Praise Jesus Project honors a much-loved priest

Beth Puleo is shown with her friend, Monsignor Arthur Valenzano. (Courtesy Beth Puleo)

Beth Puleo’s family didn’t have money to buy a special dress for her first Communion.

Three weeks before the much-anticipated Mass, Puleo had undergone brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, the second such procedure of her young life. Her father, Frank Puleo, was facing his own medical challenges as Lou Gehrig’s disease steadily weakened his body throughout the 1990s.

The medical bills were enormous — added on top of the everyday costs of raising a family that included three other children.

Monsignor Arthur Valenzano, then the family’s pastor at St. John in Westminster, showed up on their doorstep one day carrying a package. Inside was a white Communion dress, a gift he said someone had left for Beth at the parish center.

“I remember waking up the day of my first Communion and being so excited to wear my new dress and to finally receive Communion from Monsignor Art,” remembered Puleo, now 31.

The Puleo family found out later that the person who purchased that dress was Monsignor Valenzano himself.

Puleo’s memory of her much-loved pastor is one of many she compiled from people far and near on a new website that pays tribute to Monsignor Valenzano, a priest who died in 2015 after touching many lives throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In addition to serving as pastor of St. John, Monsignor Valenzano was the former rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore and a former pastor of St. William of York in Baltimore.

Puleo said Monsignor Valenzano was a spiritual father not only to his parish, but to her family as it faced seemingly relentless trials. Beth Puleo underwent radiation treatments that eliminated her cancer, but left her physically disabled after nearly killing her. Her father, one of Monsignor Valenzano’s close friends, ultimately succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2001.

Monsignor Arthur F. Valenzano, pastor of St. John, Westminster, is shown in a file photo greeting parishioners before Mass. (CR file)

“Monsignor Art was really pivotal in that time,” Puleo said. “It’s easy to become depressed and despair and be hopeless. He always reminded me and my family how much we needed to trust in God and his divine providence.”

As Beth was growing up, Monsignor Valenzano often checked in on her and gave words of encouragement.

“He would call and ask if I ate my vegetables or see if I did my homework,” Puleo said. “To be Christ’s hands and feet on earth – that was him. He radiated Christ and was never judgmental. He had a joy that overflowed from him.”

In honor of Monsignor Valenzano’s frequent use of the phrase, “Praise Jesus!”, Puleo’s loving collection of memories is known as the Praise Jesus Project. Father Brian Nolan, a former associate pastor of St. John and the current pastor of St. Isaac Jogues in Carney, conceived the project as a book, but it later evolved into a website that was published this year. In addition to story entries, the site includes photos and a link to the video of Monsignor Valenzano’s funeral Mass.

Puleo hopes the site will preserve her friend’s memory and might even serve as a documentary record should the church ever consider Monsignor Valenzano’s sainthood cause.

“I hope the stories we share can be an example to future priests of what a great priest is and what it means to shepherd his flock,” Puleo said.

To submit stories or learn more about Monsignor Valenzano, visit the Praise Jesus Project at https://praisejesusproject.wordpress.com

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

Also see:

Monsignor Valenzano, basilica rector who touched the lives of thousands, succumbs to cancer

‘Art in Heaven:’ Archdiocese bids farewell to Monsignor Valenzano

Praise Jesus for Monsignor Valenzano

Remembering Monsignor Valenzano