Award-winning musician, composer joins St. Thomas Parish for Holy Week services
By: Web Editor | Last Updated: 03/03/2008 09:03
NEWS RELEASE
FROM: St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Parish * 1500 Brookdale Road * Naperville, IL 60563 * (630) 355-8980
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * Feb. 29, 2008
FOR INFORMATION: Robert Frazier (630) 355-8980, ext. 112 * Julie Frazier (630) 355-8980, ext. 111 * or Cheryl J. Marshall (630) 851-8781
Award-winning musician, composer joins St. Thomas Parish for Holy Week services
John Angotti, pianist and award-winning composer of contemporary sacred music, will join St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Parish, 1500 Brookdale Road, Naperville, during its Holy Week and Easter services commemorating the holiest feast of Christianity.
Angotti will sing and conduct the St. Thomas choir during the following services: Mass at 7:30 p.m. on Holy Thursday, March 20; and at both the 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. services on Good Friday, March 21.
He also will join parishioners for Easter Vigil Mass at 7:30 p.m., on Holy Saturday, March 22; and the 9:00 and 10:45 a.m., and 12:15 p.m. Masses on Easter, March 23.
The complete schedule of Holy Week services at St. Thomas Parish begins with Masses the weekend of March 16, Palm Sunday. The Holy Week schedule is:
Palm Sunday, March 16: Masses will be celebrated at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 15; and at 7:30, 9:00 and 10:45 a.m., and 12:15 p.m. Sunday, March 16. Palms, blessed in a brief prayer service preceding each Mass, will be distributed at all Masses. The blessed palms will be carried in procession before Mass to commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem shortly before his crucifixion; the people greeted Jesus by waving palms in joyous welcome. Each year, palms are saved so they can be burned the following year to yield the ashes distributed on Ash Wednesday.
Monday, March 17: A Taizé-style prayer service is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel. Taizé prayer is simple, characterized by a calming, meditative atmosphere, and includes chanting, Scriptural readings, ritual action, and vocal and silent prayer.
Tuesday, March 18: Come Away With Me, half an hour of meditation time, begins at 11:30 a.m. in the chapel. Held on Tuesdays during Lent, these serene breaks recall the quiet time Jesus often took for prayer.
Holy Thursday, March 20: Only one Mass will be celebrated on this day at 7:30 p.m. Families are welcome to bring bread and wine to gift to one another. People also are invited to bring a towel for the foot-washing ritual recalling Christ’s humility when he washed the feet of his apostles at the Last Supper. The church building will be open for Eucharistic adoration and prayer until midnight.
Good Friday, March 21: Two services are scheduled on Good Friday. In the first, the junior and senior high school youth of St. Thomas Parish will dramatize the Stations of the Cross at 3 p.m. in the church. The service will re-enact the 14 “stations,” or “stages,” in the Passion of Christ as a prayerful appreciation of, and a reflection on, events surrounding Christ’s crucifixion.
A Communion service also is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Good Friday in the church and will include a dramatization of the Passion of Our Lord and veneration of the crucifix. The Passion will be dramatized by members of St. Thomas’ Lectors Ministry.
Holy Saturday, March 22: Baskets of food will be blessed at noon Holy Saturday in the gathering area of the church. Tantalizing aromas of a variety of foods permeate the air as people unveil their food to be blessed in a religious tradition common to many European nations. The blessed food is eaten on Easter in celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
Easter Vigil Mass, Saturday, March 22: Those attending the Easter Vigil at 7:30 p.m. are invited to bring bells to ring in celebration of Easter. People also are reminded to bring containers so they can take home blessed Easter water. There will be no 4:30 p.m. Mass.
During the Vigil Mass, individuals who have completed the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (R.C.I.A.) also will be baptized, confirmed and receive Communion for the first time in formal recognition of their joining the Catholic Church.
Easter Sunday, March 23: St. Thomas’ Easter Mass schedule is: 7:30, 9:00 and 10:45 a.m., and 12:15 p.m. in the church. Masses also are scheduled at 9:10 and 10:55 a.m. in the auditorium located inside the church building. There will be no 6:30 p.m. Mass on Easter.
For information, contact either co-director of liturgy and music at St. Thomas Parish, Robert Frazier at (630) 355-8980, ext. 112, or Julie Frazier at (630) 355-8980, ext. 111.
Organized in 1984, the St. Thomas faith community numbers nearly 3,400 households of more than 11,000 people.
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