CHARLOTTE — Watch on-demand the Holy Week and Easter in special liturgies streamed live from St. Patrick Cathedral celebrated by Bishop Peter Jugis.
The liturgies at the cathedral commemorating Jesus’ Passion, death and resurrection were streamed on the Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel.
Watch on-demand:
- Palm Sunday, March 28 Mass. Watch the Mass on-demand: https://youtu.be/fBgDtZR8eF4
- Chrism Mass, March 30. Watch the Mass on-demand: https://youtu.be/NdrvDHdWXiQ
- Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper April 1. Watch the Mass on-demand: https://youtu.be/GBvLaGoaFyg
- Good Friday, Veneration of the Cross April 2. Watch on-demand: https://youtu.be/VuXtPWDjHBs
- Easter Vigil, Saturday, April 3. Watch on-demand: https://youtu.be/2tfzpqHchK4
Complete coverage from Holy Week in the tabs below:
Palm Sunday
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Bishop Jugis: Let us accompany Jesus, who ‘offers Himself as the sacrifice for our sins’
CHARLOTTE — As the crowds accompanied Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we too can accompany Jesus, Bishop Peter Jugis preached at the start of Holy Week March 28.Before a limited-capacity congregation at St. Patrick Cathedral, Bishop Jugis celebrated Palm Sunday Mass – the liturgy that begins by describing Jesus entering Jerusalem among a jubilant crowd and ends by recounting the crowd calling for His crucifixion and jeering Him as He died.
This year’s celebration stood in marked contrast to Palm Sunday one year ago, when churches were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and worship services were curtailed and held with no worshipers present.
This year, churches across the Diocese of Charlotte are open with capacity limits and health precautions in place, and priests are encouraging people to look with hope to a season of renewal after a painful year.
At St. Patrick Cathedral, the Palm Sunday liturgy began with the bishop blessing palm branches and leading a procession from the Marian grotto into the cathedral.
As he looked out over the limited crowd gathered around the grotto, Bishop Jugis smiled and noted that Jesus was present.
“We know that He is with us here, because He says wherever two or three gather in His name, there He is in their midst,” he said.
“We ask that the Lord Jesus, who is now with us, also accompany us as we make our way into the church with this procession, and that we in our hearts also accompany the Lord,” he said.Later during his homily, Bishop Jugis encouraged people to draw closer to Christ this Holy Week and to acknowledge our sins and the forgiveness that Jesus brings through sacrifice on the cross.
The Passion Gospel, which is read at the Palm Sunday Mass, recounts Jesus’ Passion – from the Last Supper to His Agony in the Garden, to His arrest and trial, and finally to His crucifixion and burial.
The story serves to remind us of Jesus’ mission of salvation, Bishop Jugis noted.
“We see here, in this Gospel reading today, the exact explanation of why Jesus has come … to make of Himself an offering for the forgiveness of our sins,” he said. “He offers Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, for all of our sins against God, for all of our sins against our neighbor; sins of thought, word and deed.”
“We are all able to relate to this Gospel, and to the love our Blessed Lord shows us by offering His life, for we all have experience of sin – children of Adam and Eve that we are,” he said.
Quoting from Isaiah Chapter 53, the bishop said, “It was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured. … He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Through His suffering, my servant shall justify many and their guilt He shall bear. He shall take away the sins of many and win pardon for their offenses.”
The commemoration of Jesus’ Passion and death leads us inexorably to His resurrection at Easter, he said, and to the hope of heaven and eternal life with God.
“There is no hope without this gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of Himself,” he said. “Jesus is our hope!”
“As we approach the celebration of the sacred Easter Triduum – which is the feast of our salvation, the most important feast day of the whole year (and) of entire history – with humble and grateful hearts, let us direct our love and all of our attention to Jesus, our Savior,” the bishop concluded.
Holy Week and Easter services will continue with livestreams on the Diocese of Charlotte’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/dioceseofcharlotte, as follows:
- Chrism Mass – March 30 at 10 a.m.
- Mass of the Lord’s Supper – April 1 at 7 p.m.
- Good Friday – April 2 at 3 p.m.
- Easter Vigil – April 3 at 8 p.m.
St. Patrick Cathedral will livestream Easter Sunday Mass April 4 starting at 11 a.m. on its YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/StPatricksCathedralNC.
Go online to www.stpatricks.org for details.
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
Chrism Mass
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Joyful Chrism Mass brings priests of the Charlotte diocese together for first time since pandemic began
CHARLOTTE — It was a joyful and welcome sight after a year of separation and distance.
