Question of Faith
A weekly question of faith answered by Cleveland Catholics. Fr. Damian Ference, Vicar of Evangelization and Deacon Mike Hayes Director of Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland co-host with frequent guests from the Diocesan Office who join in the conversation. Sponsored by Briefcase Marketing--check them out at https://www.Briefcase.marketing
Question of Faith
What's the Jubilee Year All About?
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
This podcast episode intimately explores the significance of the Jubilee Year, focusing on its rich history, spiritual practices, and the call to embrace hope in our lives. Listeners engage with discussions on pilgrimage sites, the requirements for receiving indulgences, and the powerful reflections on identity and community.
• Exploring the biblical roots and historical significance of Jubilee
• Understanding the celebration of Jubilee as a year of hope
• The Diocese of Cleveland's designated Jubilee pilgrimage sites
• Requirements for receiving indulgences during the Jubilee
• Personal reflections on the experience of hope and identity
• Encouragement to seek spiritual renewal throughout the year
Links for the Jubilee Year:
Pilgrimage sites in the Diocese of Cleveland
Requirements to receive the plenary indulgence
Jubilee Resources
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If you have a question you can email us above or simply mhayes@dioceseofcleveland.org
On today's Question of Faith. What's the Jubilee all about? Hey everybody, this is Question of Faith. Happy New Year. I'm Deacon Mike Hayes. I'm the Director of the Young Adult Ministry here in the Diocese of Cleveland.
Fr. Damian Ference:Happy New Year everybody. This is Fr Damian Ference, vicar for Evangelization.
Mary Hrich:Happy New Year. I'm Mary Hrich. I'm the Director of the Office for Worship for the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Welcome back, mary. Thank you, always good. So what's this Jubilee all about, anyway?
Fr. Damian Ference:Well, I just read a book on it. In fact I bought Dr John Bergsma's book for my whole staff. He's a professor of scripture down at Franciscan, got his PhD at the University of Notre Dame and I just finished the book yesterday in fact. And he ends the book by starting in the Jubilee of 99. He was formerly a Protestant pastor. He was shepherding a church up in Western Michigan and then felt like he should get his doctorate. He found Notre Dame to be the best program because they had a lot of Protestant professors there. So he goes down there. It's the fall of 99. Guess what happens in 2000? It's Jubilee year.
Fr. Damian Ference:And his director. He went out to coffee with his director and his director said you know, somebody started a project on the biblical roots of Jubilee but never finished it. Why don't you do that? And he did it. And before you know it he decides I'm going to come into the Catholic faith. And he realized by studying scripture the beauty of Jubilee. So Jubilee is a time set apart. It's rooted in scripture. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament, where God provides a time for his people, a year of celebration, of forgiveness, of renewal of family, of allowing his graces to flow in a particular way.
Mary Hrich:For a lay person, I would say it happens every 25 years. So when I was giving a talk about this, I said it's kind of like we're celebrating Jesus's 2025th birthday.
Fr. Damian Ference:Nice it used to happen every 50 years and then I think it was John Paul's like let's do it every 25. So it may only happen back in the day. It only happened about once in your lifetime. So now maybe two, three times if you're lucky, four if you're really blessed. But it doesn't come along that often.
Mary Hrich:Although this is the ordinary Jubilee, there have been times when there's been a special or extraordinary Jubilee.
Fr. Damian Ference:Correct. Yeah, I did go to Rome back in 2000 for World Youth Day as part of the Jubilee for 25 years ago, and that was pretty grand. So what kind of things happen in the Jubilee year and how do we celebrate? So it started on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in Rome, the Holy Father opened the doors of St Peter's, which only opened during the Jubilee year, and then the next weekend, which was Holy Family Sunday, it kicked off in all the diocese around the world and we started ours down at St Peter's you want to talk about that and then our procession down.
