WITNESS to HISTORY Bursting with memories and stories, Charlie, 72, is a kind of living time capsule of Marian history, a witness to big achievements, major news, and incredible graces. When he joined the MHC in 1968, the Divine Mercy message and devotion were still under an ecclesiastical ban as a result of faulty translations. He was with us in 1978, when that ban was lifted by Pope St. Paul VI. He was with us when the Diary of St. Faustina was first published in English in 1987. (You’ll see his name in the preface). By Dr. Joe McAleer The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Oct. 7, 1968, was the first day of work for Charlie Parise at the Marian Helpers Center (MHC) on the campus of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “I remember that day as if it was yesterday,” Charlie says. “I didn’t think anybody would stay around this long.” But Charlie did, for 55 years, until his retirement this year as manager of the Marian Press print shop. Fifty-five years in the MHC In the early 1980s, Charlie Parise oversees the collating of Roze Maryi, the quarterly Polish-language magazine. 14 Marian Helper • Winter 2023-24 • Marian.org
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