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| Topic: Parish Mission,
Holy Week 2005 |
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Date: March 20-23, 2005
(Sunday masses, 7:00pm Mon.-Wed.) |
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Sacred Heart's 2005 Holy
Week Parish Mission will be led by two Fathers of Mercy priests. For nearly
175 years, the primary apostolate of the Fathers of Mercy Congregation has
been and continues to be to preach the Mercy of God at parish missions and
retreats throughout
Europe
and the United States. There will be a morning and
evening session available. |
[From the Fathers
of Mercy Online]
Fathers of Mercy devote themselves to the apostolate of parish missions and retreats, where they seek
to, "inflame all the members of the parish with the Infinite Love of Almighty God, and to call them to receive the Merciful Love of the Heart of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." The spirit of the Congregation of the Fathers of Mercy is modeled from the "the Father of the Prodigal Son", as well as the scripture verse: "He was moved with mercy" (cf. Luke 15:20) as their motto. Each Father of Mercy priest wears a black Roman cassock adorned with the Congregation's emblem - the Return of the Prodigal Son.
The Congregation was originally established to re-evangelize post-Revolutionary France, where many had fallen away from the Catholic Faith. The same work of re-evangelization is needed in parishes throughout the United States to overcome the current Culture of Death. According to Pope John Paul II, "the traditional parish mission apparently abandoned too readily is without substitute for the periodic and vigorous renewal of the Christian life and must be restored and innovated."
A typical Fathers of Mercy parish mission will include; a Eucharistic holy hour with preaching before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Holy Mass, and an opportunity to receive a plenary indulgence. Topics to be addressed during mission sessions may include; the fundamental truths of the Catholic Faith, the Ten Commandments, the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to our Blessed Mother, and the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Penance.
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