GREENVILLE – (Above) St. Joseph students, Cadence McDonald, Malorie Lockett and Kimberly Holland help organize canned goods donated for Thanksgiving. (Left) CJ Martinek and Jay Chow help unload a truck full of canned goods for the St. Vincent de Paul food drive. (Photos by Nikki Thompson)
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The celebration of a Holy Year every 25 years is an acknowledgment that “the Christian life is a journey calling for moments of greater intensity to encourage and sustain hope as the constant companion that guides our steps toward the goal of our encounter with the Lord Jesus,” Pope Francis wrote.
Opening the Holy Door to St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, the pope will formally inaugurate the Jubilee Year 2025 with its individual, parish and diocesan pilgrimages and with special celebrations focused on specific groups from migrants to marching bands, catechists to communicators and priests to prisoners.
Inside the Vatican basilica, the door had been bricked up since Nov. 20, 2016, when Pope Francis closed the extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.
Dismantling the brick wall began Dec. 2 with a ritual of prayer and the removal of a box containing the key to the door and Vatican medals. The Holy Doors at the basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls were to be freed of their brickwork in the week that followed.
In January 2021, as the world struggled to return to some kind of normalcy after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis announced that he had chosen “Pilgrims of Hope” as the theme for the Holy Year.
“We must fan the flame of hope that has been given us and help everyone to gain new strength and certainty by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart and farsighted vision,” the pope wrote in a letter entrusting the organization of the Jubilee to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the then-Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.
A holy year or jubilee is a time of pilgrimage, prayer, repentance and acts of mercy, based on the Old Testament tradition of a jubilee year of rest, forgiveness and renewal. Holy years also are a time when Catholics make pilgrimages to designated churches and shrines, recite special prayers, go to confession and receive Communion to receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins.
Crossing the threshold of the Holy Door does not give a person automatic access to the indulgence or to grace, as St. John Paul II said in his document proclaiming the Holy Year 2000. But walking through the doorway is a sign of the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish.
“To pass through that door means to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord … It is a decision which presumes freedom to choose and also the courage to leave something behind, in the knowledge that what is gained is divine life,” St. John Paul wrote.
Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first Holy Year in 1300 and decreed that jubilees would be celebrated every 100 years. But just 50 years later, a more biblical cadence, Pope Clement VI proclaimed another holy year.
Pope Paul II decided in 1470 that holy years should be held every 25 years, which has been the practice ever since – but with the addition of special jubilees, like the Holy Year of Mercy in 2015-16, marking special occasions or needs.
Pope Francis, in his bull of indiction for the 2025 Holy Year, said churches are places “where we can drink from the wellsprings of hope, above all by approaching the sacrament of reconciliation, the essential starting point of any true journey of conversion.”
The pope also asked Catholics to use the Jubilee Year to nourish or exercise their hope by actively looking for signs of God’s grace and goodness around them.
“We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world, lest we be tempted to think ourselves overwhelmed by evil and violence,” he wrote. “The signs of the times, which include the yearning of human hearts in need of God’s saving presence, ought to become signs of hope.”
Even in a troubled world, one can notice how many people are praying for and demonstrating their desire for peace, for safeguarding creation and for defending human life at every stage, he said. Those are signs of hope that cannot be discounted.
As part of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis has announced the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis April 27 during the special Jubilee for Adolescents and the proclamation of the sainthood of Blessed Pier Giorgi Frassati Aug. 3 during the Jubilee for Young Adults.
The lives of the two men, active Catholics who died young, are emblematic of Pope Francis’ conviction that hope, “founded on faith and nurtured by charity,” is what enables people “to press forward in life” despite setbacks and trials.
Pope Francis, in the bull of indiction, told Catholics that “during the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.”
In addition to individual acts of charity, love and kindness like feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger or visiting the sick and the imprisoned, Pope Francis has continued his predecessors’ practice of observing the jubilee by calling on governments to reduce the foreign debt of the poorest countries, grant amnesty to certain prisoners and strengthen programs to help migrants and refugees settle in their new homes.
Archbishop Fisichella, the chief Vatican organizer of the Jubilee Year, said in late November that the Vatican had commissioned a university to forecast the Holy Year pilgrim and tourist influx. They came up with a prediction of 32 million visitors to Rome.
