Talking about his faith community, he said, “We are a vibrant and dynamic parish with many growing and thriving ministries.” Among the programs is a parish meal ministry, in which volunteers distribute nutritious meals to the needy. “This happens on each and every Thursday of the year,” Father Pulikal said. “We can sincerely say here at St. Sebastian, every Thursday is Thanksgiving day.”
Parishioners support the meal ministry with donations, and “every Thursday morning a group of volunteers come together to prepare 150 to 200 meals, based on the need,” he said. “And once they are ready, a second group of volunteers come around 11 a.m. to pick them up and deliver them to the needy.” Mark Jordan, maintenance supervisor, said, “It’s St. Sebastian’s meals on wheels.”
Joan and Bob Lapenna have been the main caretakers of St. Sebastian’s meal ministry — officially referred to as the St. Sebastian Full of Grace meal ministry — for the past 10 years. “We serve the food to our inbound parishioners, and it’s also an outreach program for people who are in need,” Joan said, adding that “everything is a calling that we do for the church: Feed my people.”
The parish also has a growing altar server ministry, Father Pulikal said. “We have a brand-new altar server and I just installed her this morning, Charlotte Santuro. Charlotte just made her first holy Communion last Saturday and wanted to serve right away, so we installed her this morning.” Her brother Peter and sister Jane also are altar servers, he said.
Another vibrant organization at the parish is the St. Sebastian Council of Catholic Women. The council president, Barbara Andreas, said, “The CCW is an amazing group of Catholic women who care deeply about making a difference for our parish, our community and each other.”
Maria Saludo, a part-time resident originally from the Philippines, who also resides in Washington, D.C., was happy to find St. Sebastian. “It is the same patron saint from where I grew up in the Philippines,” she said. “Every 20th of January (St. Sebastian’s feast day), we have a fiesta, and here it is exactly the same.”
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of archers and athletes and those who desire a saintly death. He was also venerated as a protector from the bubonic plague and as a patron of plague victims.