Catholic Ragemonkey

Novena activities in my parish
Here in this parish we are trying to observe the novena of prayer for the repose of the soul of Pope John Paul II with various activities. Normally we have the main church open only in the morning for Holy Mass (we have a small chapel that is accessible 24/7). During the novena the main church will be open from the morning Mass until 10 p.m. Each day's Holy Mass will have the repose of the Pope's soul as the intention. Once the Conclave begins the Cardinals will become the intention of each Mass during the days of the Conclave. Each evening of the novena at 7 p.m. a priest is leading the Rosary combined with a nice daily prayer organized by the US Bishops (availabe on their web site: www.usccb.org). On Wednesday evening we will have a special Mass at 7 p.m. followed by the Rosary. On that evening our normally scheduled Youth Group meeting will focus on the death of Pope John Paul II and what happens in an interregnum. I will speak to the youth on that evening about this topic, also speaking to them about my time of studies in Rome and showing pictures of my meetings with Pope John Paul II. On Friday, our normal Adoration (which usually ends at 7 p.m.) will extend until 10 p.m. with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I have also placed copies, in English and Spanish, of the US Bishops' novena of prayer in the church for people to use should they come during the day. And lastly, I have placed another text from the US Bishops regarding questions of what happens when a Pope dies, who is in charge, what the cardinals do, and how a conclave works.