The multilingual jubilee website – www.iubilaeum2025.va/en.html – has been up and running for months and includes the possibility of reserving a time to pass through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s and the other major basilicas of Rome.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also has a special section on its website – www.usccb.org/committees/jubilee-2025 – with information about traveling to Rome for the Holy Year and for celebrating the special jubilees in one’s own diocese or parish.
By Caroline de Sury
PARIS (OSV News) – The solemn reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral put Paris in the center of the Catholic world on the evening of Dec. 7 as the archbishop of France’s capital struck the magnificent door with his pastoral staff, marking the moment of the iconic Catholic church’s rebirth.
“Today, sadness and mourning have given way to joy, celebration and praise,” Pope Francis wrote to the archbishop of Paris – a message read in Notre Dame by the papal ambassador to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.
“May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the church in France,” the pope said in his Dec. 7 message.
Bad weather forced the change of logistical plans. French President Emmanuel Macron, initially scheduled to speak on Notre Dame’s forecourt, spoke inside the cathedral due to howling winds. But nothing could overshadow the moment Parisians and “tout le monde entier,” the whole world, awaited for the last five years, since the inferno of April 15, 2019, that devastated the cathedral’s interior and collapsed the now-rebuilt spire.
“I stand before you to express the gratitude of the French nation, our gratitude to all those who saved, helped and rebuilt the cathedral,” Macron said, adding that France had “achieved the impossible,” renovating Notre Dame in five years – a feat some experts predicted would take decades.
“Tonight we can together share joy and pride. Long live Notre Dame de Paris, long live the Republic and long live France,” he said.
The cathedral, which for the last five years was home to hundreds of various trade workers, felt as if all the crowned heads and riches of the planet wanted to witness her resurrection, with Prince William, the heir to the British throne, and billionaire businessman Elon Musk present among many. But it was Archbishop Ulrich that opened the cathedral up for the world.
“Notre Dame, model of faith, open your doors to gather in joy the scattered children of God,” Archbishop Ulrich called out in front of the central door, before striking it three times with the tip of his crosier. The pastoral staff itself was made from a beam from the cathedral’s roof structure that escaped the fire.
It was pitch-dark when the bells of Parisian churches rang out across the capital, announcing the arrival on Notre Dame’s forecourt of the liturgical procession of bishops from the Paris region, their chasubles billowing in the wind – with Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York among them.
The archbishop of Paris then entered the cathedral, followed by President Macron, and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo. At the entrance, the archbishop paused for a long moment as La Maîtrise Notre Dame de Paris choir sang and President Macron took his place next to President-elect Donald Trump.
Firefighters, craftsmen and representatives of the 250 companies and sponsors involved in the restoration then paraded through the nave of the cathedral to prolonged applause. Outside, illuminated “Thank you” messages in several languages appeared at the same time on the facade of the cathedral.
“I salute all those, especially the firefighters, who worked so courageously to save this historic monument from catastrophe,” Pope Francis wrote in his message.
“I salute the determined commitment of the public authorities, as well as the great outpouring of international generosity that contributed to the restoration,” the pope said.
“We return it to Catholics, to Paris, to France, to the whole world,” Macron said. He evoked the sound of the cathedral’s bells ringing again, like “a music of hope, familiar to Parisians, to France, to the world,” which have “accompanied our history.”
Among those gathered inside the cathedral were disadvantaged people specially invited through the charitable associations of the archdiocese, along with representatives of Paris’ 113 parishes.
“We were able to walk around the cathedral before the ceremony began, with the other guests, ministers, bishops, famous artists, in a smiling atmosphere,” Xavier de Noblet, 50, told OSV News. He represented the parish with the oldest church in Paris, Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, which is located on the famous hill just a few meters from the landmark hilltop Basilica of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre.
“This new Notre Dame is a jewel,” he said. “It is hard to imagine that this was done in five years, and not in 107 years, as in the Middle Ages!” de Noblet said, particularly looking forward to the organ’s revival. “It really is the voice of the cathedral,” he explained. “It is going to be a great thrill to hear it again, as if the cathedral were starting to speak anew.”
