Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Celebrations for Pope’s jubilee

A CORK parish will join with millions of Catholics worldwide to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Pope’s ordination with a week of prayers, concluding with a Latin Mass.

St Peter and Paul’s parish in the heart of the city centre will mark Pope Benedict XVI’s Diamond Jubilee on June 29, the Solemnity of St Peter and Paul, with some 60 hours of the Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The celebrations will begin with Mass in English according to the Roman Missal of 1970, at 12.30pm on Tuesday, June 21.

Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will take place from 1pm to 6pm, and will continue every day from 9am to 12 noon and from 1pm to 6pm, up to and including Wednesday June 29, the jubilee day. 

The celebration will conclude at 6pm that evening with a solemn High Mass in Latin according to the Roman Missal of 1962.

That Mass will include a homily from leading Irish theologian, Very Reverend Vincent Twomey SVD, Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology of the Pontifical University, Maynooth, who was one of the Pope’s doctoral students. 

Parish Priest, Rev Dr Patrick McCarthy, extended an open invitation to people to attend.

"This is a concept called a ‘spiritual bouquet’ — made up of people’s prayers. A card detailing the prayers offered will be sent to the Pope afterwards so that he will know personally that the people of Cork prayed for him."