December 11, 2024

By Mary Beth Bracy, consecrated virgin
Contributing Writer

It’ll be a year of hope.
Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year of Hope from December 29, 2024, to December 28, 2025. It will be inaugurated in our diocese by Bishop Terry R. LaValley at 11 a.m. Mass on December 29 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.

The Church is offering numerous reasons for our hope (1 Peter 3:15) during this grace-filled year including plentiful opportunities to obtain plenary indulgences throughout the diocese at designated pilgrimage sites and beyond. 

Father Garry B. Giroux, judicial vicar of the Tribunal Office of Canonical Affairs and pastor of St. Mary’s, Waddington, and St. John the Baptist, Madrid, is “quarterbacking” the Diocese of Ogdensburg initiatives for the Holy Year, “with a wonderful committee.” He shared why it’s crucial for North Country Catholics to participate.

“Nobody needs to have an explanation of despair, but we do need to rediscover hope,” said Father Giroux. “A Jubilee, a Holy Year, is above all about Christ the Lord, who brings life and grace to all humanity. Pope Francis has chosen as the theme for Holy Year 2025, ‘Pilgrims of Hope.’”

Father Giroux explained the history and significance of Jubilee years.

“Since the year 1300 AD, the Roman Catholic Church has identified certain years as a ‘Jubilee’ or ‘Holy Year,’” he said. “A Holy Year, or a jubilee, is a year of forgiveness of sins and the punishment due to sin; it is a year of reconciliation between or among adversaries. A Holy Year is a time of conversion and entering more deeply into one’s relationship with Christ Jesus and the Church. A Holy Year or Jubilee focuses our attention on solidarity with the needy and powerless; it is a special time for the works of justice and peacebuilding.

“Bishops and pastors are asked to reinforce with their people the concept of pilgrimage with its historic and symbolic significance of the ongoing need for conversion and reconciliation. People who cannot leave their residence due to illness or other constraints, can make a spiritual pilgrimage.”

Father Giroux offered several practical ideas for Catholics to fruitfully take part in the Jubilee Year.

“Visiting the sick [in real time or virtually], feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or welcoming a stranger – such as, migrants – is, in a sense, making a pilgrimage to Christ who is present in them,” Father Giroux said. “The faithful are encouraged to embrace initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the Holy Year, such as abstaining from meat on Fridays or limiting one’s use of social media,” Father Giroux noted.

Additionally, he continued, “Holy Year 2025 invites us to support works of a religious or social nature, especially in the defense and protection of human life in all its stages.”

Of particular interest are the many and varied opportunities to receive plenary indulgences for oneself or loved ones who have died.

“One of the significant aspects of a Holy Year is the granting of a plenary indulgence,” Father Giroux said. “A plenary indulgence is defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church [1471] as a ‘remission, before God, of the temporal punishment due to sins.’ An indulgence is an action of the Church which, as Christ’s minister of reconciliation, bestows, from the inexhaustible merits of Christ and all the saints, a release from any temporal punishment due to sin. An indulgence can be applied either to oneself or to the souls of the deceased, but it cannot be applied to other living persons.”

There are several ways the faithful in our diocese may receive a plenary indulgence. “The plenary indulgence can be obtained by traveling to one of the pilgrimage sites designated by Bishop LaValley for the Holy Year between December 29, 2024, and December 28, 2025,” said Father Giroux. “While visiting one of these pilgrimage sites one must pray the Lord’s Prayer and recite the Creed. Within less than 20 days of the pilgrimage visit, one must go to confession and receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the pope.”

“The churches and shrines, designated as pilgrimage sites by Bishop LaValley, where one can obtain a plenary indulgence are: St. Mary Cathedral, Ogdensburg, St. Mary’s, Canton, St. Mary’s, Clayton, Holy Family, Watertown, St. Stephen’s, Croghan, St. Alphonsus, Tupper Lake, St. Bartholomew, Old Forge, and St. Mary’s, Ticonderoga, St. Peter’s, Plattsburgh, Mother Cabrini Shrine at St. Patrick’s Oratory, West Peru, and Notre Dame of Malone.”

Those who cannot visit one of the pilgrimage sites aren’t left out, though.

“The church, in her wisdom, understands not all are able to travel,” Father Giroux added. “If one is ill and unable to travel to one of the pilgrimage sites, they can still receive the indulgence if they go to confession, receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father. Those who are homebound should contact their pastor if they wish to receive an indulgence.”

During this Holy Year, the Vatican is offering extra opportunities for the faithful to obtain indulgences. Angelo Cardinal De Donatis wrote, “Despite the rule that only one plenary indulgence can be obtained per day (cf. Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, IV ed., norm. 18, § 1), the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in Purgatory, if they receive Holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased (this must take place within a Eucharistic celebration; see can. 917 and the Pontifical Commission for the authentic interpretation of the CIC, Responsa ad dubia, 1, 11 July 1984).

Moreover, Bishop LaValley will be issuing a pastoral letter on Lived Hope in the 21st Century.

Special catechesis on hope will be further offered in Catholic schools and Faith Formation programs for both youth and adults.

There will also be a series of homilies on sacraments of initiation and penance, and opportunities for parish missions on hope.

As with the Year of Faith, there will be a special diocesan event this summer, “The Look and Sound of Hope: Celebration of Hope in Music and Art.” An added feature will be offered, enthused Father Giroux, to make the theme tangible.

“In some situations, in terms of people who are on the autism spectrum, sound can be a problem, but tangible can be an important thing,” he said. “We are expanding to help those who may not have been included in 2013.”
At the deanery level, the bishop will preside and preach at special Holy Year Masses, and solemn Eucharistic Adoration will be held.

Bishop LaValley will also visit nursing homes and correctional facilities throughout the diocese, as a special outreach to those who are ill or are restricted in their ability to travel.

Additional information about the Jubilee and related celebrations will be released as it becomes available.

More information may be found at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website: https://www.usccb.org/committees/jubilee-2025