Holy Week

HUNDREDS OF little Easter revelers gathered on the fields of Crofton Elementary School Saturday morning for Crofton Civic Association's annual Easter egg hunt. The hunt was scheduled for noon, but the children and their families gathered much earlier. By 11: 30 a.m., the lines were long. Winter caps were more common than Easter bonnets, but the atmosphere was festive, with the Easter bunny parading around, children running and all those eggs just waiting to be found.Finally, at noon, the horn sounded.

IF THE SETTING seemed incongruous -- a luxurious home in an exclusive community near San Diego -- the circumstances were equally perplexing: More than three dozen bodies, dressed alike and partially covered with purple shrouds, found with no sign of violence or trauma. The explanation seems to be the mass suicide of members of a religious cult during a time they called their "holy week."As Christians celebrate their own Holy Week, the news from California gives all Americans pause. Are new cults springing up to rob families of their young?

KNIGHTS of Columbus Council 9638, the Fr. Father Joseph J. Comyns Council of Ellicott City, has earned the Star Council, the international organization's top award, for the 1994-1995.The award recognizes overall excellence in the areas of membership recruitment and retention, promotion of the fraternal insurance program and sponsorship of service-oriented activities."The Star Council Award is quite an honor for us. We're extremely proud of this accomplishment," said James H. Craumer, head of the local group.

It doesn't get much better for an author and publisher when Newsweek bases a cover story on their new book and Time gives it generous attention in the same week. But considering Raymond E. Brown's weighty subject matter and hefty list price, will take more than great publicity to spur impressive sales. It will take time, and faith, both of which Doubleday professes to have in ample supply.Father Brown's opus is "The Death of the Messiah" -- a two-volume, 1,608-page, scholarly study of Jesus Christ's Passion as it is related in the four New Testament gospels.

Happy Easter! With the holiday right around the corner, events especially for children and those for the whole family are being held in all of our neighborhoods.* The Arundel Improvement Association will sponsor an Easter egg hunt (for children up to the age of 11) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on the grounds of the AIA Hall, 705 Cross St. Children will be grouped according to age to hunt for eggs. Volunteers are needed to help supervise the hunt and offer donations of cupcakes.For information, call 789-2192.

Legal Aid Goes OnThe writer is executive director of the Legal Aid Bureau.Holy WeekNo local TV stations scheduled any Christian programming during Holy Week '94. This is not right. Holy Week is the most solemn and sacred week in the church year.Baltimore probably has more Christian churches than any city of its size. In past years Christian movies and programs during Holy Week could be found on local stations.Why not this year? Is this just another media attempt to make Christianity appear as a non-entity?

The churches in our community have announced their schedule of services for Holy Week and Easter.* St. Christopher's Episcopal Church will have Eucharist at 10 a.m. today through Thursday. Tenebrae service will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Choral Eucharist and Solemn Stripping of the Altar and Sanctuary is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Maundy Thursday.Good Friday services are: Liturgy of the Day at noon; preaching service on the Seven Last Words of Christ from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; and the Way of the Cross at 7:30 p.m.A brief liturgy will take place at 10 a.m. on Holy Saturday.

THE irony was unmistakable: a tornado's fury striking a small United Methodist congregation gathered peacefully for Palm Sunday services in Goshen, Ala. But that irony soon became unbearable when it became personal, the pain of discovering in a phone call that the church's pastor was a good friend from our days together at Duke Divinity School. And, worse, that the pastor's 4-year-old daughter Hannah had been among the almost two dozen killed.My wife and I had first met Hannah several Christmases ago. She was a babe in swaddling clothes, sleeping quietly in a Washington, D.C., restaurant where the two couples had gathered to renew friendships and to introduce our babies to each other.

A man randomly shot into a crowd on a West Baltimore street and wounded three people yesterday less than an hour after clergy, neighborhood volunteers and officials gathered downtown to back a voluntary weapons turn-in set for Sunday.About 1:20 p.m. in the 1300 block of Riggs Ave., police said, a man with a semiautomatic handgun shot a 21-year-old woman in the stomach, injuring her critically. Two men had less serious wounds.Since Tuesday night, police have counted 14 people shot in Baltimore.

This Holy Week is a time for friends and family, a time of spiritual rebirth and affirmation. For some of us, it is an ecclesiastical celebration of Christianity, of Jesus Christ's triumph over death. For others, it is a commemoration of God's deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Of freedom. For all, it is a reminder that hope springs eternal in the miracle we call life.Once again, the season finds humanity steeped in conflict. A disastrous civil war in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

There was a small epiphany in church last week when we sang the recessional "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded," a German chorale in which we basses must jump around more limberly than we may be used to. A tough part compared with "When the Roll Is Called up Yonder," and I stood in the rear and struggled with it, and then as the choir recessed down the main aisle and came up and stood in the side aisles, three basses wound up standing near me, like border collies...

