Monday, May 29, 2006

The Pre-South Bend Takeover Party

Well, they've finally found a use for Maida Temple (known to many of you as the John Paul II Cultural Center/White Elephant).

On June 18, Installation Week in Washington kicks off with a Mass for the whole archdiocese, celebrated by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in thanksgiving for McCarrick's five and a half year stewardship of the church in the nation's capital.

Following the liturgy, a dinner will be held for McCarrick and the priests of the archdiocese in the JPII Center.

Four days later, Archbishop-elect Donald Wuerl will be installed in the Basilica, which the archdiocese uses for most of its larger-scale events. Contrary to the usual practice when an installation Mass is held at a venue other than the cathedral of the place, no Vespers service is scheduled for Installation Eve at St Matthew's Cathedral. At said service, when it's employed, the formal act of canonical possession -- the presentation of the papal letter of appointment to the local college of consultors -- ordinarily takes place. So we'll see all this rolled into one on the 22nd.

Archbishop Wuerl will celebrate his first Mass at St Matthew's on Sunday, the 25th. The following day, with an archdiocesan pilgrimage, the new archbishop leaves for Rome to receive the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI.

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