Father Gaëtan de Bodard, new chaplain of the iconic Paris fire brigade that saved Notre Dame – and successor to Father Jean-Marc Fournier, who courageously ran into the burning cathedral to first preserve the Blessed Sacrament, bless the burning church and then save the crown of thorns – was also full of admiration Dec. 7.
“The cross at the back of the choir shines brightly! What a contrast to the desolate photos of the day after the fire,” he told OSV News.
For his part, Pope Francis invited “all the baptized who will joyfully enter this Cathedral” to feel “justifiably proud,” and to “reclaim their faith heritage,” when Notre Dame is back for Paris and the world, ahead of the inaugural Mass Dec. 8.
(Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News from Paris.)
December 27
Father Antony
Chakkalakkal
and
Father Augustine
Palimattam Poulose
January 8
Father Bill Cullen
Retired
January 12
Father José Lopez
Retired
By Cindy Wooden
ROME (CNS) – With the city of Rome presenting a gauntlet of major roadworks and construction projects ahead of the opening of the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis used the disruptions as an opportunity to encourage people to do some spiritual renovation before the jubilee.
On a cloudy afternoon with the threat of rain Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis went to the center of Rome to continue the tradition of praying before a statue of Mary high atop a column near the Spanish Steps.
At dawn that morning, Rome firefighters climbed nearly 90 feet using a truck and ladder to place a ring of white flowers on Mary’s outstretched arm and bouquets at her feet, continuing a Roman tradition that began in 1949.
Pope Francis brought his own basket of white roses tied with a yellow and white Vatican ribbon, and, as is his custom, he recited a prayer to Mary rather than giving a speech to the thousands of Romans, visitors and tourists who joined him.
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri was there. He has been dogged with criticism about how the major jubilee projects, most of which are still incomplete, have snarled traffic and disappointed tourists hoping to see sights now covered in scaffolding.
Pope Francis said Mary knows the work is causing “quite a few inconveniences, yet it is a sign that Rome is alive, renewing itself, trying to adapt to needs, to being more welcoming and more functional.”
Speaking to Mary, he said her “mother’s gaze” sees beyond the construction chaos. “And I seem to hear your voice that with wisdom tells us, ‘My children, these works are fine, however, be careful: do not forget the worksites of the soul!”
“’The real Jubilee is not outside,’” he imagined her saying, “’it is inside: inside you, inside hearts, in family and social relationships. It is within that you must work to prepare the way for the coming Lord.’”
And, the pope added, “it’s a good opportunity to make a good confession, to ask forgiveness for all our sins. God forgives everything. God forgives always.”
Pope Francis thanked Mary for the suggestion “because, without wanting to, we risk being totally caught up in organizing, in all the things to be done,” with the risk that “the grace of the Holy Year, which is a time of spiritual rebirth, of forgiveness and social liberation,” can be stifled.
He also asked people to pray for the mayor, “who has so much to do.”
With the theme, “Pilgrims of Hope,” the pope plans to open the Holy Year at St. Peter’s Basilica before Mass Dec. 24. He also will open a Holy Door at Rome’s Rebibbia prison Dec. 26. The Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran will open Dec. 29; at the Basilica of St. Mary Major Jan. 1; and at St. Paul Outside the Walls Jan. 5.
Pope Francis thanked Mary “because still, in this time poor in hope, you give us Jesus, our hope!”
He also told Mary that “the flowers we offer you are meant to express our love and gratitude; but you especially see and appreciate those hidden flowers, which are the prayers, the sighs (and) the tears, especially of the little ones and the poor.”
FAITH ALIVE
By D.D. Emmons
Jan. 1 is the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the final day of the Christmas octave.
In the fifth century, a heresy led by Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople (r. 428-431) claimed that Jesus was actually two persons: one human and one divine – that his divinity was instilled on him after he was born. Thus, they reasoned incorrectly that Mary was the mother of Jesus but not the mother of God. Their rationale contradicted ancient Christian beliefs as well as proclamations and canons issued at earlier church councils.
At the Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325, the church fathers had clearly determined that Jesus was consubstantial with the Father and, therefore, Mary was the Mother of God.
In response to the heretical message of Nestorius, another ecumenical council was held in 431 at Ephesus, Turkey. Led by St. Cyril (r. 412-444), bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, Mary was defended as Theotokos, God-bearer, and that Jesus was one person with a divine and human nature; Mary was the Mother of God. Nestorianism was condemned by the council and Nestorians excommunicated.