Mary Hrich:We did so. What we did was we gathered members of parishes from all across the eight counties of the Diocese of Cleveland. We have special crosses made. The bishop has designated 11 sites as Jubilee sites, because part of the thing with the Jubilee is about making pilgrimages. It's about taking time to be intentional about our faith, about exploring our faith, about prayer, about learning more, and so in these pilgrimages we have different sites throughout the diocese where folks can come and visit, spend some time in Eucharistic adoration, spend some time in reconciliation, perhaps celebrate liturgy there, maybe listen to a mission or participate in formation on the documents of the catechism or the Vatican II documents. So to kick off this entire Jubilee year of hope, we gathered at St Peter's Church on 17th and Superior. Some 175 people came. We had opening prayers there and then we processed through downtown Cleveland carrying our crosses that were blessed for these Jubilee sites to the cathedral where we continued mass at the cathedral celebrating the Holy Family of Jesus, mary and Joseph.
Fr. Damian Ference:And the crosses were commissioned.
Mary Hrich:Well, you did, I mean the diocese commissioned them, but you knew the artist who did these things, the artist is a parishioner from St Mary Magdalene in Willowick who's just a woodworker, a cantor, a choir member, an all-around good guy. We took inspiration from the Italian master, woodworker, master carpenter, named Riccardo Izzi, and he had designed a cross that included a scarf cut at the top, so it's a two-tone wood cross. And then we took the Jubilee logo that had been provided and designed that into a centerpiece mounted onto the cross, so it's a very distinctive look. And then the woodworker also built a base for it to go in. So the crosses are going to stand in the sanctuaries of each of the Jubilee sites for the entire Jubilee year of hope, which extends until the Feast of the Holy Family, december 28th 2025.
Fr. Damian Ference:And let's go through the Jubilee sites. Because we have eight counties in our diocese, so the bishop decided to name a parish in each of the eight counties and then three additional shrines. So, because not every Catholic will be able to make his or her way to Rome, each bishop is able to designate pilgrimage sites where one can go pray and receive an indulgence. In fact, we'll talk about that a little bit later on. So what are these sites?
Mary Hrich:if you could, so we have one parish in each of the counties. In Wayne County it's Saints Peter and Paul, in Doylestown. In Ashland County it's St Edward's Parish in Ashland. In Medina County it's St Colette in Brunswick. In Summit County, queen of Heaven Parish in Uniontown. In Geauga County, st Mary Parish in Chardon. In Lake County, immaculate Mary Parish in Chardon. In Lake County, immaculate Conception Parish in Madison. In Lorain County, nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lorain and in Cuyahoga County it's our Cathedral of St John the Evangelist here in downtown Cleveland. And then the three shrines. There's the St Anne Shrine that's right next to St Paschal Balon and Highland Heights, our Lady of Lourdes Shrine in Euclid and Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine in Parma Heights. Wasn't that where you went to school, father?
Fr. Damian Ference:I went to grade school there, at Incarnate Word Academy, and we spent a lot of time in that shrine, even when I was in seventh and eighth grade. Before every football game, I'm in that shrine. Even when I was in seventh and eighth grade, before every football game we'd go and say a prayer there and then, after the game, come back. Probably should have prayed more because we didn't do too well.
Deacon Mike Hayes:We always won the spelling bee though. Nice to have one on a campus though. Yes, it really is. It's great Fun, all right. So what do we do with this pilgrimage? If we go to the church, what are we supposed to do?
Fr. Damian Ference:Well, it depends. Our friends Kayla and Lynette down on Parish Life have designed a passport and I think is it online, yet I believe it is the reposted that up. Okay, so if you want, you can visit all 11 sites in the diocese and each parish or shrine has a particular stamp that you can collect within. So there's a few things that you need to do if you want to receive an indulgence and I think next week or the following week we're actually going to do a whole show on that, because it's going to take a little more time than this but visiting one of these shrines for a particular event or liturgy, or reconciliation, or talk and then there are some things that are required in order to receive the particular indulgence or what's like a blessing that comes through the church by this action of pilgrimage.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Where are you going to go first?
Fr. Damian Ference:I haven't decided yet but I have decided my Lenten activity as vicar for evangelization will be going to each of these eight parishes and giving a presentation on the bishop's new pastoral letter. Very nice, so that's my hope for Lent, with the Jubilee and the pastoral letter.
Deacon Mike Hayes:So that's my hope, and this runs through the whole year, right?
