A Catholic church in Springfield, Massachusetts will hold a memorial mass for Nelson Mandela this weekend.
The special service will be held at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart church on Boston Road in Springfield Sunday evening at 5:30. Father Bill Pomerleau, who oversees Catholic outreach to the African community in western Massachusetts, will celebrate the mass. He said Mandela is honored as a symbol of freedom and reconciliation.
" Many of the African people who are in Springfield have fled countries that are torn by ethnic conflicts and they hope those countries can find the reconciliation that South Africa did in recent years."
The mass will be primarily in English. There will be songs in several African languages.
