At the base of our foundation,
Stamford
rises in sparkling glory,
reflecting our possibilities
and defining our limitations –
the endless boundaries of the sky.

Bathed in the brilliance of potential,
drenched in the nectar of achievement,
Stamford
rises above its challenges
and towers above the pesky
obstacles of bureaucracy
to fuse the ambitions of progress
with the glory and sanctity of our heritage.

Stamford
rises in a gleam of bright todays
and colorful tomorrows
founded on the pillars of
hope, optimism, pride
and a can-do spirit
driven by bright, open minds
focused on “yes,”
and insistent on being at the forefront
of being in the know.
Rise and shine,
Stamford.
Rise. And shine
and greet the future with open arms
and the clearest of eyes.

St. John’s Basilica

If the Pope
were to visit this diocese,
the Pope
will stay here, celebrate Mass here, pray here
and offer Holy Communion with God here, at
St. John’s Basilica in Stamford, Connecticut.
  Her brilliant gold cross
  burns in a sun-soaked fervor,
shinning in solid clarity,
juxtaposed against a clear blue
empty sky
that pronounces the presence of God Himself
reigning miraculously amidst we shapeless mortals.

Yet this brilliant gold reminder
reflects God as living among us,
not as a detached idol of the Past
but as a energetically enlightened and engaged reality
shaping the strength of our Present
and our Hope for all tomorrows.

This brilliant gold cross atop
St. John’s Basilica,
blazing its golden radiance
into the vast blue,
absorbs and reflects
for all to see and feel
the ultimate warmth, light and
Power of the Son.

Atlantic  Street

 In a portioned view of a slice of town,
a reflection of who we are
and what we hope for
emerges in the fabric
of Atlantic Street’s genial Saturday mosaic:

a store for shoes, a bank,
a bagel wannabe,
a salon, a closed saloon, a restaurant
where yesterday’s supper sits
on tomorrow’s stove,
the Old Town Hall in its new suit
gleaming beneath the comfort of God
watching over us from St. John’s Basilica.

A sense of history and the toil of our roots
hides behind a new facade
as a new downtown awakens,
sporting a new face with a new profile of
Stamford, Connecticut.

Our Avon

Avon – as in Stratford Upon –
beams as a beacon of renewal
and brilliance
in the Stamford night;
more than a house of movies,
our Avon
serves as our ambassador to an art
and merchant of creative indulgence,
offering fresh alternatives
to the common perspective,
engaging and enchanting stories celebrating
chronicles of the human condition.

Bless this refreshing retreat from
commercial noise, gadgetry, the technical,
and worse, the mechanical monsters
grounded in electronics and
obsessed with destruction.

Our Avon – as in Stratford Upon –
honors its roots and vision as a
Theater,
an arena enabling artists
to expose the issues and ironies
of human struggle and conquest
in a bigger-than-life reflection
of who and how and what we are:
magnificent creations, elaborate beings
governed and moved by an intricate spirit
expressed in the art at the
Avon – as in Stratford Upon.

Belfry

Even in the silence of rest and solace,
the bell in the belfry rings loud
as our call to attention,
celebration and the
union
of our congregation of common concern.
Our beckoning bell calls for caring –
for those in the foreground
of society’s façade,
and the voiceless victims
suffering in the shadows.

The centuries old symbol,
our tool for alarm and proclamation,
sits in its protective cocoon
in the belfry,
where its elaborately simple apparatus
awaits its call to ring its clamor
for all to hear in simple reverence,
as its echoes tumble
amidst the alleyways and avenues
of downtown,
in search of searching souls.

Clock Tower

The time on all the faces
of our beloved clock tower
always reads
Now.
The perpetual birth and death of the
minutes and hours
matter not;
they’re non-existent – constantly,
over and over and over,
reminding us that time is constant
in its perpetual resurrection and decline
between the clutches of now
and the far reaches of never.

The clock tower’s message
rings loud and clear
from its framed faces
facing the four corners
of our world:
the past has passed,
the future does not exist,
but Now lasts forever
and Now is where and when
we must live.
Forever.
Beginning Now.