An altar server stands beside a photograph of the late Pope John Paul II at Sunday Mass at the Holy Cross Church in Half-Way Tree yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
WHILE THE Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston is yet to announce a date to celebrate the life and times of Pope John Paul II, the Diocese of Montego Bay has already set aside Wednesday to stage its Mass of Thanksgiving.
In an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, Monsignor Richard Albert, Vicar for St. Catherine, confirmed that a date for Kingston's Archdiocese is yet to be arrived at. However, he advised that 34 churches from Portland, St. Thomas, St. Mary, Kingston, St. Andrew and St.Catherine which forms the Archdiocese of Kingston will have a much larger mass.
Wednesday's mass is scheduled to be conducted by the Most Rev'd Charles Dufour, Bishop of the Diocese of Montego Bay, assisted by priests from throughout the diocese, at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral, Montego Bay, beginning at 4:00 p.m.
In statement on the death of the Pope on Saturday, Rev'd Dufour said "The death of His Holiness Pope John Paul II has robbed the international community of Roman Catholics of a strong, purposeful charismatic leader and the world in general, of a visionary of extraordinary dept, true grit and immeasurable courage and devotion."
Meanwhile, the Most Rev'd Lawrence Burke, Archbishop of Kingston, said Catholics the world over will miss the Pope. He described Pope John Paul 11 as a man of great prayer who cherished his relationship with the God and drew his courage and strength from that relationship.
"He was a constant proponent of the Gospel of Life and the value and dignity of every human person from conception to natural death," Archbishop Burke added.
