On Easter Sunday, April 12,churches at parishes across the Archdiocese of Boston will join in unison with ringing of the bells at noon.
The gesture of solidarity and celebration was proposed by several parishioners from different regions of the Archdiocese and received by Cardinal Sein P.O’Malley as an encouraging expression of hope during thesechallenging times. One parishioner cited a sense of calm and
assurance at hearing the church bells, another cited the importance of proclaiming our faith as a sign
of our care and concern for the community. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, the Mother
Church of the Archdiocese, will be joyfully ringng its own historic bells at the noon hour in solidarity
with the faithful throughout the region.
Cardinal Sein said, “Christians are experiencing this Holy Week
of worship as never before – in the solitude of our homes and for first responders, in their places of
work. In ordinary times, church bells are a call for people to gather in prayer. This year in the midst of
the pandemic, the bells remind us that we are a community of people who need to take care of each
other in the power and strength of spiritual connection and the love of the Resurrected Christ.”
For those parishes able to participate, the Archdiocese is requesting that they stream the bells ringng on their social media and d~gitapl latforms. Parishes are encouraged to use the hashtag #AnEasterPeople. In particular this is also an opportunity to recognize and pray for those on the front lines of this crisis including among others nurses, doctors,EMT’s, police, fire, other medical professionals and other essential workers such as grocery and pharmacy employees.
The Cardinal is pleased to know other denominations are also planning to ring the bells of their churches as a sign of hope and solidarity.
From the Archdiocese of Boston