Priests traveled from across western North Carolina to St. Patrick Cathedral March 30 for the Diocese of Charlotte's annual Chrism Mass, a Holy Week tradition in which they gather around their bishop, renew their priestly promises to the Church and assist in the blessing of sacramental oils.
Last year’s COVID-19 pandemic closed parishes during Holy Week and the Chrism Mass – which brought together more than 100 priests the prior year – had to be livestreamed from a near-empty cathedral.
A year later, with hopeful signs that the pandemic may be abating, a group of clergy were again able to gather in person for the celebration – while also remaining safely distanced in the pews and modifying a few elements of the liturgy for health precautions. And the Mass was still livestreamed so that people of the diocese could participate virtually, since the cathedral’s capacity is limited to 150 people as a safeguard during the pandemic.
Addressing his brother priests sitting spaced apart in the pews, Bishop Peter Jugis acknowledged that God is inviting us to go beyond the hardship, fear and isolation of the past year and connect with the faithful.
"It's always a joy to come together with brother priests for this Chrism Mass, and this year fortunately we are able to have greater in-person participation. But whether we are personally present or participating remotely via livestreaming, the presbyterate unites as one body for the renewal of our priestly promises and the blessing of oils and consecration of the sacred chrism," he said.
"As COVID restrictions continue to loosen ever so gradually their grip on society, what our parishioners most need to experience is the joy of returning to church and Mass. They want the joy of being able to say (as) in the words of the psalm (Ps 122), ‘I rejoiced when I heard them say: let us go to the house of the Lord and now our feet are standing within your gates...’ The time of fear, anxiety, stress and isolation brought on by the pandemic this past year is beginning to come to an end. And the faithful are ready to move forward."
"God is now impelling us to set out anew in our ministry – God who is eternal newness," Bishop Jugis said. And that means connecting "personally with so many parishioners who have been forced to the fringes of Church life, and welcome them back to church and Mass."
"It’s a new moment, and we are about to experience an explosion of joy as restrictions continue to loosen. A new moment is dawning for all of us."
"We are here to bring the joy of our priestly anointing to those whom we serve," he said.
He continued, "Jesus says, ‘I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you.' The vocation of the parish priest is to be the spiritual father of the faithful entrusted in his care, to be close to the people. You make available to them the graces of the sacraments to help them grow in holiness as children of God. You help form in their minds and hearts the teachings of Christ. And you accompany them on the way to eternal life and the glory of heaven. We share as priests in the anointing of Christ, our High Priest, and (we are) inspired by the words of today's gospel 'to bring His glad tidings and the oil of gladness to His people once again.'"
Among those on the altar concelebrating the Chrism Mass were Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor, and Father John Putnam, judicial vicar. Father Julio Dominguez, vicar of Hispanic Ministry, and Father Christopher Gober, diocesan vocations director, were among the celebrants remaining spaced apart in the pews.
In an expression of unity, all the priests stood during the blessing of the sacred chrism with their hands outstretched, joining with Bishop Jugis in prayer as he performed the blessing rite.
The holy oils blessed at the Chrism Mass are used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and anointing of the sick, as well as for ordination of priests and consecration of churches and altars.
After Mass, deacons divided the blessed oils into smaller oil stocks that will be distributed to all 92 parishes and missions across the diocese for use in sacramental celebrations throughout the upcoming year.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos by SueAnn Howell, senior reporter.
‘Pray for the priests and deacons of the diocese’
HUNTERSVILLE — Father Alfonso Gámez told parishioners at St. Mark Church that he was looking forward to attending his first Chrism Mass as a priest later that morning. The young priest offered daily Mass Tuesday at the church before traveling to Charlotte to attend his first annual Chrism Mass with Bishop Peter Jugis and fellow clergy.
Last year’s Chrism Mass was celebrated with virtually no one present because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with priests remaining at their separate parishes and instead watching a YouTube livestream from St. Patrick Cathedral.
Father Gámez and his fellow 2019 ordinands, Father Michael Carlson and Father Britt Taylor, as well as last year’s newly ordained Father Jacob Mlakar and Father Jonathan Torres, have not attended a Chrism Mass in person until today.
Since their ordinations, they and the other clergy of the Diocese of Charlotte have worked with creativity and determination to implement health protocols to prevent virus spread at their churches while the pandemic has raged in their communities. The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 6,600 people in the 46 counties of the diocese since the pandemic began, according to March 29 data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
“At the Chrism Mass, you renew your vows in front of the bishop and with all your brother priests. I’m excited and looking forward to this today,” Father Gámez said March 30.
The Chrism Mass is a beautiful sign of the unity and apostolic nature of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ, he reflected.
Not only do the priests renew their priestly promises to the Church in front of the bishop at this Mass, they help bless the oils used in the sacramental life of the Church.
