Station Churches of Mercer County offer Lenten pilgrimage experience for faithful

March 3, 2025 at 10:20 a.m.

The tradition of the Station Churches of Mercer County will continue in 2025, giving parishioners and other faithful from around the Diocese an opportunity to have a prayerful pilgrimage experience during the Lenten season.

As in past years, the participating parishes will welcome pilgrims for the celebration of Mass, offer a tour of the church building and review its history.

For this year’s schedule, an adjustment has been made to incorporate the Jubilee Year and its theme of hope. While participants will journey to numerous parishes for Mass or a Holy Hour, the Thursday gatherings will be held in St. Anthony Church, Hamilton, the designated pilgrimage church for Mercer County.  Each Thursday, the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated from 6:30 to 7 p.m. with Mass or a Holy Hour following.

A “great gift” of the Jubilee Year is that when visiting a pilgrimage church, pilgrims can receive a plenary (full) indulgence, said Msgr. Dennis Apoldite, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton, and episcopal vicar of Mercer County.

A plenary indulgence, Msgr. Apoldite said, is a grace granted by the Church that remits the debt of temporal punishment owed to God after our sins are forgiven through sacramental Confession and is obtained by meeting the following requirements: (1) Having the interior disposition of being detached from all sin; (2) Making a sacramental Confession; (3) Receiving the Holy Eucharist; (4)  Participating in a Sacred Service: e.g. Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Novena, etc.; (5) Praying for the Intentions of the Pope (e.g. Our Father & Hail Mary). It is preferable that these requirements be fulfilled on the same day, but it is sufficient that they be fulfilled within a 20-day period. Indulgences can be gained only once a day and may be applied to oneself or to the souls of the deceased. They cannot be applied to other living persons. Those unable to make a pilgrimage due to illness or other circumstances may recite the Creed, prayers for the intention of the Pope, and offer up their sufferings for the Church and the world, Msgr. Apoldite explained.

“I look forward to once again journeying with the pilgrims to the various churches in Mercer County during Lent and this year, also to have the opportunity to share part of the Jubilee Year with them,” he said.

Following is the complete schedule of the Station Churches of Mercer County:

March 6, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30, followed by Evening Prayer and Holy Hour at 7.

March 10, St. Joachim Church, Trenton, 6:30 p.m.

March 11, St. James Church, Pennington, 7 p.m.

March 13, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7.

March 17, St. Raphael-Holy Angels Church, Hamilton, 7 p.m.

March 19, Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, West Trenton, 6 p.m.

March 20, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7.

March 24, St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square, 7 p.m.

March 25, St. Ann Church, Lawrenceville, 7 p.m.

March 26, Sacred Heart Church, Trenton, 7 p.m.

March 27, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7.

March 31, St. Paul Church, Princeton, 7 p.m.

April 1, St. James Church, Trenton, 7 p.m.

April 3, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7.

April 7, St. David the King Church, Princeton Junction, 7 p.m.

April 10, St. Anthony Church, Hamilton. Confessions at 6:30 p.m., followed by Mass at 7.

April 14, Mass of Chrism to be celebrated by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., at 7:30 p.m. in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.