Special Mass remembers people lost to substance abuse and overdose

Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre was joined by deacons and priests at the annual Mass of Remembrance and Healing at St. Albert the Great Church Feb. 3. The liturgy remembers those lost to substance abuse and overdose. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)

Melody Lickliter lost her daughter Hannah Hayes, a mother of three, less than a year ago. Her grief is still fresh.

“She was named for Hannah in the Bible,” said Lickliter as she sat in a pew at St. Albert the Great Church Monday evening. “She fought this for a long time; she had finally been clean for over a year. 

“They said it was fentanyl. If it was anything else, she could have come back. But you can’t come back from that,” she said.

Deacon Mark Preischel greeted Melody Lickliter before he lit a candle in memory of her daughter, Hannah Hayes, at the annual Mass of Remembrance and Healing. The liturgy, celebrated Feb. 3 at St. Albert the Great Church, remembers those lost to substance abuse and overdose. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)

Lickliter was one of about 75 people who attended a special Mass Feb. 3 in memory of people lost to substance abuse and overdose. Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, who was joined by several deacons and priests, celebrated the Archdiocese of Louisville Mass of Remembrance and Healing.

During the liturgy, Lickliter said, she would be praying for her daughter’s happiness.

Father Jason Harris, who gave a brief homily, told the congregation that he was in treatment last year for depression and anxiety, and he came to realize he also had an addiction to the internet. 

He shared how he, like others who face addiction, had become trapped in a cycle he couldn’t manage.

“I thought I was managing my life through depression and anxiety and a little bit of mental illness,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much chaos I was living in.”

Deacon Mark Preischel lit a candle in memory of Hannah Hayes and others who were remembered during the annual Mass of Remembrance and Healing at St. Albert the Great Church Feb. 3. The liturgy remembers those lost to substance abuse and overdose. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)

The night’s reading from Lamentations resonated with him, he said: “My life is deprived of peace; I’d forgotten what happiness is.”

“It is so hard to admit I can’t get this all together; there is so much danger out there for those who struggle with that darkness,” he told the congregation. “For people of faith, it’s a little easier sometimes to … find a way to the light. And even for us of faith, that, sometimes, is even hard, as well. 

“I think that’s what we’re praying for tonight — our loved ones who struggled so much. And we struggle, too. But yet we come together in that struggle to help each other see the light, the light of Christ that he offers to us.”

Jesus offers that light “to our loved ones, as well,” Father Harris said. Lamentations tells us, “His compassion is not spent.”

Jesus “cries with us … he is always with us,” said Father Harris.

Father Harris encouraged his listeners to seek peace and healing in one another.

Father Jason Harris, who gave the homily for the annual Mass of Remembrance and Healing at St. Albert the Great Church Feb. 3, greeted the congregation afterward. The liturgy remembers those lost to substance abuse and overdose. (Record Photo by Marnie McAllister)

Tonight, he said, “we pray for a sense of community, a sense of community that I feel right this very second — of healing and of peace.

“And that comes from only one place,” Father Harris added. “The love that we share, which Jesus taught us.”

At moments throughout the liturgy, members of the congregation wept openly. And St. Albert’s adult choir, accompanied by keyboard and violin, offered music that was both somber and hopeful, including the song, “Life is changed, not ended.”

At the conclusion of Mass, Archbishop Fabre expressed his hope that the congregation would “find comfort in our prayer together.”

“We want to help you carry that cross of grief. You are not alone,” he said.

Marnie McAllister
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Marnie McAllister
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