Nearly 220 years after Jesuits held their first Lenten and Holy Week services on the Hilltop, members of the university community gathered with neighbors and friends from across the area to observe Palm Sunday and mark the beginning of Holy Week on campus.
The observances inaugurated a weeklong series of services and events that will culminate in Easter celebrations across the campus. The events also cap the nearly six-week Lenten season in which Georgetown students, faculty and staff members from various Christian traditions have gathered on campus for prayer, reflection and fellowship.
This year’s Lenten observances included a variety of events presented by campus ministry and many student groups on campus. The Stations of the Cross, Reconciliation services, discussion and fellowship groups and bible study are among the many opportunities through which Georgetown’s Christian communities have prepared for Holy Week and the subsequent Easter season.
“Lent has been special for me at Georgetown because I spend a lot of time with other Catholics here who take the challenge to grow in faith during Lent very seriously,” said
Kevin Kuehl, president of Georgetown’s Catholic Student Association. “As a Catholic community, we are all working together, simultaneously, to become more like Christ. In this way we really help each other out.”
Kuehl, a native of Memphis, Tenn., even introduced a piece of his Southern church roots to Georgetown by bringing together members of the university community with the Sisters of the Visitation at the nearby Georgetown Visitation Schools for a community fish fry on the last Friday of Lent.
“For me, fish fries have always been one of the most important community events in my parish,” he said. “I just couldn't imagine Lent without a fish fry. It just didn't feel right.”
This year also marked the fourth year for the Lenten Journey, a reflection series organized by the Office of Mission and Ministry. This year’s series paired students from various Christian traditions across campus with “millennial Jesuits” -- those who were ordained after 2000 -- to lead afternoon reflections on topics such as forgiveness and reconciliation, discipleship and spiritual renewal.
Held weekly in Dahlgren Chapel, the reflection series provided a much-needed opportunity for members of the community to refocus and recharge as finals and commencement approach.
“This was another way to help people reflect,” said the
Rev. Phil Boroughs, S.J., the university’s vice-president of mission and ministry. “In an academic environment, we try to find events that help people reflect on faith in a very thoughtful way.”
For more information about Holy Week services for Roman Catholic and other Christian traditions at Georgetown University, visit the Campus Ministry
Web site.