Mary Hrich:Yes, and you can receive a plenary indulgence every day of the year.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Oh wow. So what do you have to do to get the indulgence anyway?
Mary Hrich:So certain conditions for a plenary indulgence. First of all, you need to desire the grace of it and then attend Mass, attend reconciliation, so go to confession and pray for the Pope's intentions. And then, in addition to those, do one other thing. It can be a pilgrimage to one of these sacred sites. It can be attending a mission or formation session on documents of the Second Vatican Council or on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It can be spending time at one of these sacred sites in Eucharistic adoration. There's a number of ways and I'm sure you're going to explore that more in the next one to go physically to a site, for example the homebound or the incarcerated. They can still receive the plenary indulgence if they make the spiritual journey and also confession and mass and pray for the Pope's intentions. Very nice.
Mary Hrich:And desire it.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Right and desire it, the main thing right. I have the desire for the desire.
Mary Hrich:Does that still count? The first step, and then we're taking steps on a journey right?
Deacon Mike Hayes:So why hope this time? Jubilee Year of Hope.
Mary Hrich:So Pope Francis wrote what's called a bull of indiction that started or initiated this Jubilee Year, and he wrote some beautiful paragraphs about hope. We read some of that during the opening ritual at.
Mary Hrich:St Peter's and you can think about hope in a number of ways. Obviously, our world today needs it more than ever, but I think there are signs of hope all around us. I mean, think about families that are choosing to have children, even in difficult times. That's a sign of hope. Think about someone who helps a homeless person, or perhaps buys them a cup of coffee or a lunch. To me that's a sign of hope. The ways we witness our faith 175 people walking in downtown Cleveland carrying crosses what a powerful witness to hope and to our faith in the midst of Brown's traffic and rain. I mean, there's signs of hope all around, but I think we need to be intentional about recognizing it.
Fr. Damian Ference:Here's a little bit from the Bull of Indiction, which sounds like a title of a heavy metal album.
Deacon Mike Hayes:I was going to say it's a great name for an indie band.
Fr. Damian Ference:The Latin is space non confundit. The Holy Father says everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic, cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity for renewed hope. So who doesn't need hope?
Deacon Mike Hayes:Absolutely Each and every one of us. Yeah, all right, so all this information is somewhere on the website, right?
Mary Hrich:DioceseofClevelandorg. You can either do backslash Pilgrims of Hope or Jubilee CLE, they'll both take you there.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Very nice, and so I was the deacon at the Mass for the opening of this, so that was a lot of fun.
Fr. Damian Ference:And you lost your shoe, so you're hoping to find it. That's right.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Exactly. I do know where it is now, oh, okay, good so. I'm walking just for folks who are uninformed. I'm walking around with a walking boot because I have a heel spur which is very painful and I brought my other shoe with me and left it in the sacristy that day. So I have to go retrieve it now. But I went over yesterday but the sacristy was locked.
Deacon Mike Hayes:So I peeked into the window and saw it still sitting there, so I said okay, we didn't lose it, I can let you in. Oh, thank you, we'll do that later. Okay, and speaking of hopeful things, websites need to be hopeful, do they not? And that's what Bishop Molesik even talked about in his pastoral letter that your website should look good.
Deacon Mike Hayes:And so our friends at Briefcase Marketing can help us do that. You know Briefcase Marketing, mary. Tell me more about them. Sure, yeah, they make sure your church doesn't have scattered messaging or a bad website.
Fr. Damian Ference:Yeah, they make your website hopeful and not despairing, because who wants to go to that?
Mary Hrich:Well, consistent message is so important.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Yeah, exactly, and they'll clarify your message. They'll have a message that will attract the right audience for you. They'll take your visitors and they'll turn them into customers, donors, volunteers, parishioners. More importantly, and they'll create consistency to build trust and deepen relationships across every marketing platform at your emails, your social media, your advertising.
Fr. Damian Ference:And if you don't believe us, briefcase Marketing gets great Google reviews. They've done superb work with our friends at Theology of the Body, cleveland and St John Cantus Parish in Tremont, and we'll put those samples of that work in our show notes so that you can check them out.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Their message is clear and compelling. It'll help you get more donors giving you your mission, more volunteers ready to serve, more people sharing your message and being advocates for you. So check them out.
