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Liturgy

The Sisters of Charity Halifax will celebrate 175 years of service this May.

On May 11, 1849 four sisters from the New York Sisters of Charity arrived in Halifax and began their ministry at Saint Mary’s School and Convent on Barrington Street.  As they served the people of Halifax at the time, young women expressed interest in ministry wanted to join the religious community.

Our Lenten journey is more than half way through! For those wanting to celebrate the important liturgies of Holy Week and Easter at the mother church of the Archdiocese,  below are the liturgy schedules for Saint Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Halifax and Saint Ambrose Co-Cathedral in Yarmouth.

Chemin de croix et célébration de la Cène du Seigneur (Jeudi Saint) en français.

Vous trouverez sur cette affiche toutes les seules célébrations offertes en français dans la période du Carême et dans le temps pascal : un chemin de croix, le vendredi 22 mars et le 28 mars, le jeudi saint.  Ces célébrations se dérouleront toutes à l’église de Saint-Vincent de Paul dans la paroisse Christ-Roi dont la communauté catholique francophone fait partie. Nous lançons une invitation particulière aux francophones pratiquants dans d’autres paroisses de venir nous joindre à l’occasion du jeudi saint.  Nous préparons, dans un esprit familial, un bel environnement de recueillement au tombeau de notre Seigneur qui suivra la messe.  

A reminder to mark your calendars for the annual Chrism Mass on Tuesday, March 26 at 12 noon at Saint Mary’s Cathedral Basilica.  This important diocesan liturgy gathers the whole presbytery with the Archbishop and the people of God during Holy Week.  At this Mass the sacred oils used in various sacraments during the coming year are blessed by the Archbishop who then distributes them to the pastors to bring back to their parishes.

For those preparing for baptism this Easter, Lent is the final period of preparation. After the Rite of Election, those who were catechumens are now known as the Elect, and part of our duty as the local Catholic community is to pray for them! Whether you have Elect within your parish or not, we invite all of you to include these people in your prayers this week as they look forward to being formally welcomed into the Church. On the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays in Lent they will celebrate “the scrutinies”, which are rituals that date back to the early days of the Church and are linked to the Gospel read for Mass, and take place after the Homily.