Lent and Holy Week Schedules

2025 Lenten Schedule
Pastorate of the Visitation

Ash Wednesday ~ March 5, 2025

Distribution of Ashes at all Masses
SJF – 8:30 am & 7:00 pm
OLC – 8:30 am, 12:00 noon, & 7:00 pm

Stations of the Cross

Fridays throughout Lent; March 7, 14, 21, 28 & April 4, 11
OLC – 12:00pm noon
SJF – 7:00pm
*except Good Friday, see below

Living Stations by our Pastorate Youth Ministry will be held at St. Jane Frances on April 11 at 7pm

Sacrament of Reconciliation

We offer Reconciliation as noted below or by appointment:

SJF: Saturdays 3:30pm–4:30pm in the church
OLC: Saturdays 3:00pm–3:30pm in the Reconciliation Room
SJF: most Friday mornings during Lent from 7:45am–8:15am (except March 28)
OLC: Tuesday, March 25 7:30pm–9:00pm in the church
SJF: Tuesday, April 15 6:00pm–7:30pm
SJF & OLC – No Confessions on Holy Saturday

Friday Lenten Fish Frys (dine-in or carryout)

Most Fridays 4:00–7:00 pm in the St. Jane Frances Parish Hall
March 7, 21, 28 & April 4, 11 (more info)
Abbreviated menu and no seating during St. Patrick’s Day Bazaar on March 14, 2025

Pastorate Lenten Mission: March 24–26, 2025

Mission presented by Rev. Brian Nolan, pastor of St. Ignatius in Ijamsville (former associate pastor of St. Jane Frances)

Talk #1: Monday, March 24 from 7:00pm, St. Jane Frances de Chantal church
Talk #2: Tuesday, March 25 from 7:30–9:00 pm, Our Lady of the Chesapeake (with opportunity for confessions)
Talk #3: Wednesday, March 26 from 7:00pm, St. Jane Frances de Chantal church

Palm Sunday ~ April 13, 2025

SJF – (Saturday) 5:00 pm
SJF – (Sunday) 8:00 am, 10:00 am & 11:30 am
OLC – (Saturday) 4:00 pm
OLC – (Sunday) 8:30 am & 10:45 am

Abstinence & Fasting

All persons who have reached their 14th birthday are bound by the law of abstinence (from meat). All adults are bound by the law of fast up to their 60th year. The current canonical discipline of penance for the United States, in addition to the general character of the Lenten season, may thus be summed up:

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat and also days of fast; that is, limited to a single full meal.
The other Fridays of Lent remain days of abstinence from meat.
The Fridays of the year outside Lent remain days of penance, but each individual may substitute for the traditional abstinence from meat some other practice of voluntary self-denial or personal penance; this may be physical mortification or temperance or acts of religion, charity, or Christian witness.

Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum

Tenebrae Service

SJF – Tuesday, April 15 – 8:00 pm in the Church

Tenebrae (Latin for “shadows” or “darkness”) is a Christian religious service celebrated by the Church before the last three days of Holy Week. The distinctive ceremony of Tenebrae is the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms are chanted or recited. All is sad and mournful, as though it were a funeral service; nothing could more emphatically express the grief that now weighs down the heart of our holy Mother the Church. The purpose of the service is to recreate the betrayal, abandonment, and agony of Jesus’ passion, and it is left unfinished, because the story isn’t over until Easter Day.

Sacred Triduum

Holy Thursday, April 17, 2025

SJF – 8:45 am Morning Prayer
OLC – 7:00 pm Pastorate Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Adoration until 9:00 pm)

Good Friday, April 18, 2025

1st Day of Divine Mercy Novena
SJF – 8:45 am Morning Prayer
SJF – 12:00 pm Stations of the Cross
SJF – 3:00 pm Celebration of the Lord’s Passion (with Holy Communion)
OLC – 3:00 pm Stations of the Cross (Youth led)
OLC – 7:00 pm Celebration of the Lord’s Passion (with Holy Communion)

Holy Saturday, April 19, 2025

SJF – 8:45 am Morning Prayer
SJF – 9:00 am Blessing of Food
OLC – 12:00 noon Blessing of Food
SJF & OLC – No Confessions on Holy Saturday

Easter Masses

Pastorate Easter Vigil Mass, Saturday April 20, 2025

SJF – 8:00 pm Pastorate Easter Vigil Mass

The Easter Vigil Mass begins in darkness as we await the light of Christ. A fire is lit—the Paschal Candle is lit—and light returns! This is the most beautiful of liturgies and becomes more so as members of our community become fully initiated into the fold through Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist!