Washington D.C., May 28, 2021 / 11:19 am
As a basilica in Baltimore celebrates its 200th anniversary this weekend, its rector says one celebration will stand above the rest – the beginning of perpetual Eucharistic adoration in the city.
“I think the focus has to be on the adoration,” Fr. James Boric, rector of the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, told CNA on Friday.
“Everything else is an event,” he said of a year of planned bicentennial celebrations at the basilica that begin on Monday, adding that Eucharistic adoration “is what we all need. We need to be in front of our Lord.” Perpetual adoration at the basilica will begin on Monday, May 31.
While possessing a storied history, the basilica “needs to be a beacon of faith now,” he said. “What I like a lot is that we can use the historical significance of this great church to have an impact on souls now.”
Baltimore’s Basilica of the Assumption, once the cathedral of the first Catholic diocese established in the United States, will be celebrating its bicentennial this weekend.
It was dedicated on May 31, 1821, and will be hosting a Mass offered by Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore in celebration of its bicentennial at 2 p.m. on May 31, 2021, the feast of the Visitation. The Mass is open to the public, in accordance with city guidelines requiring masks and three feet of social distancing between households.
Monday’s Mass kicks off a year-long celebration of the basilica, which includes perpetual Eucharistic adoration. Archbishop Lori will bless the adoration chapel on Monday after Mass.
“The cathedral is really the mother church in the United States of America,” Archbishop Lori told CNA on Friday.
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