Dear Parishioners,
As Lent quickly approaches, I just want to share with you many of the events that we will have here at Holy Innocents.
We have many opportunities for confession during Lent. A priest will be available after all the weekday 9 am Masses (other than Friday), our normal Saturday confessions at 5pm, and I will be hearing confessions every Thursday during Lent from 4:30 to 5:30 pm (except for March 23 because we have Confirmations that day). We are even hosting a Deanery Penance Service on April 5th at 7 pm. So, please make time to come to confession this Lent. It’s very important that we go to confession at least once year.
On Fridays in Lent we will also be having Stations of the Cross at 7 pm every Friday. The School’s 8th Grade class will also have Living Stations of the Cross on April 7 at 10am. Those who have never participated in the stations should really give it a chance. It’s a great devotion that unites us to the passion of our Lord. The stations developed at a time when it was too dangerous for Christians to travel to Jerusalem. So, instead, they would meditate on the passion of Christ.
Lastly, we will have something new this year: we’ll be hosting a Stational Mass on March 29th at 7pm. A Stational Mass is a Roman Lenten devotional where on each day of Lent, people make pilgrimages to a certain church within a town or city. In Rome, each day is dedicated to one of the minor basilicas. In our Deanery, we designated a day for each church. (The full list of dates and locations will be provided once everything is confirmed. Also, not every day of Lent is covered.) It’s an opportunity to visit other local churches as well as show others what our church is like.
Lent is a great time to try new things and really try to live a holier life. So, if any of these sound interesting to you, feel free to participate.
God bless,
Fr. Carter
P.S. On a completely different note, I’m considering hosting a Family Board Game night. Are there any families that would like to help me host such an event? If so, please contact me via email: toddcarterpriest@gmail.com