Parishioners, organizations and others spent several days during Holy Week creating sawdust Alfombras de Semana Santa (Carpets of Holy Week) at two parishes: La Sagrada Familia on Cleveland’s West Side and Sacred Heart Chapel in Lorain.
Thirty panels were laid out on the floor of the parish hall at Sagrada Familia beginning on Palm Sunday, March 29. The carpets were completed by Holy Thursday, April 2. Visitors were invited to view them until the Good Friday Procession began at 11 a.m. on April 3.
As worshipers arrived for a brief prayer service before the procession, they carefully stepped around the carpets.
(See photo gallery above.)
However, once the service ended, Clergy members including Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost; Msgr. Richard Antall, Sagrada pastor; Father Mark Riley, St. Michael the Archangel pastor; and Father Caroli Shao, St. Colman pastor led the procession through the hall as they trampled the carpets.
After leaving the hall, the procession prayed and sang while walking to St. Colman and St. Michael the Archangel churches for the Passion Liturgy.
Volunteers from Sagrada Familia swept away the sawdust once the procession left and prepared the hall for Easter.
Meanwhile, at Sacred Heart Chapel, guests could view the sawdust carpets from Holy Thursday until the faithful gathered for the 3 p.m. Passion Liturgy on Good Friday.
Father Alex Spenik, Sacred Heart administrator, said there were 53 squares this year. As is the custom there, the squares formed a path that the faithful followed as they processed from the church into the hall after the liturgy. The carpets were trampled as they entered the hall and placed a statue of Jesus in a replica tomb on the stage.
Father Spenik said there was such demand for carpet squares at Sacred Heart Chapel this year that not everyone could be accommodated.
The popular carpets have been a tradition at the two Hispanic parishes for about three decades.
Father Rob Reidy, who is retired, served at the diocesan mission in El Salvador and ministered at both Sagrada Familia and Sacred Heart Chapel. He was instrumental in establishing the Carpets of Holy Week at both parishes.