Oakland, California – At 3 p.m. Saturday, December 31, St. Columba Catholic Church will hold a memorial service to commemorate the lives lost to homicide in Oakland this year. The service will include representatives from community service organizations, and bereaved family and friends.
For the last thirteen years, St. Columba Catholic Church has commemorated Oakland’s victims of homicide by placing a cross with the victim’s name in the front garden of the church. The Ceremony of the Crosses then takes place on New Year’s Eve to remember those who have died and to remove the crosses.
All will gather in the church for prayer and comments and then proceed to the front garden for the Ceremony of the Crosses where the victims’ names will be read aloud and the crosses removed. When all the crosses have been removed, participants will proceed back into the church and lay the crosses at the foot of the altar. Family members of the deceased who have received crosses may keep them as a remembrance of their loved one.
Media representatives are invited. Masks are required.
WHAT: Ceremony of the Crosses
WHO: FIAEB and St. Columba Catholic Church
WHEN: Saturday, December 31, at 3 PM
WHERE: St. Columba Catholic Church, 6401 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608