The Archdiocese of New York’s Cultural Diversity Apostolate (CDA) is helping to organize a Saturday, January 17, Interfaith Prayer Service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Manhattan gathering is set for 11 a.m. at St. Aloysius R.C. Church, 219 West 132nd Street.

The CDA will also help plan the Sunday, January 18, Mass in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia (Dominican Republic), scheduled for 2 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Honoring Dr. King

Yusef Salaam, New York City councilman, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Interfaith Prayer Service. Father Victor Emumwen is the administrator at St. Aloysius, where the service will be held. Father Jim Pierce, SJ, is the weekend associate.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States, observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal and state law and civil society. In 2026, the holiday will be on Monday, January 19.

In 2024, Monsignor Joseph P. LaMorte, vicar general of the Archdiocese of New York, wrote, “his eventual martyrdom in the face of his opposition’s bigoted fear of positive change is what we observe” on the holiday named for him.

Our Lady of Altagracia

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat, Archdiocese of New York, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist during the Our Lady of Altagracia Mass at the cathedral. Organizers have noted that Our Lady of Altagracia is the protector of the Dominican Republic, and Our Lady of Mercedes (Mercy) is the patroness of the Caribbean nation. The Altagracia feast day is January 21; the Mercedes feast day is September 24. The homilist will be Rev. Rumando Peralta, C.R.L., pastor at St. Peter’s and St. Mary’s Church in Haverstraw.

The annual Mass is organized by the CDA and the archdiocesan Comité Arquidiocesano Altagraciano-Mercedario. Bishop Espaillat is New York-born of Dominican ancestry.

Our Lady of Altagracia is depicted as a portrait of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity scene painted circa 1500. It is kept in the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia in Higüey, Dominican Republic.

The original portrait was crowned twice: first on August 15, 1922, during the pontificate of Pius XI, and then by Pope John Paul II (now St. John Paul II), who personally crowned the portrait with a golden silver tiara during his visit to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on January 25, 1979.