At Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Grotto) Church in northeast Detroit, the observance was in Latin, according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The Tre Ore service from the 1962 Roman Missal was used (with the revised wording of the prayer for the Jews in the intercessions, as modified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008).
The service, which included Veneration of the Cross, Communion and Compline, drew a standing-room-only congregation.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, whose blog “What Does the Prayer Really Say?” (wdtprs.com) has been listed as one of the top 10 Christian blogs in the world, was among the priests participating.
At St. Anastasia Parish in Troy, Fr. J.J. Mech gave a more somber than usual homily, telling congregants of the need to embrace — not just accept — the cross.
Good Friday services at St. Anastasia and many other parishes included the praying of the Stations of the Cross, which depict Jesus’ path from his condemnation to death to his being laid in the tomb. Afterward, the Passion reading is usually performed, followed by the prayers of the faithful and the veneration of the cross. The altar, stripped bare Holy Thursday night, was briefly redressed for the distribution of Communion — consecrated the night before — before the faithful left in silence.
