Local Anglicans will celebrate “Laetare Sunday,” the fourth Sunday in Lent, with ice cream sundaes.

Residents are invited to join them Sunday, March 15, from 2 to 4 p.m. for ice cream sundaes and fun.

Deacon John LesCallett from the Anglican Church of the Atonement said, “This is the time in Lent when we rejoice and lighten up the penitential feel of the Lenten season.”

Laetare Sunday is taken from the words of the introit, laetare Jerusalem, “rejoice with Jerusalem.”

There is a joyful tone at this halfway point in Lent. The vestments are often rose-colored. Laetare Sunday is also called Mothering Sunday, named because a person would visit his mother church on this day. This day also became connected with visiting one’s biological mother on Laetare Sunday.

The Sunday also goes by Refection Sunday, i.e. Refreshment Sunday, named because of the Scripture reading of Joseph feeding his brothers. Finally, the fourth Sunday of Lent is called Rose Sunday because of the papal blessing of the golden rose, a floral spray blessed by the pope and given to a notable person or institution.

For more information call Atonement Church at 836-4341 or see its webpage, atonementchurchfountainhills.org.