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January 1, 2025By Maria Young | The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – The call to have hope, that is “hope that doesn’t disappoint,” was echoed throughout the opening Mass of for the 2025 Jubilee Year on Sunday at St. Paul Cathedral.
At the same time, the Diocese of Worcester is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which inaugurated this Jubilee Year of Hope for the universal Church. In a bull of indiction announcing the jubilee published in May, Pope Francis asked diocesan bishops around the world to celebrate Mass in every cathedral on this Sunday.
With pilgrimage being a “fundamental element” of jubilee events, according to the bull, a procession was originally scheduled from St. John Church in Worcester to St. Paul’s prior to the 4 p.m. Mass; however, due to the forecast of rain the procession was cancelled.
Instead, Bishop McManus, clergy and some Mass-goers processed from Mary, Mother of the Redeemer chapel at St. Paul’s, around the cathedral into the main church.
At the start of Mass, Bishop McManus blessed the water in the baptismal font as a reminder of Christian baptism. He then walked down the main aisle blessing attendees with the holy water.
During the homily, Bishop McManus acknowledged the 75th anniversary of the diocese, which was established on March 7, 1950. He also asked of people a “great favor” – to pray for his predecessors, Cardinal John J. Wright, Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan, Bishop Timothy J. Harrington and Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, who have all “gone home to God.”
The theme of this Jubilee Year is Pilgrims of Hope. The ancient tradition of pilgrimage is “inspired by a desire to grow closer to God and trusting in the spiritual benefits promised by such a journey of faith,” Bishop McManus said.
“Every pilgrimage is a gift of grace.”
In designating ten pilgrimage churches, Bishop McManus said that these sites, “special holy grounds, so to speak,” will offer pilgrims the opportunity for prayer, reconciliation and the grace of indulgence “all intended to strengthen them in their faith.”
The ten designated pilgrimage churches for Jubilee Year 2025 are St. Paul Cathedral, Worcester; Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church at Annunciation Parish, Gardner; Our Lady of the Rosary Church at Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish, Spencer; Notre Dame Church at St. John Paul II Parish, Southbridge; Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Milford; St. Cecilia Church, Leominster; St. John the Evangelist Church at St. John, Guardian of our Lady Parish, Clinton; St. Joseph Basilica, Webster; St. Matthew Church, Southborough; and St. Paul Church at Divine Mercy Parish, Blackstone.
He said it was providential that the Jubilee Year begin while the entire church celebrates the joy of Christ’s birth, “who alone is the source of our hope.”
He also said that it is important to repeatedly ask this question throughout the Jubilee Year: “What exactly is this hope that will infuse and promote our pilgrimage during this holy year? Or simply to say: What is the destiny? What is the final goal of our pilgrimage of hope?”
To begin to answer this question Bishop McManus recalled the first two questions asked in the Baltimore Catechism which was used to teach children about the faith.
The first: “Who made me?”
The answer: “God made me.”
The second question which moves “more deeply into the mystery of God’s infinite love for us and why he put you and me on this earth,” he said is this: “Why did God make me?”
The answer: “God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him in this world so as to be in heaven with him forever. ...”
“My fellow pilgrims of hope,” he addressed the crowd, at the young age of 7 ... “we knew our destiny. We knew the goal of our pilgrimage. ... Let us joyfully undertake this pilgrimage of hope with our eyes fixed intently on the cross of Christ who alone, my dear friends, is our hope of salvation.”
At the end of Mass, the bishop’s decree designating the ten pilgrimage churches was read and he handed out the decrees to priests of the pilgrimage churches.
Following the Mass, attendees were invited to the cenacle for light refreshments and for representatives of each parish to receive a bundle of Pilgrim’s Guides and Jubilee prayer cards to bring back to their church(es). The pilgrimage sites also received a processional cross and a large stand-up banner.
At the reception, Mirna Williams, a parishioner of St. Joan of Arc in Worcester said, “I like being in all this. ... When you come to this kind of Mass you can learn things.”
Eliana Alzati, from St. Paul’s said that the theme of hope for the Jubilee Year is important to her. “I think that it’s God’s answer to my prayer because I have been asking for hope,” she said.
Deacon Patrick Stewart; Nancy Norberg, pastoral associate; and Cheryl Mauro, religious education coordinator, all from St. Denis Parish in Douglas stood together at the reception.
Ms. Norberg looks forward to attending a pilgrimage to Rome in February with people from various parishes in the diocese.
Ms. Mauro said she came to the opening Mass “to get inspired” and bring this back to her students in the religious education program at her parish.
Bishop McManus will be making pilgrimages to each of these ten churches throughout the year. Dates are to be announced at a later time.
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