Pentecost – Sunday, May 19

Pentecost will be celebrated on May 19th. The word has its roots in the Greek word ‘pentecoste,’ meaning ‘50th day.’

Pentecost, marking the beginning of the Christian church’s mission into the world, is a major festival within the Christian church and is celebrated by believers on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day following Easter Sunday. Red is the liturgical color of this special feast day – the vestments of the priest and elsewhere in the sanctuary.

Pentecost has major significance in the history/memory of Dignity Washington. In 1976, Dignity Washington began to celebrate Mass on a weekly basis.

It was on Pentecost Sunday, June 22, 1987, that members of Dignity Washington marched from St William’s Chapel at Georgetown University to St Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Dupont Circle. At that time, Paul Albergo, President of Dignity Washington, said that the march signified “our flight from Catholic facilities, similar to the way the Jews were ‘forced out’ of their spiritual homeland in the Holy Land centuries ago.”

It is a custom for the congregation to wear “red” on Pentecost. You are invited to do so in solidarity to our cause.