As I was contemplating the tragedy of a priest killed at a young age while carrying out his vocation,  it occurred to me that this was only a few short years before Vatican II.  The church was about to embark on a series of changes and a period of  reflection and rebirth unlike any time before in the history of the church.  The years of Vatican II were an exciting and challenging time for priests as they guided their members to a new understanding of their faith and relationship with God.  Services are now held in the language of the faithful,  the alter is turned around making participants out of spectators. The communion rail separating the flock from their shepherd is gone.  

This was also just as the civil rights movement was gaining momentum that changed how we as a nation think about equality and what it means to love your neighbor.  It was also a time of changing demographics as the Italian West Side took on Latin Rhythms.

Holy Cross, the West Side and the city of Buffalo needed Father Belle and Father Belle certainly deserved to play a role in this transformation of his community but this was not to be.

          " ... yet not what I will, but what You will"  -Mark 14:36

The Father Belle Community Center was dedicated in 1976.  Mable Smith, whose descendants came to Buffalo on the 'Underground Railway' was one of the many who helped establish the center.

Father Belle grew up in Buffalo's Kensington Neighborhood.  This photo is from his first mass held at his home parish,
St. Lawrence, on East Delavan Avenue.