TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
BLAKE MORLOCK
Tucson Citizen
Wood said to be from the cross (yes, The Cross), bits of nails from the Crucifixion and splinters from the table where Jesus and the apostles broke bread are heading to Tucson next month to be venerated by Catholics in Arizona and Mexico, church leaders announced yesterday.
The "Relics of the Passion Tour" is coming here just in time for Lent, and will be at various Catholic churches in Tucson, Nogales and Green Valley on Feb. 12 and 13.
These relics are now kept by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, under the authority of the Apostolate for Holy Relics.
The Arizona Knights of Columbus is sponsoring the relics tour in southern Arizona for the benefit of the region's 300,000 Roman Catholics. ...
Pedro Nájera, head of the Knights of Columbus' Arizona operation, said the relics will be good for morale in the Tucson diocese, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of multiple claims of sexual abuse by clergy.
"It reinforces the faith," Nájera said. "Most of our parishioners are not dissuaded by the bankruptcy and sex scandal. They still go to church and still believe."
Posted by kshaw at January 14, 2005 08:40 AM