The people of Ephesus, joyful over the council decision, went through the streets chanting, “Mary, Mother of God,” which would become words prayed during the rosary devotion.
Some 1,500 years after the council, Pope Pius XI (r. 1922-1939) would claim: “If the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is God, assuredly she who bore him is rightly and deservedly to be called the Mother of God.”
(D.D. Emmons writes from Pennsylvania.)
SPIRITUAL ENRICHMENT
GLUCKSTADT – St. Joseph, Millions of Monicas – Praying with confidence for our children, each Tuesday from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the church. Join with other mothers and grandmothers as we pray for our children’s faithful return to the church. Details: email millionsofmonicas@stjosephgluckstadt.com.
Knights of Columbus – Grow in your faith with five short videos produced by the Knights of Columbus called the “Mission of The Family.” The Mission of the Family” videos can be found at https://www.kofc.org/en/campaigns/into-the-breach.html. The five videos are less than 14 minutes in length.
OFFICE OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION – The OCE hosts a Zoom Rosary the first Wednesday of each month during the school year at 7 p.m. On Jan. 8, St. Anthony School will lead us in prayer. Join early and place your intentions in the chat. Details: Join the rosary via zoom at https://bit.ly/zoomrosary2024 or check the diocese calendar of events.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – School Sisters of Notre Dame invite single women to a discernment retreat Feb. 21-23, 2025, at their Sancta Maria in Ripa campus. Details: Pre-registration by Feb. 7, is requested. There is no cost for participation. Private rooms with restroom provided; all meals included. Some assistance with transportation costs is available if needed. Details: email sisters@ssnd.org or call (314) 633-7026.
PILGRIMAGE – Pilgrimage to Marian Shrines (Fatima, Spain and Lourdes) with Father Lincoln Dall and Deacon John McGregor, Sept, 15-24, 2025. Details: for more information visit www.206tours.com/frlincoln.
PARISH, FAMILY & SCHOOL EVENTS
JACKSON – Holy Family, Simbang Gabi Mass with a Novena, Dec. 16-24 at 4 a.m. Come join this Filipino tradition on the nine days before Christmas.
Holy Family, Las Posadas, Monday, Dec. 23 at 6 p.m. Details: church office (601) 362-1888.
JACKSON – Cathedral of St. Peter, Statue Dedication of Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, Saturday, Dec. 21 at 11 a.m. The statue is a gift from the Bishops of the Province of Mobile. The celebration will begin with Mass, followed by the blessing of the statue, then a reception to follow.
Cathedral of St. Peter, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 from 1-2:30 p.m. with speaker Constance Slaughter Harvey. You may write a short reflection on how Dr. King’s message impacted your life or society. Submit by Jan. 10. Details: amelia.breton@jacksondiocese.org.
MADISON – St. Joseph School, $10,000 Draw Down, Saturday, Jan. 25 from 6-10 p.m. at Reunion Golf Club. Details: visit www.stjoebruins.com/drawdown.
MADISON – St. Francis, Ring in Your Faith 10k/5k, Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 8 a.m. You are guaranteed a delicious New Year’s Day meal and fellowship after the race. Cost is $30, with proceeds to assist Knights ongoing service projects. Register at https://bit.ly/RingInYourFaith2025. Details: Joe at leslieslee@hotmail.com.
MERIDIAN – St. Patrick, Dinner and Dancing, Saturday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. in the Family Life Center. Tickets $30. Dress in your Sunday best for a Valentine’s weekend intimate night of fine dining and romantic melodies. Ages 21+. Details: church office (601) 693-1321.
DIOCESE
Campus Ministry Winter Retreat, Saturday, Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Joseph Starkville. Join college students from across the diocese for a day of fellowship, games, prayer, song, scripture, Mass and more. Cost: $20. Details: register at https://bit.ly/3OoES58.
WORLD MARRIAGE DAY – Event recognizes couples celebrating special anniversaries in 2025 – 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th or longer. Celebrations held in Jackson at the Cathedral of St. Peter on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. and in Tupelo at St. James on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. Register by Jan. 7, 2025. Details: email debbie.tubertini@jacksondiocese.org.
