The penitential season of Lent, the period during which Christians prepare themselves for the celebration of Easter, begins next week with the observance of Ash Wednesday.
Bishop Craig B. Anderson will preach at St. Paul’s Cathedral
A somber season on the church calendar, Lent is regarded by Christians as a time for cleansing the soul through self-denial and good works. It is a time to pay more attention to God and fellow man and in so doing, to focus less attention on self.
Bishop Edward D. Head of the Buffalo Catholic Diocese characterizes Lent as “a pilgrimage that will go on for 40 days.”
During the pilgrimage, he says, followers of Jesus should set aside more time for prayer, both privately and with others at special Lenten services in churches. They should also perform acts of penance and charity, “giving up some of the gifts God has given us so that others, especially the poor and needy, may have an easier life.”
Bishop Head says Lent also should be treated as a time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter.
“As we move along from day to day during the Lenten season, we review our lives, admit and confess our sins, and, with God’s help, change and reform our lives,” he said.
If the prayer, penance and preparation are elements of the Lenten pilgrimage, Bishop Head said, the journey will be concluded “on Easter morning when we will discover that all throughout our pilgrimage God has been at work within each of us, Making us new people and raising us to a new level of living.”
The Lenten season in the Buffalo area will be marked by special religious services, some sponsored by individual churches and some ecumenical.
For instance, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Main and Church streets, Bishop Craig B. Anderson will be the guest preacher at a Holy Eucharist at 12:05 p.m. on Ash Wednesday. Bishop David C. Bowman of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York will be celebrant.
Formerly the Bishop of the Diocese of South Dakota for eight and a half years, Bishop Anderson has been dean of General Theological Seminary, New York City, since May. He also teaches theological anthropology at the seminary and serves as an assisting bishop in the Diocese of New York.
“Questions for Lent” will be the theme of the annual “Lenten Journey” sponsored by the West Seneca Community of Churches, a group of 15 churches in West Seneca and Orchard Park. The services, now in their ninth year, will be held at 7:30 p.m. each Wednesday of Lent beginning Feb. 23.
The schedule is as follows: Feb.23, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 3512 Clinton St., the Rev. Gregory Dobson, parochial vicar at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart will preach on prayer; March 2, St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, 4928 Seneca St., the Rev. Steven Aschmann, pastor of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, will preach on love of enemies; March 9, Covenant United Methodist Church, 539 Main St., the Rev. James Breitenauer, pastor of St. Williams Catholic Church, will preach on God’s love.
Also: March 16, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 3148 Abbott Road, Orchard Park, the Rev. Irwin Reist, pastor of Seneca United Methodist Church, will preach love of self and love of God; March 23, Seneca United Methodist Church, 2846 Seneca St., Monsignor Richard Crumlish, pastor of St. Bonaventure Catholic Church, will preach on the relevance of Christ’s death.
In addition, the West Seneca group will sponsor a Good Friday Ecumenical Service from noon to 3 p.m. April 1 in St. David’s Episcopal Church, 3951 Seneca St.
A series of Marsh Memorial Lenten Observances will begin with an organ recital by Stephen Lavele at noon on Ash Wednesday in the First United Presbyterian Church, 19 W. Fourth St., Dunkirk. The program, which is free and open to the public, will include works by Bach, Flor Peeters and Jehan Alain.
School Lenten observances will include Ash Wednesday prayer services at 9:15 a.m. at the father Bissonette Campus of Catholic Central School, 21 Davidson Ave., and at 9:45 a.m. at the Monsignor Herlihy Campus of Catholic Central School, 476 Emslie St.
By Dave Condren – News Religion Reporter
The Buffalo News – Saturday, February 12, 1994