A Sign of Christian Unity Offered as a Prayer to Almighty God During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As we prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday tomorrow, our Catholic and Protestant Christian brothers and sisters will be celebrating their Easter Sunday. In solidarity with them, His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios calls on all of the parishes throughout the Metropolis of Boston to joyously sound the bells of their churches at 12 noon tomorrow, April 12.
This sign of Christian unity is offered as a prayer to Almighty God to bring a quick and speedy end to the COVID-19 pandemic, to heal all those suffering with illness, and to rest in eternal peace those who have tragically lost their lives.
The press release of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston noted:
"The gesture of solidarity and celebration was proposed by several parishioners from different regions of the Archdiocese and received by Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley as an encouraging expression of hope during these challenging times. One parishioner cited a sense of calm and assurance at hearing the church bells, another cited the importance of proclaiming our faith as a sign of our care and concern for the community. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese, will be joyfully ringing its own historic bells at the noon hour in solidarity with the faithful throughout the region.
Cardinal Seán said, 'Christians are experiencing this Holy Week of worship as never before - in the solitude of our homes and for first responders, in their places of work. In ordinary times, church bells are a call for people to gather in prayer. This year, in the midst of the pandemic, the bells remind us that we are a community of people who need to take care of each other in the power and strength of spiritual connection and the love of the Resurrected Christ.'
The Cardinal is pleased to know other denominations are also planning to ring the bells of their churches as a sign of hope and solidarity."
