Parishes plan Lenten happenings

The following parishes and ministries have informed the Catholic Courier of their upcoming Lenten activities:

* Our Lady of the Snow Parish in Cayuga County will host Lenten Soup Suppers at 6 p.m. March 2 at St. Joseph, Weedsport; March 16 at St. Patrick, Cato; and March 30 at St. John, Port Byron. Stations of the Cross will be held at the host parishes at 7 p.m.

Lenten discussion on "Becoming the Beloved Disciple" and prayer will be held at 7 p.m. on Sundays at St. Joseph; 9:30 a.m. at St. Patrick; and 10 a.m. Fridays at St. John.

Stations of the Cross will be held at 8:30 a.m. at St. John; 6:30 p.m. at St. Patrick; and 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph. On Fridays when soup suppers are held, stations will be held at the supper's host church only.

* Rochester's Peace of Christ Parish will host Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. Fridays during Lent (Feb. 24, and March 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30) at St. John the Evangelist Church, 553 Humboldt St.

* Webster-Penfield Catholic Connection (Penfield's Holy Spirit Church and Holy Trinity, St. Paul and St. Rita churches, Webster) will offer "Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Healing: A Lenten Retreat" presented by Father Paul Desmarais, a priest from the Diocese of Providence, R.I. Father Desmarais has developed and offered retreats on the psychological healing effects of the sacrament of reconciliation. This three-part series will rotate through all four parishes and will be offered during the day with sessions repeated in the evening. The session on forgiveness will be held March 5 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Holy Trinity Church, 1460 Ridge Road, and from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul, 783 Hard Road. The session on reconciliation will be held March 6 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Holy Spirit, 1355 Hatch Road. The session on healing (which will feature a healing Mass) will be held March 7 from 10 a.m. to noon and 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Rita Church, 1008 Maple Drive.

* St. Joseph Church in Penfield will offer evenings of Taize prayer, Benediction and Stations of the Cross at 7:30 p.m. on Lenten Mondays Feb. 27 to March 26. A "People of Passion" brown-bag lunch Bible study will be held from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on Lenten Wednesdays Feb. 28 to March 27. Also on Lenten Wednesdays, a social-justice study, "Just Neighbor," will be held from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Feb. 28 to March 28. A six-week spiritual renewal, "Living the Eucharist," will be offered with sessions at 10:30 a.m. or 7 p.m. The morning sessions begins Feb. 22, and the evening sessions begin Feb. 29. "Prayer and Pop Tarts" for youths will be held Lenten Thursdays Feb. 23 to March 29. Students in grades 9-12 will meet from 6:45 to 7:15 a.m., and students in grades 6-8 will meet from 7:15 to 7:45 a.m. A Lenten retreat, "Living the Eucharist as Adult Disciples," will be held March 16 from 6 to 9 p.m. and March 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Family Prayer Nights will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 9 (Taize) and March 23 (Stations of the Cross). Each session begins with a simple meal followed by prayer.

* Holy Family Church in Auburn will present "Living the Eucharist," a study by Father John Gathenya, pastor, on Lenten Tuesdays (Feb. 28 and March 6, 13, 20 and 27) at 7 p.m. in the church's meeting room. The goal of the study is to help each participant experience the Mass in a more powerful and meaningful way: by getting to know, understand and love Jesus more deeply through the Eucharist. The order and wording of the new Roman Missal will be discussed.

* The parishes of the Gates-Chili area will offer a Lenten retreat each Thursday during March. Each evening will begin at 4:30 with a presentation and a prayer experience, followed at 5:30 by a soup supper. After the supper the presentation and prayer experience will be repeated at 6:30 for those who were unable to attend the earlier presentation. The March 1 session will take place at Holy Ghost, 250 Coldwater Road, Gates, and will feature Redemptorist Father Michael Sergi, rector of the Notre Dame Retreat House, who will speak about "Prayer From Where We Are: How Do We Know It's God?" Father Bob Ring, pastor of St. Louis Parish in Penfield, will speak about psalms March 8 at St. Helen, 310 Hinchey Road, Gates. Taize prayer will be the focus of the March 15 session, which will be held at St. Theodore, 168 Spencerport Road, Gates, and will feature Mercy Sister Cathy Pfleger and Rita Manners, the parish's pastoral associate and music director, respectively. The March 22 session will be held at St. Pius Tenth, 3010 Chili Ave., Chili, and will feature Damian Zynda, faith-formation and spiritual director at Pittsford's Church of the Transfiguration. Zynda will speak about "God With Us -- Imagine That!" The final session will be held March 29 at St. Jude the Apostle, 4100 Lyell Road, Gates, and will feature Marvin Mich, Catholic Family Center's director of social policy. He will speak about the common good, which is one of this year's diocesan public-policy priorities.

Stations of the Cross will be offered at 3 p.m. each Friday through March 23 at St. Helen, and at 6:30 p.m. each Friday during Lent at St. Jude, which also will host a fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. in the parish hall each Friday of Lent. Holy Ghost will offer a Living Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. March 30. St. Jude will host a Lenten day of reflection March 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Those wishing to participate must register by March 18 by calling Dodie at 585-352-5116.

* On Lenten Tuesdays in March, Rochester's Cathedral Community will offer individual confessions at 5 p.m., Mass at 5:30, a soup supper at 6 and a "Being Catholic 101" presentation at 6:30 at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Evening prayer will be offered at 6 p.m. at the cathedral March 12 and 14, and a prayer labyrinth will be offered there March 12-15. "Understanding the Triduum" with Sister Mary Louise Heffernan will be offered March 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. and will be repeated on March 31 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fish fries will be available on Lenten Fridays through March 30 from 5 to 7 p.m.