“Those oils will baptize individuals and babies, and they will be used for the last rites of all the individuals who will die,” he said.
The Chrism Mass “shows that all the priests throughout western North Carolina all start at the cathedral – they are all an extension of the bishop. Everything that a priest or deacon does is an extension from him, and by succession, it is an extension from one of the 12 Apostles and by extension of that, it’s ultimately Christ who is doing all these things.”
“It is a beautiful sort of manifestation – a real, tangible and visible manifestation of the communion of the Church – that begins with Christ Himself, handed down to the Apostles, handed down to their successors, handed down ultimately to Bishop Jugis, and then handed down to his … priests, who then go out and extend God's grace to His people.”
“This is a very beautiful thing to realize that wherever the sacraments are being manifested, we are in communion … (with) the Church. It is not just St. Mark or our community here, but we are part of a greater reality that even transcends time,” he said.
“I ask you today, especially at this Mass, to pray for the priests and deacons of the diocese and to pray for the bishop himself, that we can minister faithfully and stay faithful to our vows that we've made to God, and ultimately to you as well.”
— Catholic News Herald. Amy Burger contributed
Holy Thursday
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Holy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ willing sacrifice for our salvation
‘An expression of Jesus’ love for us’
'He’s giving us a model to follow: charity, which is love of our neighbor because of the love of God that we have in our heart.' — Bishop Peter Jugis
CHARLOTTE — On Holy Thursday, Bishop Peter Jugis celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Patrick Cathedral. The Holy Thursday liturgy April 1 marked the start of the Triduum, the three holy days preceding the Resurrection of the Lord at Easter.
Unlike last year when churches were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and all Holy Week liturgies had to be streamed online, this year people were able to gather spaced apart in the pews in limited numbers in accordance with public health protocols.
The Mass of the Lord's Supper memorializes Jesus' celebration of the Passover meal, His washing the feet of His disciples, His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His betrayal and arrest. It also commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the priesthood and the Mass that we still celebrate today in His memory.
Jesus’ actions on Holy Thursday and leading up to His crucifixion on Good Friday illustrate how Jesus “loves to the end,” Bishop Jugis said in his homily. “The proper way to understand what is happening to Jesus these days is (as) an expression of His love.”
“Jesus is coming to the end,” the bishop explained. “He is coming to the supreme moment of His life – the reason He came, for the forgiveness of sins and for our salvation, by offering His life as the ransom for our salvation.”
Jesus willingly offers up His life when He is arrested, tortured and crucified. “He wills that, He wants that,” Bishop Jugis said. “It’s a sign of His love for us.”
“Everything He does, to the very end, is an expression of His great love for us.”
Furthermore, Jesus commands His disciples to follow His example of sacrificial love: “As I have done, you are to do.”
“He’s giving us a model to follow: charity, which is love of our neighbor because of the love of God that we have in our heart,” Bishop Jugis said. “Charity is unselfish love …thinking only of the good of others, as Jesus does.”
Not only is this the theme of the holy days of the Triduum, Bishop Jugis noted, it is the theme for this year’s Diocese of Charlotte Eucharistic Congress: “As I Have Loved You,” taken from the Gospel of John (13:34). The annual gathering of Catholics from across western North Carolina is scheduled for Sept. 17-18 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
The entire Scripture passage is what we should take to heart, the bishop said: “ As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”“Charity – that is what we are celebrating, the charity of Jesus Christ, which is a model: the giving of His life … for our salvation,” he said. “So, also, we are to offer ourselves in love (and) in service to one another.”
At the end of the Holy Thursday Mass, altars in every church were stripped bare, candles and lights were extinguished, and the Blessed Sacrament was transferred to a temporary altar of repose until Easter – outwardly demonstrating the sense of the Church's bereavement during the time of Christ's Passion and burial.
Catholics then spent time in Eucharistic Adoration, recalling Jesus' words to His sleepy disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?"
On Good Friday, no Mass is celebrated.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos by SueAnn Howell, senior reporter.
At top: Bishop Peter Jugis elevates the Host during the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Above: he carries the Blessed Sacrament, taken from the tabernacle in the cathedral, in a procession to an altar of repose for Holy Thursday night.
Good Friday
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‘He loved us to the very end’
Solemn Good Friday Cross Veneration held April 2
CHARLOTTE — Parishioners were once again allowed the opportunity to solemnly venerate the cross inside St. Patrick Cathedral April 2 during a Good Friday liturgy celebrated by Bishop Peter Jugis.
COVID-19 pandemic restrictions last year during Holy Week prevented the faithful from indoor worship, forcing liturgies to be livestreamed, and on Good Friday, meant outdoor veneration of the cross in front of the main doors of the cathedral.
