Editor's Report

Opening Doors to Year of Mercy Planning

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When Cardinal Dolan opened the Holy Doors at St. Patrick’s Cathedral the Sunday before last, I was there to see him lead the rite that officially initiated the Year of Mercy in the archdiocese.

You could not have fit another person in the pews of the newly restored cathedral. Whether that was a referendum on the Year of Mercy, the magnificently restored cathedral or the popularity of Advent liturgies, I’m not quite sure.

A number of people were taking photos of the cathedral’s main doors even before the Mass began. Turns out those holy doors were not the holy doors that Cardinal Dolan opened that morning, which happened to be the ones on the 51st Street side near Fifth Avenue.

For the next year, at least until the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy ends on Nov. 20, 2016, there may be more people entering through them. We ran an excerpt in our last issue about the five shrines and churches in the archdiocese that will serve as places of pilgrimage where Holy Doors were opened and where clergy, religious and faithful can come as pilgrims to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence. Three are in different sections of Manhattan, and the two others are in Rockland and Orange counties. They are printed again in the story on Page 3.

The five sets of holy doors located help to make this Year of Mercy accessible to the average Catholic New Yorker. That point was made clear by Daniel Frascella, director of the archdiocesan Office of Adult Faith Formation, who is coordinating some of the planning. “To have them locally opens up the opportunity to learn about and participate in this ancient practice in a more widespread way,” he said. On Tuesday morning, he told me that he’s already heard from a few people eager to make pilgrimages to each of the five local churches with holy doors.

It’s not the only thing the archdiocese is doing to help Catholics here discover the year’s spiritual fruits.

You can participate in the archdiocesan pilgrimage to Rome with Cardinal Dolan and visit the holy doors at St. Peter’s Basilica. Sixty-five people have already signed up for the April 1-8 trip that will feature a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 3. Frascella told me the group will be capped at about 100 travelers to preserve “a level of intimacy and an ability to do things together.” Information: www.petersway.com.

A closer pilgrimage option is to journey with the cardinal to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The cardinal will lead six regional Days of Mercy (Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx/Yonkers, Westchester/Putnam, Orange/Rockland and Ulster/Dutchess/Sullivan), beginning on Saturdays in Lent. The afternoons will feature a talk on God’s mercy by the cardinal, personal testimonies of people’s experiences of mercy, a guided examination of conscience and an opportunity for individual confession. The cardinal will offer the Vigil Mass to conclude the gathering.

A short video showing how the Corporal Works of Mercy are carried out by agencies such as Catholic Charities and ArchCare, the archdiocesan health care ministry, will also be part of the program.

Other activities are also in the planning stages. Frascella said he hopes every Catholic will find a reason to engage with Pope Francis’ desire to re-establish “the primacy of God’s mercy as the foundation of the Gospel message.”

A Blessed Christmas and a Happy and Holy New Year to all our readers.