Generally Speaking: Bay Ridge pilgrims visit Pope Francis in Poland, Colonel Peter Sicoli new commander at Fort Hamilton

A group of young parishioners from St. Patrick’s Church joined about 600 youth from around the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese for the annual celebration of World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland where they met fellow pilgrims and clergy from around the world.

The coordinator for the St. Patrick’s contingent was Romeo Petric, a former member of Community Education Council 20, who also heads the youth sports program at St. Patrick’s. This was the fourth international World Youth Day on which Petric has escorted his fellow parishioners.

Prior to arriving in Poland for the World Youth Day conclave, to see and hear Pope Francis, the youthful tourists had a side trip to Rome, where they visited the Vatican, and then to Dublin, Ireland to visit that City’s cathedral. While in Poland, they visited the gruesome concentration camp at Auschwitz. Also in attendance at the World Youth Event were Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. The diocesan world youth director is Reverend Gerard Sauer, a former associate pastor at St. Patrick’s and now the Pastor of St. Mel’s Church in Queens.

Colonel Peter Sicoli is the new commander of the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton. He relieved Colonel Joseph Davidson, who completed his two-year stint at Fort Hamilton and will be moving to his new billet as deputy commandant of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

While we were attending the reception for the new garrison commander, we had the opportunity to talk with Captain Michael Day, who commands Coast Guard Sector New York which is based at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. He also has the awesome responsibility of being captain of the Port of New York.

Captain Day mentioned that the Coast Guard would be celebrating its 226th birthday this past Thursday, August 4, and that the Coast Guard’s flagship and America’s Tall Ship, the Bark Eagle, will be in New York at the Intrepid Pier 86, West 46th Street and 12th Avenue for free public tours on Friday, 1 to 7 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.