News release: Festival of Forgiveness

February 23, 2018

FESTIVAL OF FORGIVENESS SET FOR MARCH 2

Catholics throughout the Diocese of St. Cloud will celebrate a “Festival of Forgiveness” on Friday, March 2, to help people experience the life-changing power of God’s love and mercy.

On this date, the sacrament of reconciliation will be available for a 12-hour period at designated churches throughout the 16-county diocese. Participating churches may choose to offer additional prayer opportunities as part of the March 2 event.

The Festival of Forgiveness comes during Lent, a penitential season before Easter when Christians are encouraged to enter more deeply into prayer, fasting and charitable works.

This is the third consecutive year that churches in the diocese are hosting the celebration. Thousands of confessions were heard throughout the diocese on the festival day last March. Pastors reported that many of the people who attended had been away from the sacrament for years, some for decades.

In his 2016 pastoral letter on mercy, “Be Merciful, Just as Your Father is Merciful,” St. Cloud Bishop Donald Kettler urged priests of the diocese and parishes to invite all Catholics “to experience again the love and mercy of God through the sacrament of reconciliation” and to “make a special effort to invite those who may not have received the sacrament for some time or who may feel alienated from the Church for any reason.”

Ten churches around the diocese will host the Festival of Forgiveness and offer the sacrament of reconciliation. The locations and times are as follows:

• Christ Our Light, Princeton 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• St. Mary, Little Falls 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Sts. Peter and Paul, Gilman 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Sacred Heart, Freeport 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• St. Paul, Sauk Centre 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• St. Mary, Alexandria 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• St. Louis, Paynesville 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Our Lady of Victory, Fergus Falls 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• St. Ann, Wadena 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Cathedral of St. Mary, St. Cloud 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.