Fr. Damian Ference:Yeah, visit their website. That's briefcasemarketing, and we've got their link in the show notes or text 308-627-1262. And our pal Dan, first, not second. First F-U-R-S-T will take good care of you at Briefcase Marketing.
Deacon Mike Hayes:He was so excited to see the bishop's pastoral letter and that he talked about how websites should look good.
Fr. Damian Ference:He was like this is really great, the bishop's pastoral letter and that he talked about how websites should look good. He's like. This is really great. The bishop's pastoral letter is getting some traction now. He just did another interview on it and it got a national article on it and it should be delivered to your home this week or next if you haven't received it yet.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Exactly, All right. So church search where do we want to go? Well, the Jubilee sites?
Fr. Damian Ference:right yeah, we're not going to go to a church but to a shrine, and this shrine is Our Lady of the Rosary Shrine. It's one of the pilgrimage sites for the Jubilee. It's in Parma Heights on Pearl Road, route 42, just south of St John Bosco Parish. I went to grade school at Incarnate Word Academy, so I did spend a lot of time at this shrine and it's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and you could stop in any time and there's almost always someone in there. You could light a candle, you can sit in silence, you could pray a rosary, and now you can visit it for the Jubilee and what we're hoping to do is have some multilingual rosaries prayed there. So we want to do like a rosary in Spanish, rosary in Vietnamese, rosary in Korean and do some different things throughout the year. But you don't have to join a group to visit, you can just visit. Have you guys ever been there? To that shrine?
Deacon Mike Hayes:I have passed by but not been in there.
Mary Hrich:And I have not. I'm an East Sider, it's an opportunity.
Fr. Damian Ference:I haven't been to St Anne's Shrine. I is also on the east side, but not the St Anne, so I got to get the St Anne too.
Mary Hrich:And our website. When we were talking about websites, the Jubilee sites have given us their events that they're having so that if you're interested in attending something that's already formed and organized, you can check out the website and see what times things are being held at different locations. Or again, you could just go visit for quiet prayer.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Yeah, and so we'll put all those links in the show notes for you for the Jubilee Year of Hope Cool Baptism of the Lord coming up this weekend and the gospel is from Luke's Gospel, and the part that stood out to me was after all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. My dear friend Father Ron Franco, who's now retired in New York, he had said that, and after reading that he goes everybody mistakes the Holy Spirit for a bird.
Fr. Damian Ference:It's either bird or tongue of fire, right, exactly, those are the images we have. Those are the images. See, the bird or tongue the fire.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Right, right, exactly those are the images we have. Those are the images, but to think about what would it mean to witness the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus at that time, and what people must have witnessed during that time must have been glorious.
Fr. Damian Ference:Mary, any reflections on the baptism of the Lord?
Mary Hrich:I was thinking that it's just another in my image, in my head, of who Jesus is. It's a reminder of not only his divinity but also his humanity, that he too was baptized. We too were baptized, Like he really did experience those things that we have experienced and that we can have this intimate friendship with him because he gets us, because he's been there and he's done that.
Fr. Damian Ference:I like the whole point on identity, like when the father speaks he says you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased, and in baptism, when he looks upon us, he says you are my beloved son, or my beloved daughter, with whom I am well pleased, sometimes the translation is in whom I take great delight. So this reminds me of Pope Francis, who says God loves us. Not only does he love us, but he likes us. He takes great delight in us. And when we remember that we usually are in a pretty good place, it's when we forget it that we wind up in a place where we're not too happy, indeed.
Mary Hrich:Remember who you are and whose you are. It's easy to recognize hope among us when we remember who we are and whose we are. It's easy to recognize hope among us when we remember who we are and whose we are Correct.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Exactly Signs of hope all around us. If you have a question of faith, you can send that to us, mhays at dioceseofclevelandorg. We'll answer that here on this podcast, and so this has been Question of Faith. I'm Deacon Mike Hayes.
Fr. Damian Ference:I'm Fr Damian Ferentz. I'm.
Deacon Mike Hayes:Mary Rich, and we'll see you all again next time.
