A Year of Jubilee | St Joseph's Mossley

A Message from our Diocesan Jubilee Coordinator, Fr Chris Lough

Dear family of God

In just a few weeks' time, Pope Francis will initiate the 2025 "Pilgrims of Hope" Jubilee with the opening of the Holy Door in St Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve.

I'm sure you'll agree that the Year of Jubilee provides each one of us with a wonderful opportunity to reset; to reconnect with our faith, with God, and with one another, and I pray that this will be a prayerful and fruitful year for many in our Diocese.

With that hope in mind, our Jubilee Coordination team has been working to produce a range of resources and in-person opportunities to help people across the Diocese engage with the Holy Year as much as possible, and I am pleased to be able to share details of a number of these with you today.

We appreciate this is a lot of information, especially at this busy time of year, so we will also be sharing these resources in bite-sized chunks via our usual communications channels, but we hope it is helpful to have all the information you need in one easy-to-access place.

Thank you for all of your kind support in the journey so far and I look forward to celebrating this wonderful Year of Jubilee with you in the New Year.

Should you have any questions or would like to learn a little more, please do not hesitate to contact me at

christopher.lough@dioceseofsalford.org.uk

With every blessing,

Fr Chris Lough

Jubilee Coordinator for the Diocese of Salford

Jubilee Booklet

Our communications team has produced a short booklet to help people learn a little more about the tradition of Jubilee and how we are celebrating in our Diocese.

The booklet includes an introduction from Bishop John, the Jubilee Prayer, and further information exploring some of the key themes of the Jubilee and how we will be observing them in our Diocese this Jubilee Year.

We hope to provide a number of printed copies for each parish to display at the back of church. These will be distributed, wherever possible, by hand to save on postage. The majority will be shared at deanery meetings next week or delivered by cathedral centre staff who are visiting or passing parishes. Copies will be posted out to a small number of parishes, only where it has not been possible to distribute by hand. If you would like some additional copies sending to you, please email

communications@dioceseofsalford.org.uk

https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/news/jubilee-2025/jubilee-booklet

Jubilee Prayer Cards

Credit Mulugeta Araya/CAFOD

The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has shared details on how parishes can order Jubilee Prayer Cards and other materials for their parish.

The prayer cards feature the artwork of the official Jubilee Icon for the Catholic Church in England and Wales, commissioned by CAFOD and blessed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

We will not be providing printed copies of the prayer card but a copy of the prayer can be found in our Jubilee Booklet.

Opening Mass

Dioceses across the world have been invited by Pope Francis to hold an opening Mass on Sunday 29th December to mark the start of the Jubilee. Our Mass will be taking place at 2pm on Sunday 29th December at Salford Cathedral's Temporary Church. Mass will be celebrated by Bishop John.

Please do share details of the Mass with your parish. A suggested newsletter insert or social media post can be found below:

Opening Mass for the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee
Pope Francis has invited dioceses across the world to unite in prayer as we begin the 2025 "Pilgrims of Hope" Jubilee. Our Diocese will be marking the start of the Jubilee with a Mass, celebrated by Bishop John, on Sunday 29th December at 2pm at Salford Cathedral's Temporary Church. All are welcome to join us as we mark the start of this special year of grace.

Designated Churches

Bishop John has appointed six churches across the Diocese, in addition to the Cathedral’s temporary church, to be Designated Churches for the Jubilee Year. The churches are:

St Mary's, Bamber Bridge
St Mary's, Burnley
St Alban's, Blackburn
Schoenstatt Shrine, Kearsley
St Peter's, Stonyhurst
St Mary's "The Hidden Gem", Manchester.

Further details can be found at https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/news/jubilee-2025/designated-churches. We ask you to please remind your parishioners to check opening times and Mass times with the parish before their visit.

Pilgrimages

Diocesan Pilgrimages
In celebration of this Year of Jubilee, our Diocese will be offering a range of pilgrimage opportunities, here on our doorstep as well as overseas.

In addition to a range of local pilgrimage opportunities in our own Diocese, pilgrims will also be travelling to Rome and Lindisfarne in this Jubilee Year. Our Youth and Young Adults Ministry team will be accompanying young adults on their own pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth, while our annual pilgrimages to Lourdes and Walsingham return once again with a special focus on the Year of Jubilee.

You can find out more about our Diocesan pilgrimages and to stay up-to-date with any announcements, at https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/news/jubilee-2025/pilgrimages/

Out and About in Salford Diocese
A helpful guide to churches and sites of religious interest across the Diocese has been created by one of our Diocesan priests in celebration of this Jubilee Year.

Mgr John Allen has carefully curated this book of local pilgrimage walks to be explored by individuals, families, and parish groups at their leisure.

All proceeds from book sales will be donated to Caritas Salford.

Find out more about the book and how to buy your copy at https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/PilgrimBook

Pilgrim Passport
Our communications team is also working to produce a family-friendly guide to all six of our designated churches. The guide includes a range of facts, activities, and prayers for families to explore together, with the added challenge of collecting a sticker from all six of our churches!

Booklets will be available in our designated churches in the New Year and further details will also be shared in the Wednesday bulletin.

A Calendar of Jubilees

In celebration of this Holy Year of Jubilee, The Vatican has created a Calendar of Jubilees to shine a light on different areas of ministry within the Catholic Church.

Here in our Diocese, we have been working with Fr Joe Gee to create our own version to highlight the range of ministries, services, and departments across the Diocese of Salford.

Resources will be shared each month on our website, social media, and Wednesday bulletin to celebrate these different areas and to encourage people to pray for the continuing work of the Diocese.

Visit https://dioceseofsalford.org.uk/news/jubilee-2025/calendar to find out more.

Outreach

Throughout the Year of Jubilee, we will be hearing from a number of charities to find out more about their work supporting people experiencing poverty, prejudice, discrimination, and injustice across our Diocese and around the world. Our Diocesan charity Caritas Diocese of Salford and CAFOD have produced a helpful resource to help you learn more:

https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/file/jubilee-2025

Caritas Diocese of Salford

Over the coming months, we will be working closely with Caritas Diocese of Salford to learn more about its work supporting individuals and families across the Diocese. Keep updated with projects and campaigns throughout the year at

https://www.caritassalford.org.uk/

CAFOD

CAFOD has produced a range of resources to help us learn more about the tradition of outreach in relation to the Jubilee and how this can support its work in communities around the world today. The charity has also commissioned the official Jubilee Icon for the Catholic Church in England and Wales, blessed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, to celebrate the holy year. Find out more:

https://cafod.org.uk/pray/jubilee-2025

Columban Missionaries

The Columban Missionaries have been allocated to our Diocese for the 2025 mission appeals. The annual Parish Mission Appeal offers the only official opportunity for a missionary to address a parish community to share work of that particular mission. During this year, representatives of the mission will be visiting parishes and schools across the Diocese to share more about its unique work.

Jubilee Prayer