The Peru Gazette

Photos and Story by Mike Langlois

About sixty people from the St. Augustine and Peru Community churches gathered on a chilly Sunday morning to celebrate Easter Sunrise Service at St. Patrick’s Oratory in West Peru, NY. The service celebrants were Pastor Bob Svenson and Father Alan Shnob from the Peru Community Church and St. Augustine Church respectively. The service began a little before the original 6 a.m. scheduled time.

As people began to arrive, a Waning Gibbous moon hung in the western sky above a brightly lit Mother Cabrini Shrine. The temperature at the time of the service was twenty-seven degrees.

The forty-five-minute Ecumenical Service included a silent meditation, hymns; a reading from Isaiah 25:6-9, and the Gospel from John 20:1-18. St. Patrick’s alter was decorated with lilies, a white linen draped across a wood cross and a cardboard cutout of Jesus facing the worshipers.

Father Shnob’s Homily focused on modern science’s study of the Shroud of Turin. The shroud is a length of linen cloth bearing the image of a man that is believed by some Christians to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth.

Throughout history people have speculated on the Shroud of Turin’s authenticity. The shroud has been thought to be a hoax; the man’s image painted on for an unknown reason. Shnob said recent studies of the shroud show the image is actually physically raised on the burial cloth. The new evidence has led modern-day scientists to link the shroud’s image potentially to Quantum Physics. “It gave me a more dynamic view of the resurrection then I had before,” he said. “We’d love to know how (the image) happened and what the process was.” Shnob tied the new scientific findings to an upcoming lecture at SUNY Plattsburgh.

On Friday, April 1, Robin Meyers, an award winning columnist, minister, peace activist and expert on progressive Christianity, will deliver a lecture on, “Quantum Physics and the Future of God.” Meyers lecture is part of the SUNY Plattsburgh Cron Lecture series on the impact of scientific discoveries and our understanding of God.

People walked out of St. Patrick’s to find the sun cresting in the east over Vermont’s Green Mountains. Many taking the time to snap photos or chat with their neighbors.