New Year’s Eve service at St. Ignatius Parish goes virtual

When St. Ignatius Parish on Calvert Street hosts its New Year’s Eve Interfaith Service for the 28th year, the church will be empty, except for two technical experts who will livestream the virtual service at its customary time, 8 p.m.

Prayers, blessings and reflections from Baltimore-area religious and civic leaders, filmed in their own houses of worship and offices, have been gathered, for one last look at 2020 before stepping into 2021.

Speakers include a number of familiar faces, including Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Baltimore’s newly-inaugurated Mayor Brandon Scott, Imam Earl El-Amin of the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore, Rabbi Deborah Wechsler of Chizuk Amuno Congregation, the Rev. Mark Parker, and the Rev. Lauretta Halstead.

Verses of the classic hymn, “O God Our Help In Ages Past,” will serve as the theme and provide the transition between each speaker, according to Jesuit Father James Casciotti, St. Ignatius’ pastor.

The service of music and prayer, begun in 1992 by Jesuit Father William Watters, then-pastor of St. Ignatius, has brought together people of various faith traditions, as well as political leaders.

In this pandemic year, the service was pared down to 30-45 minutes, with fewer speakers and a lot less music, according to John Odean, St. Ignatius’ director of media and communications.

The virtual service will begin with a montage of Baltimore City before transitioning to Father Casciotti, who opens the service. He said the service looks to the future, quoting the second line of the hymn’s refrain, “Our hope for years to come.”

“For 28 years now, religious and civic leaders have gathered at St. Ignatius on New Year’s Eve to thank God for our city and all its people in the year past and to pray for God’s blessing on the New Year about to begin,” Father Casciotti said.

Father Casciotti noted the long list of “stormy blasts” of 2020, from the pandemic to the divisive election season to the demonstrations against racism and violence.

Imam El-Amin offers the Muslim call to prayer from his mosque in West Baltimore. “I think we hope the new year will bring a renewal of faith, a renewal of hope and a renewal of success and that our prayers will be answered,” he said, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I find it such a spiritual and meaningful way of beginning the new year,”  Rabbi Wechsler told the Review. She was introduced to the service in 2015, when she was the homilist. She brought a group of congregants from her synagogue that year – and they’ve come every year since.

In her message, Rabbi Wechsler will give thanks for the sacrifices and work of first responders and health care workers, while asking for strength for God’s people in the coming year. She thinks combining messages recorded from the various houses of worship is a beautiful idea. 

“There’s something beautiful about each of us being in our spiritual homes and coming together,” the rabbi said.

Archbishop Lori will offer his own prayers and words of encouragement near the end of the service, asking God’s blessing on the city for 2021.

Odean produced the final video, which he and Kevin Kapinpin, with whom he produces Sunday livestreamed Masses, planned to release on New Year’s Eve.

“It will show the we are different but we are the same, lifting our voices to God to thank him for this year and ask his blessings on the city and the year,” Odean said.

To view the service live or watch the archive of it, visit https://st-ignatius.net.

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