MISSION STATEMENT
We the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Scranton,
in union with our Holy Father, the Pope, are called
through baptism to share in the mission which Jesus
Christ has entrusted to the One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church. Priests, deacons, religious and laity,
under the leadership of our Bishop, cooperate to
proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the teaching of
the Church, to celebrate the sacraments, especially the
Eucharist, for the salvation of all, and to witness by
grace to the Kingdom of God so as to promote a culture
of life, justice and peace.
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This Issue:
|
| Holy
Week Services Begin Palm Sunday |
| Catholic
Television Will Air Services |
| Reservations
Continue for Pilgrimage |
| Support
Needed for Marriage Amendment |
| Training
Continues for Safe Environment Program |
| Notice
Regarding Sexual Abuse of a Person Under
Eighteen Years of Age by Ordained or Lay
Personnel of the Diocese of Scranton |
| Newsletter
Delayed Because of Technical Problem |
Holy Week Services Begin Palm Sunday |
Holy Week
services throughout the Diocese of Scranton,
which recall the passion and death of Jesus
Christ, begin Palm Sunday.
Bishop Joseph F.
Martino will preside at the annual Holy Week
services at St. Peter’s Cathedral, as well as
a special liturgy marking the solemn entrance
into Holy Week at King’s College in
Wilkes-Barre.
On Palm Sunday,
Bishop Martino will gather the youth of the
Diocese for a Mass at 3 p.m. at the King’s
College gymnasium. Youth from the 11 counties of
the Diocese will join the Bishop in
contemplating the mystery of the Passion during
this special liturgy. Preceding the Mass, Bishop
Martino and Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty
will present the Bishops’ Youth Awards to more
than 400 8th- and 12th-graders at the Wyoming
Valley Catholic Youth Center and the King’s
gym, respectively.
On Tuesday at 4
p.m., hundreds of priests serving throughout the
Diocese will gather at St. Peter’s Cathedral
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. Bishop
Dougherty, Bishop Emeritus James C. Timlin and
priests of the Diocese will concelebrate.
The three most
sacred days of the Church’s liturgical year,
known as the Sacred Triduum, begin on Holy
Thursday evening with the 5 p.m. Pontifical
Concelebrated Evening Mass of the Lord’s
Supper at the Cathedral. Bishop Martino will be
principal celebrant and homilist for this
commemoration of the Last Supper that Christ
shared with his 12 apostles.
Early morning
confessions will be heard at the Cathedral on
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week at
7:30 a.m. Confessions will also be heard Monday
and Wednesday 2:30 to 4 p.m.; on Good Friday 7
to 8 p.m., and Holy Saturday 10:30 a.m. to noon
and 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Morning Prayer
will take place at 8 a.m. in the Cathedral each
day of the Triduum. On Holy Thursday, the Rosary
will be recited at 8:30 p.m. followed by Night
Prayer.
Good Friday
services at the Cathedral will begin at noon
with a series of discourses on the Seven Last
Words (or phrases) of Our Lord from the Cross.
Father Charles P. Connor, Ph.D., rector of the
Cathedral, will offer meditations interspersed
with sacred music and spiritual readings. These
discourses will be followed by the traditional
Liturgy of Good Friday at 3 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.
Stations of the Cross will follow at
approximately 4:30 p.m.
On Holy Saturday,
the more than 250 adults who have declared their
intention to join the Catholic Church as part of
the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
this year will be officially welcomed at Easter
Vigil services at many parishes throughout the
Diocese. Bishop Martino will be principal
celebrant and homilist at the Cathedral’s
Vigil Mass at 8 p.m.
On Easter Sunday,
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. |
Catholic Television Will Air Services |
CTV will provide
live coverage of the following Holy Week
services at St. Peter’s Cathedral: the Chrism
Mass on Tuesday at 4 p.m., the Holy Thursday
Mass at 5 p.m., the Good Friday services
beginning at noon, and the Easter Vigil liturgy
on Saturday at 8 p.m.
CTV will also air
satellite coverage of the following Holy Week
services from Rome:
--Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square with
Pope Benedict XVI, live at 3:30 a.m. with an
encore at 8 p.m.
--Rite of Reconciliation with Pope Benedict on
Tuesday, April 11, at 11:30 a.m.
--Chrismal Mass with Pope Benedict on Thursday,
April 13, at 3:30 a.m.
--Mass of the Last Supper with Pope Benedict on
Thursday, April 13, live at 11:30 a.m., with an
encore at midnight.
