A Message From Our Bishop

 

    For centuries now, every twenty-five years the Church sets aside a graced time of Jubilee.  These Jubilee Years are “a significant moment in the life of the Church in which she celebrates the year of messianic favor inaugurated by Christ through his Incarnation and Paschal Mystery” (cf. Lk 4:19, St. John Paul II, Tertio Millennio adveniente, nos. 11-16). The Year of our Lord 2025 is just such a Jubilee, and so it stands apart as a new opportunity to receive the Lord’s mercy, to give gratitude for his Holy Church.
    Traditionally, Jubilee years have been marked by special liturgical celebrations, pilgrimages, processions, and a renewed invitation to seek the Lord’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession.  You may remember the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, in which Cathedrals all over the world had a special Holy Door. This year, only the Basilicas in Rome will have Jubilee doors, perhaps as a special encouragement to make pilgrimage to the Eternal City during the year.  At the same time, the Bishops around the world have been encouraged by the Holy Father to designate special pilgrimage sites in their own dioceses, so that the spiritually rich tradition of pilgrimage can be maintained locally as well. 
   With this in mind, I am designating the Cathedral and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas, the Parish Church of Mount Calvary in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Parish Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Calgary, Alberta, to be the Jubilee sites for the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter for the duration of the Holy Year 2025. All the faithful, visiting one of these sites in pious pilgrimage, who go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, may obtain a plenary indulgence with remission and forgiveness of all their sins. This indulgence may be obtained for oneself or applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory.   The Pastors of these parishes are already working on plans for special Jubilee events at which they will welcome visitors from all of our Ordinariate parish communities.  Be sure to watch your own parish bulletins for more information about that.
     We talk often about “practicing” our faith.  Making a pilgrimage can be a wonderful practice for your family…something out of the ordinary that helps us experience God’s love and mercy in a new way.  As we draw closer to the opening of the Jubilee Year 2025, resolve to celebrate this holy year of grace!  God already has some particular grace in mind for His Church.  All we have to do is receive it!
 
Advent Blessings,
The Most Reverend Steven J. Lopes
 Bishop, Ordinariate, Chair of St. Peter
 
 
                                         2025 Holy Year Plenary Indulgence
 
    During the Jubilee Year 2025, all the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holty Year, purified through the sacrament of Penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to  obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins.  The Jubilee Indulgence can be obtained in the following ways:                                                    
1. My making  a pious pilgrimage to any designated Jubilee Site (in the Ordinariate: the Cathedral, Mt. Calvary Parish, and St. John the Evangelist Parish).  A pious pilgrimage means: attending Mass there, participating in a celebration of the Divine Office or the Stations of the Cross, praying the rosary there, by going to Confession, or by praying in that church the pilgrimage prayers prepared for the Jubilee Year.
2. By visiting one of the four papal Basilicas in Rome: St. Peter’s, The Basilica of the Holy Savior (St. John Lateran), St. Mary Major, or St. Paul Outside the Walls.
3. By visiting one of the major Basilicas in the Holy Land.
4. By participating in a parish mission, retreat, or formation class sponsored by the diocese or parish. 
5. By visiting for an appropriate amount of time someone in need or difficulty (the sick, elderly people, disabled people, prisoners). 
6. By undertaking a concrete act of charity or volunteer service for the benefit of others.