Parish communities unite to walk through Holy Doors
On Dec. 24, 2024, our late Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to usher in the 2025 Jubilee Year. Jubilees in the Church are based on the Old Testament tradition of a year of forgiveness and renewal. For us, the Jubilee Year is a time of prayer, repentance and acts of mercy. It’s also a time when Catholics make pilgrimages to designated churches and shrines.
On Dec. 24, 2024, our late Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to usher in the 2025 Jubilee Year. Jubilees in the Church are based on the Old Testament tradition of a year of forgiveness and renewal. For us, the Jubilee Year is a time of prayer, repentance and acts of mercy. It’s also a time when Catholics make pilgrimages to designated churches and shrines.
Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, noted how this year’s theme, Pilgrims of Hope, coordinates clearly with the Diocese of Charleston’s five-year initiative, Via Fidelis. The theme for its first year is Proclaim the Faith.
“This very faith we proclaim, the Gospel or kerygma … of forgiveness and salvation in Christ, is the very cause of our hope! This grace-filled convergence of the jubilee and Via Fidelis gives us confidence that we are called to journey ever closer to our loving Savior,” the bishop wrote. “One way to remember that we are a pilgrim Church is to engage in pilgrimages.”
Cardinal Angelo de Donatis, the pope’s plenipotentiary, issued a decree in May last year granting a plenary indulgence for pilgrims if they visited a cathedral or other church or sacred place that was designated by the local ordinary — in this case, our bishop.
“I am happy to share that I have identified four pilgrimage locations within South Carolina that will be eligible for the jubilee indulgence,” Bishop Fabre wrote. “Those locations are the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, the Basilica of St. Peter in Columbia, St. Mary Church in Greenville and historic St. Mary, Help of Christians Church in Aiken.”
With the theme Pilgrims of Hope clearly in mind, Missionary of the Sacred Hearts Father Kentigern Aririguzo hosted a mission for his parishioners. He is the administrator of Our Lady of the Valley Church in Gloverville and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Edgefield. The goal was to explain and discuss Jubilee Years past and present, and he invited as guest speaker Father Chidi Onwuka, a fellow Missionary of the Sacred Hearts who is administrator of St. Edward Church in North Augusta.
The combined parish mission was such a success that Father Aririguzo decided to go deeper and invite both churches for a pilgrimage — a chance to walk through a Holy Door, take a tour of that church and receive the jubilee indulgence. While a pilgrimage to Rome was entertained, the closer journey to the Basilica of St. Peter in Columbia was far more attainable.
Father Gary S. Linsky, rector of the Basilica, enthusiastically invited the priest and his pilgrims to tour St. Peter and attend Mass. An equal number of parishioners from the two churches signed up and even a few young children were able to join. On June 11, Father Aririguzo opened the Basilica’s Holy Doors for him and the pilgrims to walk through.
While heavy rains had preceded the event, and more rain was forecast, parishioners were greeted with a clear and sunny day for the informative, interesting and educational tour led by Basilica docent Karen Williams. Mass followed the tour, celebrated by Fathers Linsky and Aririguzo.