MERRILLVILLE – Father Steven Caraher was an altar server for many years, beginning when he was a fourth grader at St. Thomas More School in Munster. In high school, he became a Mass Captain (MC) which meant that he was expected to attend all the Triduum liturgies.
Learning about Holy Week during the 15 years he assisted Father Michael Yadron is just part of what he feels prepared him for his first Holy Week as a new priest in the Diocese of Gary. Having been ordained in June 2024, Father Caraher acknowledged the vast transition between serving at a Holy Week Mass and celebrating it.
“You're presiding and leading the people,” he said. “You're guiding them through the mysteries of our Lord's passion and his death and his resurrection. It takes on a different character in such a way that's very beautiful and profound.”
Father Caraher, associate pastor for the Merrillville parishes, began Holy Week by celebrating Mass at Holy Martyrs Parish on Palm Sunday. He enjoyed the service that started with the blessing of palms and, “we walked in with this great procession and there was wonderful music and we all had our palms.”
The readings for the day, Father Caraher explained, can shock the faithful as they hear the gospel.
“There's a certain juxtaposition, which I really tried to bring out in my homily, between the glorious entrance into Jerusalem and Jesus’s passion and death on the cross,” he said. “It’s Palm Sunday, but we also call it Passion Sunday, because that's when we hear the Passion. It was just a blessing to be able to not just be one of the crowd, but to actually be in the place of Christ.
“I found what was most profound about that Palm Sunday liturgy was, for the first time in my life, I was speaking the words of Christ during the passion narrative,” he said. “I really felt like, ‘Wow, this is what Jesus would have heard when the crowds yelled, ‘Crucify him. Crucify him.’”
Father Caraher said it really made him realize that Jesus was a man who truly was alone and isolated – a person who felt the whole world was against him, including those closest to him. “When you're actually reading the part of Christ, you get a sense of the weight of what Christ went through,” he said.
Admitting Monday and Tuesday of the busy Holy Week were a bit of a blur, Father Caraher shared that those days were spent preparing for the Triduum – making sure that everything was ready for the days ahead. A lot goes on behind the scenes, he said, including talks with servers, sacristans and those assisting with the set up of the altar.
“Those days were also spent getting prepared spiritually, praying and spending time with Jesus – that kind of quiet anticipation of His passion, death and resurrection,” he said.
On Wednesday at Our Lady of Consolation, the parish hosted a prayer service called tenebrae known as a service of light. During the liturgy, a number of psalms, lessons and lamentations are read and chanted. Candles on the altar are extinguished at certain intervals.
Father Caraher complemented the singers who led the service, the Ahern family, saying they sang and chanted very beautifully throughout the worshipful prayer. Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Joseph Perry presided.
The next morning, Father Caraher attended the Chrism Mass, calling it a powerful moment to walk into the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary where he was ordained 10 months prior. During the Mass, he renewed his priestly promises alongside fellow priests.
“It was the very same place where I made those promises to the bishop, where my life was changed forever at that altar,” he said. “Just to be there with all my brother priests whose lives were also changed at that altar at that church and reaffirm our desire to live those promises, you really do feel the fraternity as a priest.”
The original plan was for Father Ted Mauch, pastor, to preside over the Holy Thursday service that evening. However, feeling under the weather that day, Father Mauch asked Father Caraher to lead the liturgy. So, after the Chrism Mass, Father Caraher went to work preparing a homily for that evening.
“I think if I didn't have that background, and if I came in just kind of blind, I would have been a lot more nervous,” he said. ”But I think the Lord just gave me an opportunity and certainly gave me the confidence to be able to go and present at that liturgy. I really wasn't nervous.”
Good Friday is the only day of the year that the Catholic Church does not permit the celebration of Mass and instead holds the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion. “It was very powerful to just see the whole congregation come up to the cross and venerate it,” he said. “It’s the symbol of our faith, the central message of our faith that God came down and died to save us.”
Father Mauch rested and was able to lead the Easter Vigil at Our Lady at Consolation for which Father Caraher was grateful. He explained the details of the Easter Vigil can be complicated so he was happy to have Father Mauch preside so he could be more spiritually present during the service.
Father Caraher sang The Exsultet, a chanted prayer of praise before the Paschal candle is received at the very beginning of the liturgy of the Easter Vigil.
The parish saw seven people baptized that Saturday and two more received into the Church, making their profession of faith. All nine were confirmed and received their First Communion.
“That was just so beautiful,” Father Caraher said. “It was so wonderful to be a part of that, to see these people who I've gotten a chance to know and journey with a little bit throughout these past months, make that final step to being fully initiated members in the Church.”
Despite being tired from the previous night’s service, Father Caraher woke up early Easter morning to celebrate Mass at 8:30 a.m. and again at 11:30 a.m. at Holy Martyrs Parish. At the conclusion of those Masses, he had the opportunity to spend time with his family over brunch before admittingly “crashing” that evening.
When asked if there was anything he would have done differently during Holy Week, Father Caraher joked, “I would have taken more naps. That's probably what I would do. It's a long week, so you have to really pace yourself.”
Father Caraher said he did receive some good advice from Father Dominic Bertino. The senior priest who celebrated his 50th Holy Week this year advised him to take things one step at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
“There's definitely a temptation of thinking, ‘Oh, what's the next thing I'm doing?’” said Father Caraher. “But it's very powerful if you just live in the moment and just be in the moment.”
Father Caraher feels blessed to have the guidance of Father Mauch and said his time at Holy Martyrs and Our Lady of Consolation has been better than he could have ever imagined.
“Father Ted is such a good pastor,” he said. “He knows the answer to just about every single question that I can throw at him. He's a really good shepherd and leader. He really cares about the people.”
Father Caraher added that he also feels very supported by the parish community. “They always want to let me know that they're praying for me, and they're praying for Father Ted,” he said. “I find myself so encouraged just being there. There are so many great people. I've definitely felt their affection.”
Caption: Father Steven Caraher greets parishioners at Our Lady of Consolation in Merrillville following a Blessing of Easter Baskets on April 19. (Erin Ciszczon photo)
