A group of people who completed their sesquicentennial “passports” are among those invited to Mass as the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington concludes its year-long 150th anniversary celebration at St. Elizabeth Church, 809 S. Broom Street in Wilmington, on March 3 beginning at 3 p.m.
The passport was stamped at each of nine historic churches in the diocese, which hosted Mass each Saturday during the sesquicentennial year.
The group includes: Jon and Betty DiFilippo, Joseph and Veronica Birmingham, Betty Gregg, Edward and Pat Fitzgerald, Michael and Mary Solomon, Michael Garrison, Jerry Alan and Michel Peco Bilton, Vincent (Jim) and Marlene Jacono, Dorothy Onizuk, Thomas and Ann Carter, Father Brian Lewis, Priscilla Onizuk, Bonifacio and Mary Mae Tee, Joseph and Lisa Whelan, Rebecca Onizuk, James and Charlotte Dugar, Dorothy Snyder, Edward H. Joyner III, Patricia and Wayne Dooley, John and Darlene Cahill and Steven and Katie McKinley.
The Diocese was established on March 3, 1868 by Blessed Pope Pius IX. Nine historic churches in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore on the passport tour were:
• St. Francis Xavier Shrine, “Old Bohemia,” Warwick, Md. (1704)
• St. Joseph Mission, Cordova, Md. (1765)
• St. Peter the Apostle, Queenstown, Md. (1765)
• St. Mary Star of the Sea, Golden Hill, Md. (1767)
• Cathedral of St. Peter, Wilmington, Del. (1816)
• St. Patrick, Pilottown, Md. (1819)
• St. Joseph on the Brandywine, Greenville, Del. (1841)
• St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Wilmington, Del. (1858)
• Sacred Heart Oratory, Wilmington, Del. (1874)
Bishop Malooly will be the principal celebrant and homilist of the concelebrated Mass to close the sesquicentennial celebration. The Mass, which will fulfill the Sunday obligation, will feature a joint choir from Saint Elizabeth and the Cathedral of Saint Peter, and will be embellished with brass and timpani.
Priests, deacons, religious, the lay faithful, and the members of the public are invited to attend the Mass that will include the recognition of those who visited all of the nine churches in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore that were designated as Official Sesquicentennial Pilgrimage Churches.
These historic churches were open for additional touring and worship on the first Saturday of the month during the 150th anniversary year.
