Bishop to open holy door in Easton, Md., Dec. 13

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington will mark the beginning of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy with the opening of eight holy doors throughout Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, will open the door at the 10:30 a.m. service, Sunday, Dec. 13, at Sts. Peter and Paul Church at 1210 South Washington St., just off Route 50 in Easton, Md.

Malooly chose to have holy doors in all seven deaneries, or regions, of the diocese for the convenience of pilgrims from both Delaware and Maryland who may wish to visit the doors during the Jubilee Year.

Last March, the Holy Father Pope Francis announced an Extraordinary Jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy that will be a spiritual journey of conversion that will “render more clear [the church’s] mission to be a witness to mercy.”

Pope Francis will begin the Holy Year of Mercy by opening a holy door at the Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican Tuesday, Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. The following Sunday, Dec. 13, the pope will open an additional holy door at the Cathedral of Rome, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Holy doors in dioceses around the world will also be opened that day. The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy will conclude on the Solemnity of Christ the King on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Holy doors will also be opened Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Wilmington, St. Joseph on the Brandywine Church in Greenville, Holy Spirit Church in New Castle, St. Elizabeth Church in Wilmington, St. Margaret of Scotland near Newark, St. Ann Church in Bethany Beach and Holy Cross Church in Dover.

“All Catholics who are physically able are urged to make a pilgrimage to the holy door during the Jubilee Year as a reminder that our lives are a pilgrimage, a journey to God,” said Malooly. “A pilgrimage to the holy door - whether it is in Rome or one of our designated diocesan churches - should remind us that as we journey to God, we must be repentant of our sins, welcome God’s mercy, and show love and mercy to those we come in contact with.”

Pope Francis said, “May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion: by crossing the threshold of the holy door, we will find the strength to embrace God’s mercy and dedicate ourselves to being merciful with others as the Father has been with us.”

A holy door or porta sancta has been used since the 15th century as a ritual expression of conversion. Pilgrims and penitents pass through it as a gesture of leaving the past behind and crossing the threshold from sin to grace and from darkness to light. Believers should associate the door with Christ. In the words of Pope Francis, “There is only one way that opens wide the entrance into the life in communion with God: this is Jesus, the one and absolute way to salvation.”

A plenary indulgence, the remittance of all temporal punishment due to sin, is available to those who pass through one of the holy doors during the Jubilee Year as well as to those who perform one of the corporal or spiritual works of mercy.

For more information, go to www.im.va. To see Diocese of Wilmington events that are tied into the Jubilee of Mercy, go to www.cdow.org.