Local Priest Leads Nightly Processions for Four Years, Plans to Continue for Another Fourteen

A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics ^ | 10/17/17

[marshmallow]

Speaking of processions, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that Fr. Paul Weinberger, pastor of St. William parish in Greenville, TX, “concluded” over four years of nightly “Rosary walks” and public processions in honor of Our Lady on October 13. I say “concluded,” because when Father Weinberger started, his initial intention was to keep up the nightly prayers and processions until the 100th anniversary of Fatima, just concluded. But since that has now passed, he some months ago announced his intention to continue the nightly devotion until Dec. 12, 2031 – the 500th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego.

The local diocesan paper finally gave Father Weinberger some coverage recently:

For more than four years, St. William Catholic Church’s parishioners and some of the faithful from far beyond Texas have gathered nightly for a 9 p.m. outdoor Bible study and rosary procession honoring Our Lady of Fatima.

Father Paul Weinberger, pastor of St. William since 2004, said that he expects particularly high participation on Oct. 7—the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary—and Oct. 13—the 100th anniversary of the last of the six Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal.

The parish is celebrating the centennial of Our Lady of Fatima’s appearances to Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Lucia Santos and marking St. William’s 125th anniversary this year by not letting an evening go by without opening wide the church doors and processing across the street to a foliage-shrouded park for what has become a beloved tradition.

“By 9 p.m., it is dark and the people of Greenville see the front doors of the church wide open,” said Father Weinberger, who inaugurated the candlelight Rosary walk on June 15, 2013. “The light of......

[topher]

I recently ordered a copy of The Wonder of Guadalupe by Francis Johnston. He also penned a book on Fatima.

People do not realize the miracles associated with Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico City). Is there another Our Lady of Guadalupe? Yes. Our Lady of Guadalupe Spain.

After the Conquistador Hernán Cortés defeated Montezuma and returned to Spain, he made a nine day Novena in front of the Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spain).

I learned about this from a book by a famous Yale historian on Christopher Columbus.

Besides writing a very accurate book on Christopher Columbus, this author wrote a book on US Naval hero John Paul Jones. Of course the birth name of John Paul Jones was just John Paul.

The other important work of this author is the official US Naval History of World War II.

His name: Samuel Eliot Morison.

It is interesting that such a famous author is a good source on a religious area - Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spain)

[aposiopetic]

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