Maryknoll Processional Cross in Maryknoll Society’s Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Chapel Photo credit: Maryknoll Fathers and BrothersThe Maryknoll Society celebrated the closing of its centennial year—The Gift of Mission-The Maryknoll Journey—with a special Mass and procession on December 12 at the Maryknoll Mission Center's Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Chapel in Ossining, New York. An emotional portion of the ceremony to close the centennial commemoration for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers included the transfer of the Maryknoll Processional Cross to the Maryknoll Sisters as they begin the celebration of their centennial during 2012. The cross was moved from the altar to the back of the chapel. A nighttime outdoor procession carried the cross several hundred yards to the chapel of the Maryknoll Sisters.
The back of the Maryknoll Processional Cross contains relics of the Maryknoll Society Founders—Bishop James A. Walsh and Father Thomas F. Price—and of Mother Mary Joseph, the Foundress of the Maryknoll Sisters' Congregation. The cross also contains relics of Maryknoll Brother Aloysius Moliner and Maryknoll Lay Missioner Joseph Honerkamp. Placed together, the relics call to mind the shared goal of all the Maryknoll branches to proclaim the Gospel to all people.
