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An Ethnic Easter

HOLY WEEK IN LOS ANGELES

By Charles A. Coulombe

One of the great things about the Los Angeles Archdiocese is its rich diversity of ethnic cultures. This diversity is reflected in the large number of national parishes and churches of the Eastern Rites to be found here. At no time does this cultural treasury become more obvious than Holy Week.

The rites of Holy Week are signs of the spiritual unity all Catholics share. The unity of the sacraments is readily apparent if one reads the texts of the various liturgies. In each rite's celebration of the solemn ceremonies of Holy Week, and in the para-litugical customs of each nationality of the Latin Rite, we see the same basic truths.

In the Latin Rite, one of the most solemn acts of unity is the bishop's consecration of the Holy Oils at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday. As Dom Gueranger says in his description of this Mass in his Liturgical Year: "By this threefold blessing...the bishop acquits the debt he owes, and which none but he can pay." This year, Cardinal Mahony will anticipate the Chrism Mass, offering it on Monday in Holy Week, April 6th, at 7 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church [18090 Via Amorosa, Rowland Heights, (818) 964-3629].

The Holy Week customs of the Spanish who founded our state are still alive in the archdiocese. The mother church of the archdiocese, Our Lady Queen of Angels on the plaza in downtown Los Angeles, plans a program completely in Spanish. For Holy Thursday, there will be confessions from 8 a.m. to noon. At 3 p.m. will occur the "blessing of the bread," a practice common in the Eastern Church, and formerly in the Western, but not well-known in America. Bread blessed in this fashion is a sacramental, and a source of many graces for those who eat it over the next few days. At 3:30 p.m., confessions recommence, continuing until 5:30 p.m. In connection with the 7 p.m. Mass, there will be the "Procession of the Monument." This is a procession with an image of Christ which will be laid in a sort of tomb. After Mass, until midnight, there will be Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Good Friday will begin for La Placita (as Our Lady Queen of Angels is called) at 8 a.m. with Stations of the Cross. From 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., there will be confessions, followed at Noon by meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ. At 3:30 p.m. will come a Mass, and confessions from 4 p.m. to 5 p... At 7 p.m. is a procession with statues of Our Lord, the Virgin, and the Apostles, followed by a final Mass.

Holy Saturday at La Placita will be busy. At 8 a.m., along with the recitation of the rosary, confessions will begin and last till noon. The Blessing of the Animals will take place at 2 p.m. The Vigil Mass of Easter begins at 8 p.m.

There are other Hispanic parishes throughout the archdiocese. One of the most faithful to its national traditions is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe [4100 E. 2nd Street in Los Angeles, (213) 261-4365]. Good Friday will see a unique custom. At noon, in the parish hall, a meatless meal of nopales (cactus leaves), fish, shrimp patties, chile rellenos, bread pudding, tortillas, and salsa will be served. This luncheon, taken in common, is the only meal parishioners will have on Good Friday. At 3:15 p.m. will be the Seven Last Words and Stations of the Cross in Spanish (as all services will be).

On Good Friday at St. Brigid's [5214 S. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, (213) 292-0781], a parish which serves primarily the African-American and Hispanic communities, the Seven Last Words and reading of the Passion at 3 p.m. will be followed at 7 p.m. with a traditional Passion Play in Spanish.

St. Stephen's Hungarian Parish [3705 Woodlawn Avenue, (213) 234-9246], in addition to the Hungarians, has for a long time served Germans; in recent years, Spanish- and English-speaking Catholics have joined. The Sunday schedule on Palm and Easter Sundays, will have Masses in English, German, Hungarian, and Spanish. At 7 p.m. on Holy Thursday the Mass of the Lord's Supper will be said in Latin. Good Friday will see the Mass of Good Friday in Hungarian at 7 p.m. The Easter Vigil in Latin will commence at 7 p.m.

The Polish parish, Our Lady of the Bright Mount [3424 W. Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, (213) 734-5249], will conduct all services in Polish. On Holy Saturday, the tradition of blessing the Easter food will take place. Parishioners will take baskets of Easter bread, sausage, and decorated eggs to be blessed at the church every half hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 6 a.m. on Easter morning, like their Lithuanian neighbors the parish will stage a Resurrection Procession with the Blessed Sacrament.

