{"id":142797,"date":"2026-03-19T14:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/142797\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:38:09","slug":"parade-day-in-scranton-begins-with-prayer-at-cathedral-diocese-of-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/142797\/","title":{"rendered":"Parade Day in Scranton begins with prayer at Cathedral \u2013 Diocese of Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SCRANTON \u2013 Hundreds of faithful gathered at the Cathedral of Saint Peter on March 14 to begin one of the region\u2019s most beloved traditions \u2013 Scranton\u2019s annual Saint Patrick\u2019s Parade \u2013 with prayer and thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist for the annual Parade Day Mass, which has long marked the official start of one of the largest Saint Patrick\u2019s Day parades in the country.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-127793\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Parade-Day-Resized-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\"  \/>Members of the Society of Irish Women, who sponsor the broadcast of the Parade Day Mass on Catholic Television, stand for the entrance procession. (Photo\/Mike Melisky)<\/p>\n<p>In his homily, the Bishop reflected on the enduring example of Saint Patrick, who returned to Ireland after escaping slavery to preach the Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod takes us as we are and uses us as instruments of peace in building his Kingdom,\u201d Bishop Bambera said, noting that Patrick\u2019s life reminds Christians of their call to forgiveness, reconciliation, and service to others.<\/p>\n<p>The Mass drew members of Irish cultural organizations, civic leaders, and parade participants, including visitors from Scranton\u2019s sister city of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so fitting that the parade starts with Mass,\u201d said Jarlath Munnelly, Cathaoirleach of Ballina, who traveled to Scranton for the celebration. \u201cFaith was such an important part of keeping (Irish) communities together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local Irish groups also highlighted the religious roots of the celebration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a celebration of Saint Patrick \u2013 traditionally a Catholic holiday,\u201d Tammy Jackson, President of the Society of Irish Women, said. \u201cIt almost has to start with the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are very proud to be Irish Catholic, and we love to come to Mass at the Cathedral on this day,\u201d Anna McTavish of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians in Scranton, added.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2013 Hundreds of faithful gathered at the Cathedral of Saint Peter on March 14 to begin one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-142797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}