Much as they did last Easter, Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Bishop Andrew Cozzens will offer a special blessing Christmas Day, greeting people for 90 minutes as the faithful drive up to the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
Between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 25, the bishops will brave the elements to bless the faithful in their vehicles. People are encouraged to follow the traffic around the Cathedral to the Selby Avenue doors and roll down their windows to greet the bishops and receive the blessing.
The bishops’ Easter blessing April 12 took place on a snowy, windy and cold day, but the weather didn’t seem to matter. The bishops joked and smiled, blessed and said hello, and people in hundreds of cars, some packed with families, lined up bumper-to-bumper to receive a blessing.
The Easter blessing took place as the coronavirus pandemic began in Minnesota, and the pandemic continues this Christmas season. Among recommendations to help prevent spread of the virus, state health officials urge people to wear facial coverings and those not from the same household keep a 6-foot social distance.
