Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, will deliver the Invocation at a Jan. 19 memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to honor the nearly 400,000 U.S. residents who have succumbed to COVID-19.
The memorial service – held the day before the presidential inauguration – will begin at 5:30 p.m. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will participate in the event that will include prayer, music and a lighting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with 400 lights in honor of lives lost in the pandemic. This is believed to be the first-ever lighting around the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial.
Along with the Lincoln Memorial, hundreds of towns, cities, tribes, landmarks, and communities across the United States will join in the tribute. Iconic buildings including the Empire State Building in New York City and the Space Needle in Seattle will be illuminated. Other locations participating in the memorial include Wilmington, Delaware; Oakland, California; Miami; Atlanta; Chicago; Dearborn, Michigan; Las Vegas; Philadelphia; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; Houston; tribal lands throughout the country; and others.
