SCRANTON – A Mass for the Preservation of Peace and Justice will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the lower church of St. Ann’s Basilica, 1233 St. Ann St., Scranton, to prayerfully mark the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have called for all dioceses of the United States to observe “a day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.”
All area faithful are invited to attend this Mass, which will conclude with a period of Eucharistic Adoration and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. A light social will follow.
This evening of prayer is sponsored by the Scranton Section of the Eastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and will be led by the Reverend Thomas J. Petro, KCHS, Section Prior. Sir Brian C. Hallock, KHS, serves as the Section Delegate.
The knights and dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre who are residing in the Diocese of Scranton are invited to vest in their regalia and assist at the Mass.
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality having as its primary mission the support of the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
It is a Catholic order of knighthood under the protection of the Holy See and is an internationally recognized order of chivalry.
The origins of the Order date back to 1099 during the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem.
For more information on the Order’s presence in the Diocese of Scranton, visit www.eohsjscranton.org