![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MMOG-Veterans-Day-2025-Program-Photo--300x282.jpg\")
Victoria Siess assisted her grandfather, Adam Ambrogi, with carrying a flag during a procession before a special Mass honoring veterans at Mary, Mother of God Parish on Nov. 9, 2025.<\/p>\nSCRANTON \u2013 The faithful of Mary, Mother of God Parish gathered on Sunday, Nov. 9, for a special Mass honoring the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. <\/p>\n
Patriotic touches throughout the 11 a.m. Mass celebration created a celebration not only rooted in faith \u2013 but also in gratitude.<\/p>\n
Victoria Siess assisted her grandfather, Adam Ambrogi, with carrying a flag during a procession before a special Mass honoring veterans at Mary, Mother of God Parish on Nov. 9, 2025.<\/p>\n
While many parishes throughout the Diocese of Scranton commemorate Veterans Day with special liturgies, this community goes above and beyond, not only recognizing veterans during Mass but also reaching out with gifts, visits to the homebound, and a home-cooked meal for residents of the nearby Saint Francis Commons veterans facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the freedom to worship, or not worship, because of those who sacrificed so much. They gave so much of their lives and many never came home. It is the least we can do. We\u2019ll do this every year,\u201d Father Cyril D. Edwards, pastor of Mary, Mother of God Parish, said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to teach patriotism, to teach gratitude in the context of worship. It was really beautiful. We had a huge crowd at the Mass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the liturgy began, there was a moving procession that featured eight parish veterans carrying flags representing each branch of the military.<\/p>\n
Seeing one of the veterans, Adam Ambrogi, who was accompanied by his granddaughter, Victoria Siess, brought many in the crowd to tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was crying like a baby,\u201d Donna Zupp, a member of the parish\u2019s Service and Coordinating Team, admitted. \u201cSome of these gentlemen have been doing it for a couple of years. Sadly, we have had a couple who have done it that are no longer with us or weren\u2019t able to carry the flag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other parish veterans who participated in the procession were Larry Butler, Bob Jones, Vince Carden, Joe O\u2019Connor, Mike Gavin, Jerry Walsh, and Joe Fadden.<\/p>\n
In the pews, even the youngest parishioners joined in the celebration, waving small American flags.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe service and community teams were looking for a special event that would have a powerful impact on all different ages. We owe our veterans an infinite amount of gratitude,\u201d Father Edwards explained. \u201cSeeing people crying as I walked down the aisle at the end of Mass, you can see that they were touched.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Walsh, a parishioner and veteran of the Army Reserves\u2019 Signal Corps 305, said he was \u201cvery honored\u201d to participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciated everybody that was in the church,\u201d he said. \u201cI know they were very pleased to see the flags and the way we presented them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The celebration didn\u2019t end with Mass. Parish volunteers prepared gift bags for local veterans who attended. They also delivered 20 bags to parish veterans who are homebound or in nursing homes. Each bag included a homemade scarf, a grocery store gift card, and chocolate \u2013 small tokens meant to remind recipients that their service is never forgotten.<\/p>\n
At the back of the church, a \u201cTable of Thanks\u201d offered parishioners a chance to write messages of gratitude, which will remain on the altar throughout November.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son is a captain in the United States Army Reserves, so this is something that is very dear to my heart,\u201d Jennifer Pitts, a parish volunteer who helped lead the committee that organized the event, said. \u201cIt was very emotional today. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The parish\u2019s outreach also extends to Saint Francis Commons, a Scranton veterans\u2019 facility operated by Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton. <\/p>\n
While parish volunteers regularly visit the facility with coffee and donuts, the Marian Society of the parish prepared and served a \u201cThanksgiving-style\u201d dinner there on Nov. 12 \u2013 one more way to express gratitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a blessing to take care of them and to be able to honor them,\u201d Zupp said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2013 The faithful of Mary, Mother of God Parish gathered on Sunday, Nov. 9, for a special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-39635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}