Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph hosts first bilingual Christmas event, uniting two cultures

The holidays bring people together.

With that in mind, on Friday, December 4, the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, 856 Pacific Street, united cultures and created a festive yet diverse community event for many with its first annual Christmas Concert and Tree Lighting Ceremony. The event welcomed friends, family, and neighbors to join together in celebrating the season.

The evening kicked off with a mass at 4 p.m., officiated by Monsignor Kieran Harrington, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s vicar for communications, followed by an outdoor concert featuring Christmas music at 5 p.m. The concert event was hosted by Anthony Mangano, and Natasha Bisbal, with Mangano hosting in English and Bisbal in Spanish.

Among the performers was Darius Kaleb, known for being in Broadway productions of “Raisin in the Sun” and “Motown.” Other special celebrity guests included Daniel Rodriguez, Salvatore Spatola, and “American Idol” contestant Stephanie Hanvey. In addition, the church’s Spanish ministry group performed as well as Gerard Placide, a soldier whom has been on gospel tours, has sung in Iraq, and has also sung for several presidential events.

Creator of the event Craig Tubiolo noted, “The weather was great. We had a few hundred people show, who stayed throughout the whole night.” Among them, said Tubiolo, were many kids who were very excited when Santa arrived, and anxiously awaited their turn to take pictures with the jolly ole fella. The Elf of the Shelf also made an appearance.

“We lit the trees and the church right in the street,” recalled Tubiolo. “Instead of having to go all the way to Rockefeller Center, we were able to give the community that experience here at St. Joseph’s Co Cathedral, it was a beautiful event.”

Although this was the church’s first tree lighting and Christmas concert event, there are plans to make it an annual event, said Tubiolo, who said the hope is that it will be bigger and better next year.

And if you missed it, you will get your chance to enjoy it nonetheless, Tubiolo added, explaining that the event was filmed and will be televised on Net TV either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, for all to join in the Christmas cheer that was conveyed that night. Net TV is channel 30 for those with Cablevision and channel 97 for those who have Time Warner.

Photos courtesy of DeSales Media
Photos courtesy of DeSales Media

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