Tom Gorman observes the Easter week festivities that bring folks from miles around to Christ the King Church

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | 7:35 a.m.

It's hard to imagine that people come to Las Vegas on a religious pilgrimage, unless their religion is gluttony and self-indulgence.

But that's the remarkable thing about how Easter week is celebrated by Christ the King Catholic Community, the Roman Catholic church on Torrey Pines Drive and Tropicana Avenue.

Its worship services are so rich and thoughtful that people come from out of state to join local parishioners for the three holiest days of the Christian year - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Seminary students from California are told by their instructors that unless they have better plans for Easter week, they should head to Las Vegas and soak up the experience at Christ the King.

As a child, I knew Easter for its colored eggs and chocolate bunnies, and sitting in church behind women with fancy, flowery hats.

Later, I equated Easter with sweet honey-baked hams, raisin sauce and cheesy scalloped potatoes.

As I matured as a Catholic, I held Easter in greater awe, as the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. It's basically every Christian's bottom line.

But Easter is best celebrated in the context of three liturgies known as the Triduum: Holy Thursday, when Jesus' celebration of Passover became his last supper; Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion, and Holy Saturday, with an evening Easter vigil service.

All 25 parishes in the Las Vegas Diocese celebrate the Triduum in one fashion or another. From what I'm told, Christ the King's is the most intense and dramatic.

Catholics are not obligated to attend church on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

And that's why Father Bill Kenny loves officiating at Triduum services. People want to be there. "They sing, they participate, and they stay to the end," he said.

Father Bill is 61, and has lived in Las Vegas since he was 4. He founded Christ the King parish 27 years ago - before the church began rotating priests among parishes every six years. The diocese bosses have asked him if he wants to leave, but nope, he's happy right there.

In 1987, the parish built its current church - an open-beamed room filled with wood - and it's a knockout in its simplicity and symbolism. The altar is a small and simple wooden table, elevated in the middle of the room, with seats - not pews - positioned off both sides of it.

There are no kneelers, no statues and precious few adornments. Here, church is truly the people. A full-immersion baptismal font is next to the entry door.

Here's a snapshot of how they celebrate the Triduum at Christ the King:

Thursday night's commemoration of the Last Supper includes a washing of feet, just as Jesus cleaned the feet of his disciples. Typically at Catholic churches, a few parishioners are selected to sit near the altar and wash one another's feet.

At Christ the King, however, everyone's feet are washed by one another. It is a profound and humbling expression of service to one another.

The service concludes with the consecrated Blessed Sacrament being carried in a procession to another room, where it remains on display until the Easter vigil.

On Friday, the Stations of the Cross are observed with prayer at noon, and parishioners join with members of the Good Samaritan Lutheran Church for a mile walk between the two churches. It ends about 3 p.m., observed as the hour of Jesus' death.

That night in church, readers in dramatic fashion tell the story of Jesus' last hours. After a communion service, a lone lily is left at the otherwise barren altar, and the church is emptied and locked.

The Saturday night Easter vigil - a three-hour liturgy - is marked by a bonfire in the church yard, a dramatic procession of light into the darkened church, a series of Scripture readings and the proclamation of the Easter gospel.

About 20 adults will be baptized Saturday night as Christians; the evening finishes with communion.

"People tell me how busy we must be this week," Father Bill said. "And we are. We've been rehearsing the readings and the songs since early February. But it's the happiest week of the year."