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June 29, 2017Members of an already beautiful and vibrant Catholic church in Olean took things to a whole new level on Thursday evening. With help from a string quartet, brass ensemble and an angelic choir, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels welcomed a couple new symbols that could only be displayed in a basilica. The church's new tintinnabulum bell rang for the first time as part of the opening procession and the ombrellino was placed behind the presider's chair. "We have much to celebrate this day," said Bishop Richard J. Malone to more than 600 parishioners who gathered for the Inaugural Mass, four months after the bishop received word from the Vatican that St. Mary of the Angels had been designated as the 83rd minor basilica in the United States. "You have been chosen and honored by Pope Francis for special distinction. Your distinction will be your one and only life mission as a community of Jesus' followers who come here to be nourished and energized in our word and sacraments and then go out as missionary disciples ready to re-propose the Gospel to a culture that desperately needs to hear it."