YOUTH – DCYC, March 21-23, 2025 at the Vicksburg Convention Center. Theme is “Here I am Lord Work in Me.” Register by Feb. 21, contact your parish to register. Details: contact your individual parish offices or contact Abbey at (601) 949-6934 or abbey.schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org.
By Gina Christian
(OSV News) – Despite a few high-profile delays in recent years, the beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen – the popular, scholarly archbishop and 20th-century pioneer of Catholic broadcasting – is “inevitable,” said the head of the foundation supporting his cause.
“The desire to see Sheen beatified is increasing, and there is a growing devotion to him,” Msgr. Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation, told OSV News.
In an article for the foundation’s 2024 year-end newsletter, Msgr. Gray – who also serves as the judicial vicar and episcopal vicar for consecrated life for the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, as well as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Peoria Heights – pointed to several indicators of Archbishop Sheen’s expanding reputation for holiness, or “fama sanctitatis” in canonical terms.
“He didn’t just know about Jesus Christ,” Msgr. Gray told OSV News. “He knew Jesus Christ personally.”
That relationship enabled Archbishop Sheen to put his considerable intellect and communications skills at the service of the Catholic Church, with international impact, said Msgr. Gray.
Born in 1895, Fulton John Sheen sensed an early call to priesthood, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in 1919. He then obtained a doctorate in philosophy and taught both that subject and theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington from 1927 to 1950.
But rather than confine himself to academia, then-Father Sheen also leveraged modern social communications platforms to spread the Gospel. He launched a weekly radio show while still a fairly young priest, drawing some 4 million regular listeners during a two-decade run. After being appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, he transformed the show into a television program, “Life is Worth Living,” which peaked at 30 million weekly viewers.
His ministry continued to expand, with then-Bishop Sheen serving as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith from 1950-1966. He was then appointed bishop of Rochester, New York, in 1966, where he launched a second television show. He resigned three years later as his 75th birthday approached; canon law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope at 75. He was appointed a titular archbishop by Pope St. Paul VI, which afforded him time to continue preaching. Archbishop Sheen, who had suffered from heart disease in later years, died in 1979 before the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel of his Manhattan residence.
His cause for canonization, opened in 2002, has been stalled by two controversies – a public battle to relocate his remains from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to its current location, the side chapel of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria; and concerns that as bishop of Rochester from 1966-1969, the prelate might have overlooked sexual abuse by at least one former diocesan priest there.
The latter concern was magnified after the state of New York adopted lookback laws that allowed hundreds of abuse claims to be considered, with the Diocese of Rochester ultimately filing for bankruptcy.
However, Msgr. Gray told OSV News, “Sheen is clean. … Not one accusation has been raised that impugned Sheen.”
He said the foundation has examined “all of the pleadings” relevant to claims against the Rochester Diocese, and “there hasn’t been anything that was brought up there” implicating Archbishop Sheen.
The monsignor said the only thing remaining is a “dormant” investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia Jones, who opened several such inquiries into other dioceses that have now been settled.
Msgr. Gray told OSV News there are “three reasons” for renewed interest in Archbishop Sheen’s canonization, which has been evidenced by a surge in visits to his tomb, requests for both relics and for his more than 50 books, and reports of favors and graces received through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.
“The first is maybe the most obvious, and it’s just that he was someone who used the modern means of communication,” said Msgr. Gray, adding “if he (Archbishop Sheen) were around today, (imagine) what he’d be doing with the internet.”
Even more important, Archbishop Sheen “was very devoted to the Eucharist,” and serves as “a model for devotion to the Blessed Sacrament” – a role that has taken on deeper significance amid the National Eucharistic Revival, said Msgr. Gray.
And, he added, Archbishop Sheen was “someone who was just so insightful on so many issues,” including the most contentious ones “facing modern man today.
“He would talk about psychology, politics, sociology,” said Msgr. Gray. “And I think maybe more than ever, we need someone … (like) Sheen to speak with so much clarity, and so much passion and so much charity about the issues that are just roiling our societies today.”
Because of his personal relationship with Christ, Archbishop Sheen “could speak from a personal perspective, and with personal passion,” said the monsignor. “He wasn’t just quoting a book. … He brought his knowledge of the faith and his knowledge of Jesus Christ into the personal trials that we face in the world today.”
(Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @GinaJesseReina.)
