Pilgrims of Hope gather at cathedral for Jubilee Mass

The Diocese of Buffalo has begun both Jubilee 2025 and a Year of Healing. This will be a year marked with prayer, pilgrimage and celebration.

A jubilee year, also known as a “holy year,” is a special year in the life of the church currently celebrated every 25 years. Jubilee years have been held on regular intervals in the Catholic church since 1300, tracing their roots to the Jewish tradition of marking a time to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.

A small group of pilgrims met at St. Joseph Cathedral’s Msgr. Britt Social Room on Dec. 29 to hear readings by Deacon Timothy Chriswell, Sarah Lindstrom, Paula Hunt and Joe Macchia. Bishop Michael W. Fisher presented the Papal Bull of Indiction, before leading a candlelit procession through the rain to the front of the cathedral.

“I guess we got a double dose of the sprinkling rite tonight,” Bishop Fisher said before thanking the congregation for attending.

Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors of St. Peter Basilica inaugurating the 2025 Year of Hope on Christmas Eve.

“He reassured during his Christmas Eve Mass that the Christ child of Bethlehem offers the world infinite hope and joy. Hope is that virtue that we all need more of, that we need to pray for, that it increases our love and need of God,” Bishop Fisher said during his homily.

With the theme of “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis said we must fan the flames of hope that have been given to us and help everyone to gain new strength by looking to the future with an open spirit, a trusting heart, and a farsighted vision.

“The Holy Father encourages us to reflect upon the importance and meaning, the theological virtue of hope. Hope that we need in our lives. Hope that we need in our families. Hope in our communities and in our world. He calls us to be in that great spirit of evangelization, Pilgrims of Hope,” Bishop Fisher said.

“In the heart of each person hope dwells as a desire and expectation of good things to come. We need this virtue of hope desperately and importantly in the life of our own communities of faith here in the Diocese of Buffalo,” he continued.

The bishop asked for prayers for healing of victims and survivors of abuse and racism. He also asked for prayers for parishes undergoing change during the diocesan renewal process.

“Our diocese begins a fresh new year and we join the Holy Father and his prayer for hope. At the same time, our diocese seeks to renew itself, restructure itself, to rejuvenate itself. We continue to experience a need for the healing that Jesus brought to our humanity and world,” he said.

Joe Macchia, a lector at St. Joseph Cathedral, had considered a pilgrimage to Rome for the jubilee; when that proved impossible, he chose to participate in this local pilgrimage.

“I felt that coming here and celebrating tonight would be the most practical way to do so and the most spiritual way to do so in Buffalo,” he said following the Mass. “Taking part as a lector here was my way to be more involved in a spiritual way, to give back to the parish, to give back to the diocese, and give back to the Lord.”

Catholics are encouraged to take part in local pilgrimages this year, visiting and praying at St. Joseph Cathedral, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Lakewood, the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Olean, St. Cecilia worship site of St. John Neumann Parish in Sheldon, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Youngstown.

Some of the biggest events of the Jubilee of Hope on an international level will be the canonizations of Blessed Carlo Acutis, during the Jubilee of Teenagers on April 27, and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, during the Jubilee of Young People on Aug. 3, and the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly on the weekend of May 30-June 1.