I would like to file a formal complaint with American Airlines about a trip. But before I spend my time: Will my letter go in the trash or be read? Airlines insist that customer service ranks near the top of their priorities, but fliers still invariably encounter poor service in addition to delays, flight cancellations and lost luggage. What to do? To complain directly to American, go to the carrier's Web site (aa.com) and click on "Contact AA," then "Customer Relations." You'll find addresses for reaching a representative who handles complaints.

At least 30 killed in Pakistani stampede ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- At least 30 people were killed in a stampede at the end of a religious gathering for women in the southern port city of Karachi, police and hospital officials said yesterday. Scores of women and children were also injured. About 10,000 women had gathered at an Islamic center, Faizan-e-Madina, in the Sabzi Mandi neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, which will be celebrated tomorrow.

CENTRAL Westminster egg hunts are Saturday Westminster City Recreation will hold its annual Easter egg hunts Saturday at the City Hall grounds on Emerald Lane. The first hunt will start at 10:30 a.m. for ages 1 to 4, and the second for ages 5 to 8 is at 11:30 a.m. More than 4,000 filled plastic Easter eggs, with 100 prize eggs, will be hidden. Children must take their own basket. The event will include a visit from the Easter Bunny, a bunny petting zoo, fire truck, face painting, basket raffles and food.

Conference set at Heritage Baptist Heritage Baptist Church will host the Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship conference from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow at 1740 Forest Drive, Annapolis. The topic of the conference will be Joy Through Missions, given by global missions field personnel. A preview of the new mission curriculum will be presented. This event is free, and nursery care will be provided. Lunch will be available for $5. Information: 410-263-6680. Good Shepherd plans Bingo Blast Bingo Blast is being held by the Church of the Good Shepherd at 2 p.m. Sunday at 1451 Furnace Ave., Glen Burnie.

ROME - The final act of Pope John Paul II's pontificate is difficult to watch, but he is determined that the whole world see it. The drama will be played out again this Holy Week, the most important week of the liturgical calendar, as the pontiff, barely able to speak or stand, struggles to demonstrate that he is able to lead his flock of 1.1 billion Roman Catholics. The Vatican has promised only that on Easter the pope will offer a televised blessing from the papal apartments. By lowering expectations, the papal handlers seem to be calculating that any words or appearances beyond that will be interpreted as a sign that the pope's health is improving.

Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville is offering the following programs that are open to the community: Holy Week Journey with Diarmuid O'Murchu. An eight-day retreat beginning at 5 p.m. April 4 and ending at 10 a.m. April 11. Activities include liturgies for Holy Week, Easter Sunday Eucharist, small-group meetings, and discussions on death and resurrection. O'Murchu is an author and a priest and social psychologist with the Sacred Heart Missionary Congregation. The cost is $350, including accommodations at the center.

Prayer replaced sports and commerce at Rash Field, Charles Center and other city landmarks yesterday as about 800 Catholic youths joined a pilgrimage through downtown. With Christian rock music blaring in the background, Cardinal William H. Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, helped rally the throng gathered around the pavilion at Rash Field. The 71-year-old cardinal moved easily among the crowd, greeting the teen-agers and often clasping their hands. When asked what could entice so many teens to a prayer rally on a sunny spring Saturday, he answered, "They love this -- you can just see the enthusiasm.

Hundreds of young people rallied at Rash Field yesterday, opening Holy Week with prayers, hymns and a pilgrimage through the streets of downtown. The atmosphere at the eighth annual Youth Pilgrimage was as festive as a pep rally, but the cheers were for a Roman Catholic cardinal and for teen-agers costumed as saints. "Maybe we can understand better the journey Christ had to make and also show the people of Baltimore that we are strong in our faith and that so many are involved in church," said 17-year-old Matt Thomas of Bel Air, who came carrying a handful of rocks and dressed as St. Stephen, the first martyr.

A dramatization of Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" will be part of the Holy Week observances at Pasadena United Methodist Church. The week's events begin with a service of the Celebration of the King at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The dramatization of the painting will be included at the church's Maundy Thursday service, which begins at 7:30 p.m. A Tenebrae service, commemorating Christ's death, will take place at 7:30 p.m. April 13. A 6 a.m. Easter sunrise service will be followed by a church breakfast, then worship services at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Information: 410-647-3090.