Sr. James Anne does a reading.
Father Joseph McLoone looked around the Philadelphia Irish Center’s Barry Room. Noting that the place was packed to the rafters for the Irish Center’s Lady of Knock Mass, he quipped: “Every pastor whose parish you belong to is probably mad at me today.”
The Knock Mass, commemorating the appearance of the Blessed Mother in a little town in County Mayo in August 1879, seemed an appropriate way to kick off an afternoon and evening of festivities in honor of the Irish Center’s 50th anniversary.
In his homily, Father McLoone touched on a theme near and dear to practically every heart in the room. Taking his cue from the Gospel reading—the story of the Canaanite woman, an outsider who persisted in her belief in Jesus even as he appeared to rebuff her—Father McLoone noted that, in American society, we mostly hail from immigrant stick and are, therefore, all outsiders.
“We are all foreigners in this country,” he said. “All of us, in one sense, are not native to this country. We should see no distinction in who comes early or who comes late.”
We took a few photos of the service.