The Byzantine-Rite Ukrainians also bless Easter foods. Like the Latin Poles, their baskets include a special Easter bread symbolizing the joy of Christ; eggs in memory of the Resurrection; and ham and sausage from which they have abstained through Lent. In addition, the baskets hold candles, representing Christ as the light of the world; horseradish, in memory of Christ's suffering and death; and butter and cheese, which the more stringent abstinence of the Byzantines banish from their tables during Lent.

At Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, a Ukrainian Byzantine parish [5154 De Longpre Avenue, Los Angeles, (213) 663-6307] blessing of baskets will follow the Easter Liturgy. On Holy Thursday, starting at 6:30 p.m., twelve Gospels relating to the Passion will be read. On the following day, the Liturgy of Good Friday will be offered, the high point of which is the Procession with the Holy Shroud--a cloth depicting an image of Christ in the tomb. After the procession, the Holy Shroud is laid on a table for veneration. Where many of the Byzantines lay it on a table of regular height and walk up to kiss the image, the Ukrainians prefer a lower table, and approach the image of the entombed on their knees. On Easter Sunday, a Matins will begin at 7:30 a.m., followed by the Divine Liturgy.

Our Lady of Mount Lebanon Cathedral [333 S. San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, (310) 275-6634], seat of the local Maronite bishop, will observe the ancient ceremonies. All services are said in Syriac, Arabic, and English. On Palm Sunday, before the 11 a.m. Liturgy, the blessing and procession with palms will occur. Tuesday night at 7 p.m., the bishop will bless the holy oils. The washing of the feet will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Holy Thursday, and on Good Friday the Mass of the Presanctified at 8 a.m. At 7:30 p.m. that night, the ritual of the "Burial of the Cross" will take place. The cross, is placed in a kind of sepulchre, signifying the death of Christ. Their Easter vigil, commencing at Midnight, includes the "Rite of Peace"--after the Gospel, a resurrection of an image of Christ from the tomb, followed by a procession.

The Armenian Catholics at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs [1327 Pleasant Avenue, Los Angeles, (213) 261-9898], have a full schedule during Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, in addition to the 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. Masses, there will be at 11 a Pontifical Mass. On Holy Thursday, there will be the washing of the feet at 7 p.m., followed by a service of prayers at 9 p.m., called "Whispers" in Armenian. The Whispers have propers for each day of the Triduum--similar to the Tenebrae of the Latin Rite. On Good Friday at 7 p.m. will occur the Whispers of the day, followed by a procession and veneration of the Cross. Holy Saturday will see another Whispers service "to prepare Easter," at 7:30 p.m. On Easter itself, following the Pontifical Mass, the parishioners will go to the hall for a reception, and the blessing and coloring of the eggs. They will then play a marbles-like game with the colored eggs.

Most strenuous of all, perhaps, are the Coptic services of Holy Week at St. Mary's Coptic Catholic Church [2701 Newell Street, Los Angeles, (213) 669-2822]. Like the early Christians, the Coptic Catholics of Egypt are happy to spend large amount of time at their church in prayer. Monday through Friday of Holy Week, they too have a Tenebrae-like service at 6:30 p.m. called "Pascha," conducted in Coptic, Arabic, and English, like all their services. Special homilies on the Acts of the Apostles follow these services. On Good Friday, the liturgy begins at 2:30 p.m., and continues on to 6 p.m. A break ensues for dinner, and the faithful return at 9 p.m. They remain all night in the church, reading and reciting the psalms and the Apocalypse. At 6 a.m. on Holy Saturday Morning, the oil Mass is held, at which the priest blesses the congregation with oil. They then return home, returning at 9 p.m. for the Easter Vigil, which continues until 1 a.m. Easter has then duly arrived, and the faithful return home. No Mass is celebrated on Easter Day.

Other Eastern Rite churches present in the Los Angeles area, are: St. Paul Chaldean, 13050 Vanowen Street, North Hollywood, (818) 765-3665; St. Mary's Ruthenian Byzantine Cathedral, 5329 Sepulveda Boulevard, Van Nuys, (818) 907-5511; St. Anne's Melkite, 11211 Moorpark Street, North Hollywood, (818) 761-2034; St. Andrew Russian Catholic (Byzantine Rite), 538 Concord Street, El Segundo, (310) 322-1892; Sacred Heart Syriac, 10837 Collins Street, North Hollywood, (818) 766-7001.

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