--Celebration of Our Lord’s Passion with Pope
Benedict on Friday, April 14, at 11 a.m. (This
broadcast will switch to the Good Friday
services at the Cathedral at noon.) An encore
broadcast of the Passion service from Rome will
be shown in its entirety at midnight.
--Way of the Cross with Pope Benedict from the
Colosseum on Friday, April 14, at 8 p.m.
--Holy Saturday Paschal Vigil with Pope Benedict
on April 15, live at 4 p.m. with an encore at
midnight.
--Easter Sunday Mass with Pope Benedict in St.
Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 16, live at
4:30 a.m. with an encore at noon. |
Reservations Continue for Pilgrimage |
Reservations
continue to be accepted for the 16th
Diocesan-wide pilgrimage to the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC
on Saturday, April 29.
Buses departing
from various sites throughout the Diocese and
leaving at different times will arrive with
pilgrims at the Shrine by approximately 11:00
a.m. The schedule for the day includes a brief
presentation about the Shrine, the recitation of
the Rosary, confessions, and Mass. Departure
from Washington will take place immediately
following the completion of Mass, at about 5:15
p.m.
The cost is $39
per person. Please make your reservations with
the pastor or parish pilgrimage promoter or call
the Office for Parish Life, 570-207-2213, ext.
1017. Youth groups and other parish
organizations welcome! |
Support Needed for Marriage Amendment |
Your support is
urgently needed to protect marriage as a union
between one man and one woman. Two weeks ago the
Pennsylvania House State Government Committee
reported the marriage protection amendment out
of committee by a slim vote of 15-13. The
proposed amendment to the PA Constitution reads:
“Only a marriage
between one man and one woman shall be valid or
recognized as a marriage in this Commonwealth,
and neither the Commonwealth nor any of its
political subdivisions shall create or recognize
a legal status identical or substantially
equivalent to that of marriage for unmarried
individuals.”
The full House may
vote on this measure very soon. Those who oppose
maintaining the traditional understanding of
marriage are already bombarding legislators with
arguments against the amendment. We who believe
that marriage is both a natural institution and
a sacred union rooted in God’s plan for
creation must raise our voices.
The Pennsylvania
Catholic Conference (PCC) urges you to
immediately contact your state representative
and state senator. At www.pacatholic.org you can
easily identify your legislators by your zip
code, compose a message with sample paragraphs
or in your own words, and send an e-mail. Or you
may obtain your legislators’ addresses from
your phone book or newspaper and call or write
the following message:
“As a concerned
citizen, I urge you to support the marriage
protection amendment to the Pennsylvania
Constitution. Pass House Bill 2381 (or Senate
Bill 1084) without amendments. The amendment
language is critical to protecting the
definition of marriage that is best for
families.” |
Training Continues for Safe Environment Program |
The Diocese of
Scranton is continuing efforts to create safe
environments for children and young people.
Among these efforts is a program to train all
employees and volunteers how to recognize and
prevent sexual abuse. The Diocese has been using
the VIRTUS program, “Protecting God’s
Children,” to accomplish this goal.
The program was
introduced in the spring of 2003. Since then,
more than 360 training sessions have been held
and approximately 13,000 individuals –
including the Diocesan clergy, staff, teachers,
coaches, parents and volunteers – across the
11-county Diocese have been trained in ways to
recognize and report child sexual abuse.
The VIRTUS program
is ongoing. The upcoming schedule includes the
following training sessions:
April 11, College Misericordia, Dallas, 4:00
p.m.
April 20, St. Vincent School, Honesdale, 9:30
a.m.
April 23, St. Luke Parish, Stroudsburg, 2:00
p.m.
April 26, Epiphany School, Sayre, 6:00 p.m.
June 6, CYC, Wilkes-Barre, 5:00 p.m.
June 7, CYC, Wilkes-Barre, 5:00 p.m.
For more
information about VIRTUS training, contact Sarah
Mountain, Diocesan VIRTUS coordinator, in the
Office for Parish Life at 570-207-2213. |
Notice Regarding Sexual Abuse of a Person Under
Eighteen Years of Age by Ordained or Lay
Personnel of the Diocese of Scranton |
Such an act
should be reported to the Diocese by calling the
Victim Assistance Coordinator (570-344-5216) or
the Chancellor (570-207-2216) or the Vicar for
Priests (570-207-2269).
Upon receiving a
report of this kind, the Diocese of Scranton is
committed to assisting victims or survivors of
sexual abuse in their pursuit of emotional and
spiritual well-being. |
Newsletter Delayed Because of Technical Problem |
| Because of a
technical problem with the Diocesan website
computer server, this issue of News Briefing
could not be e-mailed yesterday (April 6) on its
regular schedule. We apologize for the delay. |
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