25 February 2008

7 Churches...


It sounds like Saturday's Save Our Churches event was a big success (more on that tomorrow), and is turning put to be the perfect lead-in to the upcoming One Night and Seven Churches event. This is your opportunity to visit seven of the city's most beautiful and historic East Side churches. This is the second year in a row that the Broadway Fillmore Alive organization has presented this tour. It's an attempt to show members of the community just how important these structures are in the grand scheme of urban revitalization efforts. According to the presenters, "The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, originating in Rome and is a custom of Polish and Italian Catholics. Buffalo's Historic Polonia District comes alive on this night as many make a pilgrimage to various churches on the East Side. It is equally a religious and cultural experience as people get to view the churches in a unique setting commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus during Holy Week." (more)

2 comments:

The Crescat said...

I heard about this a few years back... the 7 church on Thursday thing. I bet this would be wonderful to do if I lived in a city where there was a church on every corner. I've never tried it around here, where each parish is 15-45 minutes apart. I bet I could do it if I put mapquest to it.

The Buffalo said...

It's regaining its popularity up here, especially since we're restrusturing and a lot of folks want to see their 'ancestoral' church one last time before it merges/closes. There is no funnier/better site than to see busses full of senior citizens crossing in the night, especially going to some of the worse areas of the cities. Some even need police escort!

It's a great devotion - reflecting on one of the last seven words of Chirst at each place... I have some literature on it if you want...

The key to doing it is the time churches lock up for the night.... getting 7 in is tough - even with one on every corner - since it doesn't begin until the Mass of the Lord's Supper is done and most places close at 11 or midnight...