FALL RIVER – In keeping with a forty-year tradition, the annual diocesan Procession and Mass for Peace will take place in Fall River on Monday, October 12, 2015, the Columbus Day holiday. This year, however, because the upper church at St. Anne Parish is not available for use, the route of the procession will be reversed. It will leave from St. Anne’s and conclude at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where the Mass for Peace will be offered.

All members of the Fall River Diocese are invited to take part.

Participants in the procession should meet no later than 5:30 p.m. in the area of St. Anne Church, across from Kennedy Park on South Main Street, to march approximately one-half mile to St. Mary’s Cathedral. The procession will begin at 6:00 p.m. Marchers will carry candles, recite the rosary and sing Marian hymns in various languages.

At approximately 7 p.m. Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., will celebrate the Mass for Peace at St. Mary’s Cathedral, located at the corner of Second and Spring Streets. The Bishop will be homilist at the liturgy.

The Mass for Peace will last about one to one-and one-half hours, with the entire ceremony concluding around 8:30 p.m.

Those who are disabled or handicapped should proceed directly to St. Mary’s Cathedral, where a special area will be designated for them.

This Peace Procession and Mass honors Our Lady of Fatima and takes place on the Columbus Day holiday as it falls near and sometimes on the October 13th anniversary of the final appearance of the Blessed Mother to three children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Initially begun to pray for peace in that country in 1975, the diocesan Procession and Mass for Peace has since broadened to include peace worldwide.

Diocese of Fall River
Diocese of Fall River
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