Indulgences
How are you and I approaching this Jubilee Year of Hope here in the parish? In what ways are we, as a parish, preparing to greet pilgrims who are coming St Thomas of Canterbury Church? — which has been designated by our Archbishop as a Jubilee Church. Looking at the parish diary we have four groups already planning to come over the next few months. At the moment, when a pilgrim walks into our church, they will find little indication that this church is one of the designated Jubilee Churches except for a closely typed sheet of paper in the entrance that summarises the letter the Archbishop has sent to all Jubilee churches in the Diocese.
The faithful, pilgrims of hope, will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they undertake a pious pilgrimage to any sacred Jubilee site (places in Rome and the Holy Land). Archbishop John Wilson has designated sixteen Jubilee Churches and Shrines in Southwark. They are as follows:
South-west London Area
Cathedral of St George
Sacred Heart, Wimbledon
St Ann, Kingston Hill
St Elizabeth, Richmond
St Mary’s (Our Lady of Reparation), West Croydon
South-east London Area
St Saviour’s, Lewisham
Our Lady of Sorrows, Peckham
St Edmund of Canterbury, Beckenham
St Boniface, Tooting
St Thomas More, Dulwich
St Stephen, Welling
Kent Area
St Thomas of Canterbury, Canterbury
Our Lady of Hartley, Hartley
The Friars, Aylesford
St Augustine’s Shrine, Ramsgate
St Jude’s Shrine, Faversham
These are to be seen as ‘sacred places of welcome and privileged spaces for the rebirth of hope’ (Spes Non Confundit, 24).
Many of you might find the idea of indulgences a little baffling. An Indulgence during the Jubilee Year is meant to grant the faithful a special opportunity for spiritual renewal and the remission of temporal punishment due to sin. In Catholic teaching, indulgences do not forgive sins themselves (that is done through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and repentance) but help lessen the consequences of sin in this life or in Purgatory. During a Jubilee Year, which is traditionally a time of mercy and grace, the Church offers plenary indulgences to those who fulfil specific conditions, such as:
• Going on pilgrimage to designated holy sites
• Receiving the Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist
• Praying for the Pope’s intentions
• Performing acts of charity or mercy
The purpose of these indulgences is to encourage deeper conversion, a renewed commitment to faith, and a more profound experience of God’s mercy. Father Ivano Millico, in a CTS booklet Words of Hope, says the following:
What an indulgence says is that we are not alone along our journey and we cannot be saved on our own! The Church is a body, the Body of Christ; his suffering, death and resurrection and ascension make up, so to speak, a “treasury” of mercy, graces and hope.
An indulgence opens this treasury for us. But what is the key that opens this treasury? The Church has established three main ways to gain a Jubilee Indulgence: (i) pilgrimages to any sacred Jubilee site; (ii) prayerful visits to sacred places and, (iii) works of mercy and penance.
So…how are you and I approaching this Jubilee Year of Hope, here in the parish?
