By Cathy Harasta
The Texas Catholic
GREENVILLE — 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 the church pours out into the street. The flame from the Sanctuary lamps is taken outside to light the candles that the people are holding. People passing by say, ‘What’s happening at the Catholic Church?’
“We are getting noticed.”
Find the full story in the Oct. 6 print edition of The Texas Catholic.
