Holy Week Around the Archdiocese 2023

HOUSTON - Parishes and Catholic communities throughout the Archdiocese also celebrated Holy Week in Liturgy and through special prayer services and worship. Priests and clergy washed the feet of hundreds of faithful — many catechumens and candidates — on Holy Thursday, followed by lengthy vigils with the Blessed Sacrament through the night.

From Galveston Island to Houston’s East End, the Passion of Jesus was recalled on Good Friday through Living Stations of the Cross presented by both youth, young adults and adult faith communities.

Cardinal DiNardo celebrated Mass and Liturgies at St. Mary Cathedral Basilica in Galveston on Palm Sunday, April 2, and a week later on Easter Sunday, April 9. He celebrated Mass on Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Then he went north to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, where he celebrated Good Friday Liturgy.

On Holy Saturday, April 8, right at 9:40 p.m., the bells of the Co-Cathedral’s carillon bell tower rang out and echoed throughout downtown Houston. The bells continued to ring for the next three minutes as the choir and the faithful inside the Co-Cathedral proclaimed the Gloria while acolytes rang more bells, and candles were lit throughout the sanctuary.

Then, using a special baptismal shell, he baptized 13 new Catholics at the Co-Cathedral, and then confirmed 24 people whom all joined the 1,820 candidates and catechumens who fully entered the local Church at parishes throughout the Archdiocese in the Easter season.