* St. Louis Parish in Pittsford is participating in a two-week program called "The H2O Project -- St. Louis Lenten Challenge 2012." Beginning March 11, people will pick up starter kits and for two weeks will drink no beverages other than water. They are asked to set aside the money that they would've spent on other beverages, and those funds will be collected after Mass on March 26 and donated to Water for South Sudan and Friends of the Orphans, which benefits Haiti.

* Father Jamie King, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, N.J., will present a Lenten retreat at the All Saints/Holy Cross/St. Anthony cluster in Tompkins County March 10-14. Father King, a Ukrainian Catholic, will give homilies with an Eastern Catholic flavor during Masses the weekend of March 10-11. He'll also lead a youth-oriented session, which will include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, and individual confessions and consultations, March 11 at St. Anthony, 312 Locke Road, Groton. He will offer Mass, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, confession and consultations March 12 at All Saints, 347 Ridge Road, Lansing, and March 13 at St. Anthony. He'll celebrate Mass March 14 at Holy Cross, 375 George Road, Freeville.

Deacon George Kozak will lead an adult faith-formation session about the rosary March 6 at 7 p.m. at St. Anthony, and Ed Pierson, pastoral associate, will lead a session about the complimentary roles of the clergy and the laity March 15 at 7 p.m. at Holy Cross. Deacon Kozak will lead a meditation on the Passion narratives March 20 at 7 p.m. at All Saints. Stations of the Cross will be held Wednesdays during Lent at 6:30 p.m. at All Saints and Fridays at 5:30 p.m. at St. Anthony and Holy Cross.

* All Saints Parish in Corning will sponsor viewings of the DVD series, "Catholicism: Discovering Jesus in the Catholic Faith" on Tuesdays during Lent. The first episode will be shown March 6 at 4 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre, 17 W. Market St., Corning. Subsequent episodes will be shown at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. each Tuesday during Lent in Rogers Hall at Immaculate Heart of Mary, 115 E. High Street, Painted Post. All of the screenings will be free and open to the public. Immaculate Heart of Mary also will host Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. each Friday during Lent. Members of the parish's youth group will present the Living Stations of the Cross April 6 at 7 p.m. at St. Mary, 155 State St., Corning. Reconciliation services will be held March 28 at 7 p.m. at St. Vincent de Paul, 222 Dodge Ave., Corning and April 1 at 2 p.m. at St. Mary.

* St. Catherine of Siena Parish, 302 Saint Catherine Circle, Ithaca, will offer Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. on March 2, 16, 23 and 30. Various groups of parishioners, including teens and children, will take turns leading the weekly devotion. Middle-school students will lead the devotion at 7 p.m. March 9, and the men of the parish will lead the Stations of the Cross at noon April 6. The church will host exposition of the Blessed Sacrament each Friday at 9:30 a.m., followed by Benediction at 10:30 a.m. Parishioners also will gather each Friday at 5 p.m. to pray the rosary, and eucharistic adoration will take place each Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. A discussion of chapter five -- which focuses on the role of the laity -- of John Allen's book, The Future Church: Trends Revolutionizing the Church, will take place March 4 at 10 a.m., and Michael Twomey will give a talk on St. Catherine of Siena March 5 at 7 p.m. The parish will host a blood drive for the American Red Cross March 13 at 1 p.m, and there will be a communal reconciliation service March 20 at 7 p.m.

* St. Alphonsus Parish will hold a Lenten fish fry March 23 in the parish center, 89 E. Genesee St., Auburn. Meals may be purchased for $10 apiece and include fish, fries, cole slaw and dessert. The meals are for take-out only and will be available from 4:30 p.m. until they are sold out.

* Holy Name of Jesus Parish, 15 St. Martin's Way, Greece, will offer Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. each Wednesday through March 28, immediately followed by a soup supper at 6 p.m. The parish will host a Living Stations of the Cross performance April 4 at 7 p.m. "Jesus' Invitation to Us: I Want To Stay At Your House Today" is the theme of the parish's Lenten retreat, which will be held March 22.

* The three parishes of the Rush Henrietta Catholic Community will hold a Living the Eucharist Lenten program each Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd, 3318 E. Henrietta Road, Henrietta; each Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Guardian Angels, 2061 E. Henrietta Road, Henrietta; and each Thursday at 9 a.m. at St. Joseph, 6105 Rush-Lima Road, Rush. Living the Eucharist also will be held each Monday at 7 p.m., preceded by a soup supper at 6 p.m. The soup suppers and Lenten programs will be held March 5 and 19 at St. Joseph and March 12 at Good Shepherd. St. Joseph also will host a soup supper at 6 p.m. March 9, followed by Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. Penance services will be held March 24 at 11 a.m. at Guardian Angels, March 26 at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph and April 2 at 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd. There will be a Tennebrae service at Guardian Angels April 6 at 7 p.m.

* St. Mary Parish, 95 N. Main St., Canandaigua, will hold a Lenten fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. each Friday through March 30. The church also will be open each weekday between 5:30 and 6 p.m. through April 4 for people who wish to engage in silent prayer. Each day the period of silent prayer will conclude with a communal recitation of the parish's Prayer For an End to Violence.

* Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish in Irondequoit and Irondequoit Senior Ministries will offer their annual Lenten series from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. each Friday during March. The sessions will focus on the life-changing power of discipleship, and they will be held at Christ the King, 445 Kings Highway South, Irondequoit.