Saturday, September 3, 2011

A busy weekend

     Labor Day Weekend is usually seen as the last great summer holiday (although around here, school has already begun).  The first Monday of September has the nation observing Labor Day.  Most people have off, and people enjoy the national holiday.

    For me, this weekend has also meant a pilgrimage and a festival.  The festival is that of All Saints Parish in Masontown, Pennsylvania.  This was one of my assignments as pastor (from 1986 to 1992).  It is a great little town on the Western edge of Fayette County and is rural in setting.  All Saints Parish is a great community of people with strong faith and a welcoming heart.  My five years there were wonderful, and they hold a special place in my heart.  One of the activities that I encountered was the annual festival on the church grounds over this weekend.  Then it was four days - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday!  I remember cutting it down to three and eliminating Monday.  It was a great event for the town, the last blast before digging into the routine of the school year.  It was one of the major social events of the larger community.

    I try to go back each year for a visit during festival time to see friends, enjoy good food, and relive memories.  Father John Butler serves as pastor now, and if you are adventurous enough to search out Masontown, I know that they would invite you to join them this weekend.

    The other event happening, again in Fayette County, is the 77th annual Pilgrimage to the Shrine and Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Mount Saint Macrina in Uniontown, the grounds of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Basil the Great.  The annual pilgrimage brings the faithful from all over the country to this Labor Day Weekend event honoring Mary and celebrating the Ruthenian Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church, which is so strong in this area.  A prayerful and powerful expression of faith, the annual pilgrimage is something that I remember attending even as a child.  In those days the numbers were always near 100,000 (Bishop Sheen, whose celebrated in both Rites, would come and draw large crowds).  Now the numbers are in the tens of thousands, and still very impressive.  The Ruthenian Rite population of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pittsburgh numbers some 60,000 Catholics in 85 parishes in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana.  Their Rite is rich in tradition and spirituality.  The Pilgrimage runs the weekend, usually ending Monday morning with Divine Liturgy.  All are welcome.

    Whatever the weekend holds for you, celebrate safely and well.

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