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WILKES-BARRE — The weekend Masses at Our Lady of Hope Parish will remember those who have been touched by cancer.
The local Relay for Life team, known as The Fancy Little Team That Could, held a mini-luminaria candlelight vigil Saturday during the 4 p.m. Mass.
The 95 luminarias will stay up through the Sunday Masses, Sara Klinges said.
“Some people who bought them couldn’t make this Mass, so we’ll leave them,” she said.
Klinges, the team captain, said the ceremony was the seventh annual and the number of luminarias bought has been steady. Each luminaria — a lantern consisting of a votive candle set in a small paper bag and weighted down — cost $10, which goes toward the team’s Relay for Life grand total.
The bags, which were brought in by procession at the beginning of the church service, were placed on stands in the front of the church by the altar. Each bag had a name tag, representing those affected by the disease, but some were accompanied by photos.
Lorraine Herness came from Sugarloaf to celebrate her sister, mom and dad, who were each impacted by cancer.
“I was teary-eyed walking up,” Herness said.
She has been involved in the mini-luminaria for five years now.
“There is so much love, compassion,” she said. “(The mini-luminaria) brings everybody together.”
Before the Mass, the church, with lights dimmed, was illuminated by parishioners holding taper candles similar to what happens during a Catholic Easter vigil mass.
“That’s where I got the idea,” Klinges said.
Klinges said most of the luminarias are for parishioners of the Park Avenue church, but some team members bought for their friends or family.
Candles purchased for this weekend’s ceremony will be re-lit at the larger luminaria held at the main Relay For Life of Wyoming Valley event on June 3 at McCarthy Stadium at King’s College on Highland Park Boulevard. The luminaria will be held at dusk.
The Wyoming Valley Relay for Life begins at 10 a.m. with the survivors lap, followed by a caregivers lap. Relay for Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society, started in 1985. Individuals or teams spend 24 hours walking in honor of cancer patients.