During the liturgy – held at 3 p.m., the hour Jesus Christ died on the cross – a limited-capacity number of people gathered to recall the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son for the salvation of souls. It included the reading of the Passion narrative, thus taking the faithful on the tortuous journey Christ suffered from the Garden of Gethsemane through His crucifixion on Golgotha.
“He loved us to the very end,” Bishop Jugis said in his homily. "During Jesus’ entire life – everything that He said, everything that He did – was an expression of His love for humanity (and) our salvation.
“And here He is approaching the end of His life, the supreme moment of His life, still an expression of His love for us."
Due to health concerns with the ongoing pandemic, the faithful were permitted to venerate the cross by bowing or genuflecting momentarily, instead of a customary kiss of the cross.
The liturgy also included two Solemn Intercessions for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, prayers that were introduced on Good Friday last year by Pope Francis.
— Catholic News Herald. Photos by SueAnn Howell, senior reporter.
For Good Friday, the Vatican also suggests parishes add the two solemn intercessions which it introduced for Good Friday last year to pray for an end to the pandemic:
XI: Let us pray also, dear friends,
to Our Almighty Father
for those who are stricken ill by the coronavirus,
that he may wipe the face of the earth from disease,
give hope to the sick, comfort to families,
and strengthen doctors and nurses with courage.(Prayer in silence. Then the priest says:)
Almighty God, creator of all that is good,
who sent Your Son as the Divine Physician,
cast out disease and the current attack against us,
comfort those who suffer, and bring close to yourself
all who are in danger of death.Through Christ our Lord.
XII: Let us pray, dearly beloved,
for all those who have died as a result of infection,
that God may not look upon the sins of the departed,
but see in their sufferings the face of his own suffering Son
and have mercy on their souls.(Prayer in silence. Then the priest says:)
Almighty and merciful Father,
hear our cry for those who have died and are dying from this virus, and send your angels to minister to their souls,
for we know it belongs to your boundless mercy
to be ever kind and look upon one’s faith and righteousness.
Through Christ our Lord. Easter Vigil
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‘We celebrate with joy’
Bishop Jugis: Easter is the feast of our salvation and new life in Christ
CHARLOTTE — “We celebrate with joy the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the feast of our salvation.”
With these words, Bishop Peter Jugis welcomed the faithful gathered April 3 at St. Patrick Cathedral for the Easter Vigil.
The vigil Mass began at sunset with the traditional blessing of the Easter fire and lighting of the Paschal candle, followed by a candlelight procession into a darkened St. Patrick Cathedral where the Exsultet was proclaimed.
Unlike last Easter, when the cathedral remained dark and nearly empty because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, this year’s Easter celebration was a joyful one – albeit with a limited number of people to allow for safe distancing. The Mass was also streamed live on the diocese's YouTube channel to enable people to participate virtually.
Bishop Jugis smiled as he looked out at the people sitting in the pews, noting, “Jesus said, ‘I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you.’ We share the joy of those first apostles and the joy of all Christians throughout the centuries.”
In his homily, the bishop reiterated his messages from throughout Holy Week: Jesus’ suffering and death was His expression of His love for humanity and our salvation.
“By His suffering, His death and His resurrection, Jesus has accomplished our salvation,” the bishop said. And, “having accomplished our salvation, He then shares His new life with us.”
“We are not celebrating the resuscitation of a corpse,” he said. “We are celebrating the glorified Lord, risen from the dead. He shares that glorified life with us, so that we also can come alive in Him, so that we can come alive and live a new life – a new life of grace, a life of holiness, a life of charity.”
“The Risen Christ living in us, and we living in Him – His new creation.”
New life in Christ begins with baptism, so that is why the faithful renew their baptismal promises each Easter, the bishop explained. “In so doing, we renew our commitment to Jesus Christ and our commitment to the Christian life.”
The bishop administered the sacraments of initiation to two men joining the Church at the Easter Vigil: Henry Braden Fisk and Carter McCrain. The two are among nearly 100 people from across the Diocese of Charlotte who are entering the Catholic Church this Easter.
“Jesus is for all of us,” the bishop concluded, “the Way and the Truth and the Life.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
Photos of Holy Week
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Photos of Holy Week
CHARLOTTE — As the crowds accompanied Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we too can accompany Jesus, Bishop Peter Jugis preached at the start of Holy Week March 28.
“We ask that the Lord Jesus, who is now with us, also accompany us as we make our way into the church with this procession, and that we in our hearts also accompany the Lord,” he said.
The entire Scripture passage is what we should take to heart, the bishop said: “ As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”
