Fr Enrique Montoya will be on vacation from Jan 2-Jan 20. During this time, there will be NO weekday Mass or Holy Hour. A visiting priest will celebrate Sunday Mass on Jan 5, 12, & 19. Our regularly scheduled weekday services will resume on Jan 22 with Holy Hour at 6:00 pm.
Update! Due to the forecast snowstorm/ice storm, our visiting priest will be unable to make it, and no Mass will be held on Sunday, January 5th. There will be Vigil Masses held at St Joseph’s Church in Winchester and St Mark Church in Richmond at 4:00 PM Saturday.
Las Posadas is a novenario (an extended devotional prayer). It is celebrated chiefly in Latin America, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and by Latin Americans in the United States. It is typically celebrated each year between December 16 and December 24. Latin American countries have continued to celebrate the holiday, with very few changes to the tradition.
Las Posadas derives from the Spanish word posada (lodging, or accommodation) which, in this case, refers to the inn from the Nativity story. It uses the plural form as the celebration lasts for a nine-day interval (called the novena) during the Christmas season, which represents the nine-month pregnancy of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. This celebration has been a Mexican tradition for over 430 years, starting in 1586.
Fr Enrique Montoya, our Parochial Administrator, is a native of Mexico, and brought the Posada celebration to St Elizabeth of Hungary Church. Though our community in Ravenna has few Hispanic people, the Diocese of Lexington has Fr Montoya administering to Hispanic parishioners in Richmond, Winchester, and Mt Sterling. Bringing them together in our parish, we celebrated a Posada, bringing together our primarily Anglo parish members and the Latino parishioners from the surrounding counties. Our celebration began in the Church itself, with the Rosary, alternating in English and Spanish. Christmas carols were sung, again, alternating between the two languages.
Following the service in the Church, we moved to our Parish Center, in which a very good Mexican meal was enjoyed by all.
