocese of Immigrants.

In 2008, his home was burned to the ground. Extremist groups began a violent campaign against Christians, killing more than 100 people—35 of whom were Catholics—and displacing more than 56,000.

“The state of Odisha has been very prone to religious persecution against Christians, but what happened in 2008, starting on the 24th of August, was really devastating,” Father Bilung said. “They started attacking churches, homes, burning down everything. Everybody was trying to escape.”

Father Bilung was in his pastoral year at the time. The violence and faith have defined his priestly mission. Today, many of the victims of those anti-Christian riots have received no justice.

“It was responsible for building my approach, my perspective, my personality, and also my own faith,” Father Bilung said. “So I wanted to be one of the guides to lead and educate them, to bring that light from the candle and light other candles.”

Now, as he navigates the United States for the first time, where Catholics can not only express their beliefs but celebrate them, he hopes to pass on the faith of those who could only dream of that freedom.

“It was a fearful situation in the entire diocese, but this brought them together,” Father Bilung said.

By Jessica Easthope

CORONA — St. Leo’s Viva Cristo Rey (VCR) youth group meets every week for one day in Corona — not to sit in a circle and talk about their faith, but to get to work, putting it into action.

Cleaning out the parish garage isn’t your typical youth group activity, but for Kevin Jara, it’s the kind of job that makes him feel like he’s making a difference.

“After Confirmation, I became somewhat distant. But then, when VCR came, I was interested, and we were learning about God in fun ways and activities,” Jara said. “I think it brought me closer to God and helped me connect with the community.”

The VCR group is made up of young people ages 13 to 20 years old. Before joining, Jara didn’t talk much to anyone.

“I was nervous because I didn’t talk to anyone,” he said. “But over time, I felt a true connection. Like, ‘These are my people.’ ”

Since Father Ernesto Alonso, St. Leo’s parochial vicar, brought the group together last November, every week is something different, whether it’s sitting in silent adoration or visiting the elderly at a nursing home. He said it’s building character and faith.

“We have to encourage them to find different ways to belong to the community, to have this identity and this sense of belonging to Saint Leo’s Church,” Father Alonso said.

As a college sophomore, Lizbhet Grande, a lifelong parishioner of St. Leo’s, is close to aging out of VCR but plans to stay on to help organize and pitch in wherever she can because she feels called to.

“It really makes a big difference when you put yourself to actively helping the community you’ve grown up in,” Grande said. “The youth know there’s a place for them, right? That God is waiting for them.”

Working in a garage isn’t the ideal way for many teens to spend their last days of summer vacation, but Isaias Castillo, 16, said, why not?

“We have a bunch of free time now, so why not just use it all up and have a fun experience?” Castillo said.

They get to build their own future while building up their church and see how Christ can open the door to new experiences.

“I’ve just fallen in love with being able to serve and saying, ‘Hey, God, use me,’” Castillo said. “I think, especially for my age, a bunch of people are just closed off and don’t feel like they have some kind of support. But you have to find Christ to have that kind of support. So it’s been a blessing.”

By Paula Katinas, The Tablet

WILLIAMSBURG — Gerard Connolly’s lifelong dreams are all about to come true in just one night.

The singer-composer, whose work is steeped in his Catholic faith, will get the chance of a lifetime when he presents the world premiere of “Revelation,” a concert featuring songs and poems he wrote based on Scripture passages, at the Opera House at the Emmaus Center in Williamsburg on Friday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m.

Connolly, 66, a hospital administrator, is a parishioner of Our Lady of Grace Church in Howard Beach and has been writing and performing religious-themed songs for decades.

He performed at World Youth Day in Paris in 1997, and one of his songs, “The Unveiling,” was featured in the televised coverage of Pope Saint John Paul II’s funeral Mass in 2005.

But “Revelation” will mark a turning point for him.

“I feel like all of my life’s work has come together in this piece,” he explained. “It’s all there, everything I believe and everything that’s central to my life.”

“Revelation” is filled with songs depicting passages from the Bible. In a twist, Connolly presents the songs from the perspective of the subjects of Biblical passages so that they are seen as fully human.

Connolly said he put a great deal of thought into each section. The overture, for example, contains seven motifs “because God created the world in six days and on the seventh day, He rested.”

“Revelation” is a family affair for the Connollys. Gerard’s three daughters — Joanna Connolly Pepe and Shannon and Rachael Connolly — will perform in the show, along with other musicians.

At a rehearsal before the show, Pepe described it as a dream come true for the entire family.

“This show is really a lot of prayers answered because my whole family has desired for him and his music to be on a stage and performed,” said Pepe, who is the music director at Our Lady of Victory Church in Floral Park in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. “So this is really the culmination of everything that we have dreamed for my father for so long,”

Pepe said it’s fitting her father’s music is so centered around church teachings.

“What’s so beautiful about the Church is that it’s the original patron of the arts. It’s that first place that artists were allowed to seek fulfillment and a career and the ability to sustain themselves while producing their art,” she added.

Connolly, who grew up in Howard Beach, said he always attended Mass, but it wasn’t until he met his wife Joanne at a charismatic prayer meeting when he was 20 that he became more devoted to his Catholic faith.

“That’s when everything came together for me,” he recalled.

Steve Retas, who is producing “Revelation” and is related to Connolly through marriage, said he came aboard after hearing about Connolly’s ambitious plans for a show and immediately thought of the Emmaus Center. His company, Technical Arts Group, has produced concerts there before.

“It’s overwhelming to do something like this for someone who probably would have never gotten the opportunity to mount a show like this,” Retas said.

Connolly is hoping “Revelation” wasn’t just a one-night event. “I would really want to see it performed in churches and in schools,” he said.

Retas sees “Revelation” as an evangelization tool that can be used to bring people closer to the faith.

“With the world being kind of upside down,” he explained. “I think this would be a great thing for the community to try to evangelize a little bit and see if we can motivate people.”

Whether he’s mounting a big show like “Revelation” or performing in a church, Connolly has a specific goal regarding his music: “I want to convey the gospel through the arts. I want to convey it to people in a fresh way.”

For tickets to “Revelation,” visit: https://www.3leafproductions.com/revelation