For West Scranton businesses, the Solemn Novena to St. Ann brings not only customers but the community together.
Representatives of multiple West Side restaurants said this week the novena, which starts Friday and runs through July 26, is one of their busiest times of the year.
Penni Gaughan, manager at Catalano Important Company, said the longtime business on South Main Avenue sees a boost in customers, many of whom live in or grew up in the neighborhood. She frequently sees generations of people attending the novena patronize the store.
“The same people come back every year and it’s just great to see,” she said. “They love that we have not changed anything of it … The store is literally the same for pretty much 50 years.”
Employees at Vincenzo’s Pizzeria and Catering also see an uptick in customers during the yearly novena. Owner Vincenzo Cicco said customers who stop at the North Main Avenue eatery during the novena are a mix of locals and visitors.
“We get to see some people from outside the area, a lot of locals as well,” he said, adding he appreciates the extra business.
Novena attendees are drawn to Catalano’s, Gaughan said, because of its convenience. People often hear about the shop’s signature hoagies through word of mouth, or from family and friends, and order multiple hoagies.
The Italian grocery store and hoagie shop serves not only visitors to St. Ann’s Monastery Shrine and Basilica, but priests helping with the novena.
“We have a very tight relationship with St. Ann’s,” she said. “It’s a very important event around here for us, and it’s great financially.”
While some restaurants see an increase in foot traffic during the novena, that’s not the case with every one. Fewer customers dine in at Keystone Restaurant, also in the 100 block of South Main Avenue, employee Bobby Walls said. But there is an uptick in takeout orders during the novena, particularly for Texas wiener sandwiches.
He said the decrease in diners evens out this year because Keystone experienced a surge in customers when the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 was at Steamtown National Historic Site in June and July.
Some restaurant employees say the novena is personally significant to them, having attended for many years. Cicco said he and his family make a point to attend every year.
“It’s very important to us as West Siders,” Gaughan added.
The Rev. Richard Burke, rector of St. Ann’s Monastery and Shrine Basilica, said the novena is probably the most significant event that brings people to West Scranton.
“It’s got a 102-year history of doing so,” he said, making it a generational tradition while also bringing in new people.
Burke agrees the novena is financially beneficial to restaurants in the neighborhood, some of which have offered specials for the event.
Employee Enzo Cicco pulls a pizza from the oven in the kitchen of Vincenzo’s Pizzeria and Catering in West Scranton Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Volunteer Kayleigh Shelp pulls weeds from the Memorial Walkway on the grounds of St. Anne’s Monastery and Shrine Basilica to prepare for the Solemn Novena to St. Ann in Scranton Monday, July 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Volunteer Dennis Yanchik opens up a curtain to the food stand as he sets up in preparation for the Solemn Novena to St. Ann at St. Anne’s Monastery and Shrine Basilica in Scranton Monday, July 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Tables and chairs are stacked under a tent to prepare for the Solemn Novena to St. Ann at St. Anne’s Monastery and Shrine Basilica in Scranton Monday, July 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A tent frames the entrance to St. Anne’s Monastery and Shrine Basilica in Scranton Monday, July 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Employee Enzo Cicco pulls a pizza from the oven in the kitchen of Vincenzo’s Pizzeria and Catering in West Scranton Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Economic impact felt
Curt Camoni, executive director of the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau, said the novena is an event that draws people from Lackawanna County and the wider Northeast Pennsylvania region. While it may not generate the same number of visitors as other events this summer, like the Big Boy visit and the FIFA World Cup Fan Zone in downtown Scranton, its financial impact is significant, he said.
“From an economic impact standpoint, any time you’re bringing hundreds, if not low thousands, of people over the course of nine days into that area, you’re bringing economic impact,” he said. “People are certainly not only attending the Solemn Novena, but they’re going to make plans with friends, they’re going to have dinner, they might hit the shops after or before, so the local businesses surrounding (the novena) are without question seeing an uptick, and it’s having an economic impact on them for certain.”
Even outside of the novena, the basilica’s architecture makes it an attraction for the area, Camoni said, and religious events like the novena draw people because of the region’s Catholic population.
“Events like this make people feel a sense of community, give people civic pride, bring people together,” said Camoni, who has family who attend the novena every year. “When people enjoy where they’re living and working, that quality of life aspect is very important.”
This year’s novena focus
The novena is expected to draw hundreds of people to the basilica and its grounds at 1233 St. Ann’s St., and Burke said this year’s theme, “Reading the Signs of the Times,” is an important component. It goes along with a goal of the Passionist order of preaching Jesus Christ crucified and understanding that God’s love is most eloquently expressed through the sufferings and death of Jesus, he added — seeing the union with Jesus when there is suffering and trying to find ways to minimize it.
“They’re going to be talking about how we read the signs of the times with our faith,” Burke said. “It is talking about all the issues that are swirling around in the world, how do we understand with our faith, how do we understand how to participate in it. That’s going to be an important principal for people to think about.”
The theme was chosen because many of the intentions for St. Ann that people send to the basilica ahead of the novena are a combination of personal needs, and concerns for the country and the world.
“There’s a certain amount of folks that are looking for … kind of an uprising of faith and expression of faith in our world and in our country,” Burke said.
He pointed to this year’s two preachers, the Revs. Rick Frechette, C.P., and Jack Conley, C.P., as examples of the theme. Frechette is a Passionist priest and doctor who has done ministry work in Haiti for more than 30 years, spending the last 10 addressing and treating victims of gang violence across the island. Although Conley is based in Chicago, Burke said he travels extensively, giving him a wide perspective on how people are feeling and expressing their faith.
One notable change this year is that instead of two evening Masses — one in Spanish — there will be one evening Mass in English. There will still be prayer brochures in Spanish offered, and a Spanish-speaking Passionist priest, the Rev. Anibal Rodriguez, C.P., will be on hand to assist. There will also be two Masses celebrated in Spanish during the novena.
In addition to Rodriguez, Burke said a “good number” of Passionist priests and brothers will assist during this year’s novena, including two Passionist theologians coming from Haiti and the Rev. James Price, first consultor for the Passionist congregation. In addition, Burke said 10 priests in the Diocese of Scranton and a Byzantine priest will help with confessions, and there will be 100 to 150 lay volunteers.
“I just think it’s going to be a very uplifting novena … because it’s going to help people think about how our faith influences how we see things and how we react to things and the choices in life,” Burke said.