Those who lost their lives in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were remembered atHoly Cross Church on St. Croix at a prayer service entitled "A Patriotic Rosary" on September 11. Especially honored were the Virgin Islanders who have died in the present conflict in Iraq.
The program consisted of prayers, readings and hymns. Prayers were offered for the United States and the Virgin Islands. Participants read inspirational statements from famous patriots: Alexander Hamilton (read by Paul O'Neill), George Washington (read by Ned Jacobs), John Adams (read by Virdim Brown), James Iredell (read by Alfred Wykoff), Jedediah Morse (read by Kenneth Guye), and General E. Lee (read by Robert Kowalski). Alice Maynard, Isabel Evans, Danielle DeChabert and Isabel Cerni, who coordinated the program, led patriotic hymns.
Pictured above, standing left to right, are Mr. Wykoff, Mr. Brown, Mr. O'Neill, Mr. Kowalski and Mr. Guye. Kneeling from left to right, are Mr. Jacobs, Ms. Evans, Ms. Cerni and Ms. DeChabert.
Over 300 parishioners joined Fr. Kenneth Gaddy, CSsR, in celebrating his 25th Anniversary Jubilee of Religious Profession as a Redemptorist at St. Patrick Church on St. Croix on August 26. Mass was followed by a luncheon in St. Gerard Hall with music and tributes to Fr. Gaddy.
Responding to the July 2007 publication of Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Propio on the Tridentine Mass, Fr. Patrick Lynch, CSsR, Pastor of Holy Cross Church on St. Croix, will celebrate a Latin Mass at his parish on Sunday, October 28, at 11:00 a.m. The choir has begun rehearsing the Gregorian Missa de Angelis.
The Motu Propio eased the way for more widespread use of the Roman Missal published by Blessed John XXIII in 1962. This will be the first Latin Mass in the diocese in at least 10 years, and the first Tridentine Mass in decades.