‘Honoured because of the community’

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This article was published 23/07/2023 (1163 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They may be big footsteps to fill, but for the next several years, Winnipeggers travelling along River Avenue can now walk the path of a well-known and beloved Osborne Village priest.

For the next five years, a small stretch of River Avenue west of Osborne Street will also be known as Honorary Via Fr. Sam Argenziano.

“I’m being honoured, but I’m being honoured because of the community,” says Rev. Sam Argenziano, 75, known as Father Sam in his parish and beyond.

Via is the Italian word for road or way, a nod to the gregarious priest’s Italian heritage and the history of the century-old Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Parish where Argenziano has served for the last 28 years.

Parishioner Maria Doerr chose the wording when applying for the honorary naming a year ago, both to acknowledge the Italian community Argenziano serves and a theological concept laid out in the Christian gospels.

“It’s appropriate the community was able to honour him in person and not as a memorial,” she says of the New York native, who was ordained to the priesthood in Winnipeg on a cold winter day in 1979.

The arched, double-sided blue sign toppers are located at the northwest corner of River and Osborne and the southeast corner of Nassau Street and River, marking a 250-metre pathway that goes directly beside Holy Rosary, located at 510 River Ave.

A city community committee passed the motion to install the street toppers for five years to honour the priest for his work in the parish and community, says Coun. Sherri Rollins, who attended the official unveiling of the signs at a special worship service on Sunday, June 25.

“I can say as local Councillor, and as a Winnipegger, I’m aware of the considerable, depth and breadth of devotion (members of the parish) have for Father Sam, and in turn, he has for the City of Winnipeg and his congregation,” says Rollins, who represents Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry.

Not only does he serve his 700-family parish well, says Doerr, the extremely extroverted priest is well known in Osborne Village, where he lives in apartment beside the church. He’s a strong supporter of the work of Oak Table, located in nearby Augustine Centre, and directed the offerings from the June 25 service to the drop-in centre.

“He’s dedicated to the community of faith,” says Doerr.

“He has a strong conviction that we support social justice needs.”

Although he jokes that his friends from his native Staten Island think he should be dead before he has a street named after him, Argenziano is glad to receive the honour, especially after suffering a heart attack in May.

He is quick to reassure folks that he’s recovering well and is now back to presiding over daily weekday and four Sunday masses, including the 10:30 a.m. Italian language service, as well as numerous weddings and funerals. But the recent health scare means he will limit his work to his parish.

“I’m just looking after Holy Rosary,” he says. “I’m not taking on extra stuff.”

Several major city thoroughfares bear the names of other Roman Catholic leaders, including Provencher and Tache Avenues, named after former bishops in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface. Earlier this year, the street named after Bishop Vital-Justin Grandin, a supporter of the Indian residential school system, was renamed Abinojii Mikanah, which means children’s road in Ojibwa.

More recently, a residential street in Transcona was named Carol Fletcher Row to recognize the community work of Rev. Carol Fletcher, who retired last month from Transcona Memorial United Church after 35 years in joint ministry with her husband Rev. Jeff Cook.

Brenda.suderman@freepress.mb.ca

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