Diocese of Scranton Announces Annual Holy Week Services  

Holy Week services throughout the Diocese of Scranton, which recall the passion and death of Jesus Christ, begin this Sunday, Palm Sunday, March 16.

Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D., Bishop of Scranton, will preside at the annual Holy Week services at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Scranton.

The liturgies on Palm Sunday will include the blessing and distribution of Palm branches, which play a symbolic role on this day since they were first used to commemorate the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem. Masses at the Cathedral will be celebrated at 6:30 and 10 a.m., 12:15 and 5 p.m.

The 12:15 liturgy will be a Pontifical Mass in conjunction with the observance of World Youth Day. Accordingly, Bishop Martino is calling on the youth of the Diocese to join him at the Cathedral for this liturgy. The Bishop will remind the young people of their responsibility to be active witnesses to their faith and missionaries to others.

As a part of this Palm Sunday celebration, students in grades 8 and 12 from Catholic schools and parishes who have received Bishop’s Youth Awards for 2008 will lead the procession from Holy Cross High School (Scranton campus) to the Cathedral. Young people from parish youth groups and Catholic schools of the Diocese are invited to join the recipients for the blessing of the palms and the procession.

On the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, Masses will be celebrated at 6:30 and 8 a.m., and 12:10 p.m. On Monday and Wednesday, confessions will be heard at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 4 p.m., and at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

Priests serving throughout the Diocese will gather at the Cathedral on Tuesday, March 18, at 4 p.m. for the Solemn Pontifical Mass of the Chrism, at which the Holy Oils used during the conferral of several sacraments throughout the Church year will be blessed. Bishop Martino will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

During this Mass, priests and deacons, along with lay representatives from Diocesan parishes, acknowledge the Bishop’s role as the unifying symbol for Church governance and pastoral guidance. Priests will renew their ordination promises and receive the Holy Chrism, the Oil of the Sick and the Oil of Catechumens to be used in the conferral of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick.

The three most sacred days of the Church’s liturgical year, known as the Sacred Triduum, begin on Holy Thursday, March 20. Morning Prayer and meditation on the Holy Eucharist will be held at 8 a.m. The Pontifical Concelebrated Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper will begin at 5 p.m. Bishop Martino will be principal celebrant for this commemoration of the Last Supper that Christ shared with his 12 apostles. Night Prayer and recitation of the Rosary will occur at 9 p.m.

The Sacred Triduum is a solemn time of prayer, reflection and preparation for the Church’s central feast of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, and serves as a reminder to the faithful of Christ’s gifts to the apostles on the night before He died: the sacraments of Holy Eucharist, the gift of His own body, blood, soul and divinity; and Holy Orders, the ordained priesthood. It is also the setting at which Bishop Martino, assisted by deacons, will perform the solemn and ancient re-enactment of Christ’s washing of the feet of the apostles.

Good Friday, March 21, is the only day of the Church’s liturgical year on which the Church suspends the daily celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as Catholics commemorate the Lord’s Passion, crucifixion and death for the redemption of humanity. It is a day of fast and abstinence.

Good Friday services at the Cathedral will begin at 8 a.m. with recitation of the Rosary and Morning Prayer. From noon to 3 p.m., Father Charles P. Connor, Ph.D., rector of the Cathedral, will present a series of discourses on the Seven Last Words (or phrases) of Our Lord from the Cross. These meditations will be interspersed with sacred music and spiritual readings. The Stations of the Cross will be observed at 3 p.m.

The Pontifical Liturgy of Good Friday will begin at 5 p.m. Bishop Martino will lead the service, which is comprised of a unique three-part ceremony of Scripture reading of the Passion of Christ, Veneration of the Cross and distribution of the Holy Eucharist. Then confessions will be heard from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The observance of Holy Saturday, March 22, will begin at 8 a.m. with recitation of the Rosary and Morning Prayer. Confessions will be heard from 10:30 a.m. to noon, and 2:30 to 4 p.m. The Solemn Pontifical Easter Vigil and Mass of the Resurrection will begin at 8 p.m., with Bishop Martino as the principal celebrant.

The Easter Vigil ceremony begins in darkness, with a sense of watchful anticipation of the Resurrection of Christ. As this most solemn celebration begins, the priest will bless the New Fire and light the Paschal Candle either outside or in the rear of the church. The focus of the liturgy is on the new life of the Risen Christ.

On Holy Saturday, the 269 people who have participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and Children (RCIA) this year will be officially welcomed at Easter Vigil services at many parishes throughout the Diocese. They join tens of thousands of other individuals throughout the country who will become fully-initiated Catholics at Easter this year. Parishes will welcome these individuals into full communion with the Church during the observance of the Easter Vigil.

The most joyous day in the Church year is Easter Sunday, March 23. Bishop Martino will be principal celebrant and homilist at the 12:15 p.m. Pontifical Mass of the Resurrection at the Cathedral. Additional Easter Sunday Masses at the Cathedral will take place at 6:30 and 10 a.m., and at 5 p.m.

Belief in the central mystery of the Risen Savior unites Christianity in His promise of life after death that can be achieved despite the suffering and despair of human life. Christians celebrate the Risen Lord’s sacrifice for the redemption of the sins of man after recalling the events in His life which led to His passion and death during Lent and Holy Week. During the Easter season, they renew their hope for eternal life after their own struggles, sufferings and deaths, and look forward to new lives of glory with the Lord. 

CTV Covering Holy Week Services 

Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton (CTV) will provide live coverage of the following Holy Week celebrations at St. Peter’s Cathedral: the Palm Sunday Mass at 12:15 p.m., the Chrism Mass on Tuesday at 4 p.m., the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday at 5 p.m., the Good Friday services consisting of the discourses on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord from noon to 3 p.m. and the celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 5 p.m., and the Easter Vigil liturgy on Saturday at 8 p.m.

CTV will also carry EWTN’s coverage of the following Holy Week services from Rome:

--Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square with Pope Benedict XVI, live at 4:30 a.m. with an encore at 8 p.m.

--Chrismal Mass with Pope Benedict on Thursday, March 20, live at 4:30 a.m.

--Mass of the Last Supper with Pope Benedict on Holy Thursday, live at 12:30 p.m., with an encore at midnight.

--Way of the Cross with Pope Benedict on Good Friday, live at 8 p.m.

--Celebration of the Lord’s Passion with Pope Benedict on Good Friday, live at midnight.

--Easter Vigil Mass with Pope Benedict on Holy Saturday, live at 4 p.m., with an encore at midnight.

--Easter Sunday Mass with Pope Benedict, live at 5:30 a.m., with an encore at noon.

--Pope Benedict’s Easter Message and Blessing, live at 7 a.m. with encores at 1:30 p.m. and Monday at 10 a.m.