Now in their ninth season, the Franciscan Mystery Players of Notre Dame Church, North Caldwell, N.J. perform "Jesus the Healer, A Living Meditation on Healing." The group consists of seventeen teenagers who are members of Notre Dame's Youth Program, two younger girls, and four adult leaders. Other adults, including a few of the Mystery Players' parents, also assist at rehearsals and performances.
Notre Dame's Franciscan Mystery Players established themselves in the Fall of 2000. A traveling group, they perform "Jesus the Healer" during the Lenten season in parishes throughout Northern New Jersey. The Mystery Players also perform outside of the Northern New Jersey area at least once per season. The group has traveled to Massachusetts, upstate New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia, the Jersey shore, Niagara Falls, and Fort Myers, Florida. This season the group will perform in the Sleepy Hollow, New York area.
An integral part of the Notre Dame Church Youth Program, the Mystery Players represent one of several ministries of service sponsored by the parish. The group continues to fulfill its mission of enabling teens to develop a deeper sense of prayer , reach out to people beyond the Notre Dame community, and act as living symbols of God's Spirit. Thousands of lives have been touched by this powerful witness of faith, hope, and love.
Notre Dame's Mystery Players perform "Jesus the Healer" because they wish to minister to others who may be experiencing some type of brokenness in their lives. Through praying together and journeying in faith with each other, the group's members have developed a deeper understanding of the physical and emotional suffering we all experience and the need for God's healing presence in our lives. By sharing "Jesus the Healer" with others, the Mystery Players commit themselves to offering a sign of hope and strength for anyone who may be hurting in some way.
