ATLANTIC CITY — For the past 22 years Bob and Joyce Ruffolo have been involved in stewardship at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish here.
“Before our marriage,” Bob said, “I had been raised as a Lutheran. I lived in Greensboro, N.C., and I went to a Lutheran church. My parents had separated and my mother was a practicing Lutheran.
“I was working to get the necessary papers so I could get married Catholic,” he explained. “My father had passed away so I went to an aunt to get the records. That’s when I found I was baptized a Catholic in Greensboro. So everything worked out for the best.”
He and Joyce were married in 1989.
When they met, Joyce had a young daughter and was a practicing Catholic.
Over the years the Ruffolos and their five children — Leslie, 22, Robert, 17, Jake, 16, David, 14, and Antonio, 12 — have all been involved with the parish in some manner.
“All our children have gone and are going to Our Lady Star of the Sea School and have practiced the stewardship philosophy,” said Bob. “And they’ve all played basketball for the school.”
“We’re both members of the PTA,” Joyce noted. “I’m now treasurer but was president for eight years. Bob is business administrator of the PTA so I’ll go to him for advice and complain to him when I have to,” she added with a chuckle.
When Leslie was in school, said Joyce, the PTA was not active. “I asked people why it wasn’t, so we became active and I was named president,” she explained.
As president she helped start the PTA lunch program and an after-school program. “Both of them are the PTA’s major fund-raisers,” Joyce noted.
But the family’s stewardship extends to the business community, also. The couple operates a rare bookstore in Atlantic City and, through their store, they were able to help a Cuban refugee who was having some legal problems.
He rented a room from them, and one day the mother of his daughter called and said she didn’t want the daughter anymore.
“So he went to get her,” said Joyce. “He took some parenting classes, and we’re helping him learn English so he can help his daughter with her homework.”
The girl is in kindergarten now, said Joyce, and he has rented an apartment “but still comes over to the store.”
The girl’s mother gave up all rights to the child and the father has sole custody, Joyce added.
The Ruffolos have been members of the Pastoral Council for some seven years. The council had been inactive for awhile, but through the help and faith of the Ruffolos, the group picked up and it’s active again.
Joyce also loves to sing and is a member of the parish’s adult choir.
“One day our organist after Mass said she needed another alto and would I be interested, so I joined,” said Joyce, noting that when she was 9 she sang in the children’s choir while a parishioner at St. Nicholas in Egg Harbor City. “And the organist knew this,” she added.
Although a member of the choir, Joyce will not volunteer as a cantor. “I will only cantor when I’m told to, in emergencies,” she said, laughing. “I feel more secure with a group around me, singing.”
She was able to get her son, Antonio, to become a member of the adult choir. “We often do this,” she said. “We’ll have children join our adult group.”
For the past three years Bob and Joyce have been Eucharistic ministers, and Bob will bring a homebound parishioner to Mass.
The parish is very diverse, ethnically. A third of the parishioners are Asian, a third, Hispanic, and the rest white and African-Americans.
The vast majority of the Asians are Vietnamese. In fact, one Mass is celebrated in Vietnamese by Father Joseph Pham, the pastor, himself a Vietnamese. There are two Masses said in Spanish and six in English.
Bob is a trustee of the church. “I’ve also been a lector for a time and I enjoy it,” he said.
Their son, Robert, is a lector at the 7:30 Sunday Mass and is an altar server as are Antonio and Daniel, who is also training as a lector.
“And our daughter is busy right now raising our grandson who we were blessed to include in our family 10 months ago,” Bob said.
Father Pham said that the Ruffolos embody stewardship through their enthusiasm and their involvement with the parish.
“This family gets involved with almost everything,” said Father Pham. “They serve the parish, spiritually, through their ministering and their giving.”
Asked whether other parishioners are encouraged to be stewards through the work the Ruffolos have been doing, he said people are watching “their good examples and are impressed.”
He said how proud he was of the Vietnamese community. “They have an intense interest in stewardship,” he said. “ They live stewardship, and the church is definitely a very big and important part of their life.”
For more information on stewardship contact Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.
Over the years the Ruffolos and their five children — Leslie, 22, Robert, 17, Jake, 16, David, 14, and Antonio, 12 — have all been involved with the parish in some manner.
“All our children have gone and are going to Our Lady Star of the Sea School and have practiced the stewardship philosophy,” said Bob. “And they’ve all played basketball for the school.”
“We’re both members of the PTA,” Joyce noted. “I’m now treasurer but was president for eight years. Bob is business administrator of the PTA so I’ll go to him for advice and complain to him when I have to,” she added with a chuckle.
When Leslie was in school, said Joyce, the PTA was not active. “I asked people why it wasn’t, so we became active and I was named president,” she explained.
As president she helped start the PTA lunch program and an after-school program. “Both of them are the PTA’s major fund-raisers,” Joyce noted.
But the family’s stewardship extends to the business community, also. The couple operates a rare bookstore in Atlantic City and, through their store, they were able to help a Cuban refugee who was having some legal problems.
He rented a room from them, and one day the mother of his daughter called and said she didn’t want the daughter anymore.
“So he went to get her,” said Joyce. “He took some parenting classes, and we’re helping him learn English so he can help his daughter with her homework.”
The girl is in kindergarten now, said Joyce, and he has rented an apartment “but still comes over to the store.”
The girl’s mother gave up all rights to the child and the father has sole custody, Joyce added.
The Ruffolos have been members of the Pastoral Council for some seven years. The council had been inactive for awhile, but through the help and faith of the Ruffolos, the group picked up and it’s active again.
Joyce also loves to sing and is a member of
the parish’s adult choir.
“One day our organist after Mass said she needed another alto and would I be interested, so I joined,” said Joyce, noting that when she was 9 she sang in the children’s choir while a parishioner at St. Nicholas in Egg Harbor City. “And the organist knew this,” she added.
Although a member of the choir, Joyce will not volunteer as a cantor. “I will only cantor when I’m told to, in emergencies,” she said, laughing. “I feel more secure with a group around me, singing.”
She was able to get her son, Antonio, to become a member of the adult choir. “We often do this,” she said. “We’ll have children join our adult group.”
For the past three years Bob and Joyce have been Eucharistic ministers, and Bob will bring a homebound parishioner to Mass.
The parish is very diverse, ethnically. A third of the parishioners are Asian, a third, Hispanic, and the rest white and African-Americans.
The vast majority of the Asians are Vietnamese. In fact, one Mass is celebrated in Vietnamese by Father Joseph Pham, the pastor, himself a Vietnamese. There are two Masses said in Spanish and six in English.
Bob is a trustee of the church. “I’ve also been a lector for a time and I enjoy it,” he said.
Their son, Robert, is a lector at the 7:30 Sunday Mass and is an altar server as are Antonio and Daniel, who is also training as a lector.
“And our daughter is busy right now raising our grandson who we were blessed to include in our family 10 months ago,” Bob said.
Father Pham said that the Ruffolos embody stewardship through their enthusiasm and their involvement with the parish.
“This family gets involved with almost everything,” said Father Pham. “They serve the parish, spiritually, through their ministering and their giving.”
Asked whether other parishioners are encouraged to be stewards through the work the Ruffolos have been doing, he said people are watching “their good examples and are impressed.”
He said how proud he was of the Vietnamese community. “They have an intense interest in stewardship,” he said. “ They live stewardship, and the church is definitely a very big and important part of their life.”
For more information on stewardship contact Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.