LEWISTON — Once the pastors at Lewiston-Auburn’s Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches decided to share their observances of a major holy day, the only thing that remained was finding one.
“We work from different calendars,” said Monsignor Marc Caron, pastor of Prince of Peace Parish. “Even though we both celebrate Easter, we don’t often celebrate it on the same day. We needed to find one of the mysteries of the faith, but one we celebrate at the same time.”
They settled on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which occurs next week for both churches.
Patrons of the Roman Catholic parish are invited to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on 155 Hogan Road at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, for prayer services.
The next night, Lewiston-Auburn’s Greek Orthodox parishioners are invited to services at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Family Church on 607 Sabattus St.
“Society is increasingly secular in so many things, and we both are traditional Christian communities,” said the Rev. Ted Toppses, pastor of Holy Trinity. “That is a commonality, as well as the idea of the celebration itself.”
The feast celebrates two things, the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the assumption of her body into heaven. It’s the principal liturgical feast that celebrates the Virgin Mary.
This will be the first time the two local churches have shared a liturgical celebration, Caron said. He noted that the Patriarch of Constantinople, one of the heads of the Orthodox Church, attended the installation of Pope Francis in March.
“It was the first time that has happened in 1,000 years,” Caron said. “So that’s a pretty good sign. I think, certainly, the Pope has a lot of respect for the Eastern traditions and we want to mirror that.”
People from the two communities know each other already, so personal introductions are not needed.
“But it’s for the people to meet in a context of prayer,” Caron said. “We all know each other from town. We meet all the time. But it’s a matter of having a common witness of prayer, together.”
Caron said his biggest concern is the size of the respective parishes. Prince of Peace lists more than 3,000 members. Holy Trinity lists about 98 families among its membership.
“We are trying to be sensitive about that,” Caron said. “We are much more numerous in this community, and we don’t want to swamp them in their own church.”
Toppses said they’d take it all in stride.
“As far as this celebration, whoever is able to come on a weeknight is fine,” he said. “And then as far as the Catholic people, they can pack our church. It doesn’t bother me. If they want to attend, then God bless them.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
