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Chrism Mass will precede Holy Week services at cathedral
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
TYLER
– During Holy Week, the parish at the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception will participate in liturgies to mark the Triduum – Holy
Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Holy Week services at
the cathedral begin with a 7 p.m. Chrism Mass March 18, when Bishop
Álvaro Corrada, SJ, will bless the holy oils to be used for the
sacraments throughout the year in all parishes throughout the diocese.
It is also a time when the priests of the diocese renew their priestly
commitment, said Father Christopher Ruggles, an administrative
assistant of the bishop’s office.
A 7 p.m. Holy Thursday liturgy
will be followed by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until midnight.
Good Friday services, which include Stations of the Cross, will be held
at 3 p.m. in English and 6 p.m. Spanish.
A Holy Saturday vigil
begins at 8 p.m., and Easter liturgies begin at 6:30 a.m., 8 a.m., 10
a.m., noon, 1:30 p.m. Spanish and 6 p.m.
Several parishes have
already set Holy Week services, and a complete schedule will run in the
March 21 edition of Catholic East Texas.
Alto, Venerable Antonio Margil. Holy Saturday – 8 p.m. Spanish vigil.
Athens, St. Edward.
Holy Thursday, Good Friday – 6 p.m., 8:30 p.m. Spanish; Holy Saturday
vigils – 6 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Spanish; Easter – 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 1:30
p.m. Spanish, 4:30 p.m.
Atlanta, St. Catherine.
Holy Thursday – 7 p.m., followed by adoration; Good Friday, 6 p.m.
Stations, 7 p.m. Passion; Holy Saturday – 8 p.m. vigil; Easter – 9
a.m., 11:30 a.m.
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Passion more than a performance
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
CHANDLER – Holy Week will again come alive in Chandler the weekend of Palm Sunday.
St. Boniface Church in Chandler will present its seventh annual Passion Play, Jesus the Liberator, March 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. each night on the church grounds at 318 S. Broad St.
With a cast and crew of 60-70 people, full sets and period costumes,
the production seeks to bring the passion and power of Christ’s
suffering, death and resurrection to life and to bring audiences more
deeply into the Easter story, said Tracy De La Garza, a St. Boniface
parishioner who portrays the Virgin Mary.
“It’s an amazing experience,” said De La Garza, who has played Mary
since the production began in 2002. “And it’s a very humbling
experience. This isn’t just a play. It’s our faith. So while we know we
have to get our lines right and the costumes and the sets and the
lighting and sound all have to be done well, we know we’re not just
acting. This is our faith. This is the story that gives us life. It
might look like a play, but it’s really our prayer.”
It is also, she said, a stirring reminder of Christ’s exhortation “that all should be one.”
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West to direct diocesan evangelization effort
TYLER
– Brooks West of Sulphur Springs has been named associate director of
the new evangelization process for the Diocese of Tyler.
West,
32, is a member of St. James Parish in Sulphur Springs, where he was
born and raised. A convert, he grew up in a non-denominational family
but “grew skeptical and sort of drifted away from God” over the years,
he said.
“While in the Army, it got to a point that I kept
thinking, ‘There’s got to be more to life than what I’m doing,’” West
said. “I was making some very bad decisions, and I was just stuck in
this deep unhappiness. A life without God brings unhappiness.”
He
began looking to various churches, “but nothing really impressed me
until I attended a Mass,” he said. “It was different from anything I’d
ever tried. So I started asking questions, and the priest answered
them. He also gave me a lot to read, and as I began looking through
everything, I realized that what I was seeing was a systematic theology
that makes sense and that holds together. God is unity and truth, and
that unity and truth is in the Catholic Church.”
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Lenten activities continue in diocese
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
Catholic communities throughout the Tyler Diocese are preparing for the upcoming Lenten season.
Fridays during Lent at St. Edward Church in Athens,
a 6 p.m. Mass will be followed by Stations of the Cross and a potluck
dinner. Via Cruces will begin at 7:30 p.m., after the meal. A March 17
reconciliation service begins at 5:30 p.m.
In Atlanta,
Stations of the Cross will be recited at St. Catherine of Siena Church
Fridays at 6 p.m., while Via Cruces begin at 12:30 p.m. Sundays during
Lent. Father Felix Chirapurathel will lead Living the Christian Faith,
an interactive forum, at 6 p.m. Wednesdays during Lent. On March 7, the
first Friday liturgy will include adoration and benediction. An egg
hunt and a coffee social begin at 12:30 p.m. Easter Sunday.
Local Knights at St. William of Vercelli Church in Carthage
will prepare fish dinners Fridays during Lent, with meals served from
5-6:30 p.m. The dinners will be followed by a recitation of the
Stations of the Cross at 6:30 p.m. Parishioners will deliver food and
fruit baskets to shut-ins on March 14. The St. Vincent de Paul
Society’s “Easter Open Door” will be held March 15.
A March 8 day of reflection will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at St. Therese Church in Center,
with priests available for the sacrament of reconciliation. On March
19, Father Jorge Dinguis will lead a 9 p.m. tenebrae service as part of
the parish’s preparation for the Triduum.
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Jacksonville church helping people through tough times
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
JACKSONVILLE – Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jacksonville is preparing to help its community through a difficult time.
The city
recently announced that two companies will be leaving the area this
year – Alliance Data Systems in April and Astro Air in August – taking
approximately 600 jobs. Alliance Data is shutting down its Jacksonville
center. Astro Air is relocating the Jacksonville jobs to Grenada,
Miss., and Juarez, Mexico.
“I think
there’s a real sense of the breath being taken away,” said Father Mark
Kusmirek, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows, of the community’s reaction.
“Both announcements were just out of the blue. It has nothing to do
with the local economy, which seems to be holding steady. It’s just two
companies looking to consolidate costs and maximize profits.”
Father
Kusmirek estimated that some 20-30 people in his parish would be
personally affected by the shutdowns, but said the parish would feel a
much greater impact.
“We certainly anticipate that our St. Vincent de Paul will be seeing an increase in the number of people needing food,” he said.
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PROFILE: RCIA is an amazing thing because it's different each year; having to dig so deep deepened my faith
By JO ANNE FLORES EMBLETON
TYLER
– A parish altar society isn’t a group of old women hovering around the
church, waiting for people to leave so they can keep the place
pristine, but rather it’s a means of anticipating others needs, said Ro
Simmons.
“People think it’s little old ladies who take care of the church, but
we do a lot more than that,” laughed Ro, ticking off a list of various
things her fellow altar society members do at the Cathedral of the
Immaculate Conception.
They provide meals for special occasions, like priest and deacon
ordinations at the cathedral, as well as for priest anniversary
celebrations and special events where the bishop or the cathedral
rector request the organization’s help.
They provide “the bread and the wine (for consecration), the vestments
for clergy and altar servers, the candles used in the church, the gold
vessels that the bishop wanted for the altar – not only at the
cathedral but at St. Paul’s Chapel and St. Mary Magdalene in Flint,” Ro
said.
“We have even given the cathedral several things we didn’t know about,” she added, laughing.
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