Jubilee of Hope passports enhance Holy Year pilgrimages in diocese

At each of them, the minute you arrive, you know you’re on sacred ground. And that is a beautiful gift.”

Maureen Quinn, diocesan director of religious education and youth/young adult ministry

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Just as the Three Wise Men traversed afar, gave homage to the newborn King and returned home different for having encountered him, the faithful of the Jefferson City diocese are being encouraged to make spiritual pilgrimages for the Jubilee Year of Hope.

The diocese recently released a “Jubilee Passport” for people making a sacred journey to any of the five designated Jubilee pilgrimage destinations in the diocese.

The destinations include:

• the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City (See City Deanery)
• the Shrine of St. Patrick in St. Patrick (North Deanery)
• Historical St. Peter Church in Brush Creek (Central Deanery)
• the National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, in Laurie (Southwest Deanery); and
• the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Starkenburg (Southeast Deanery).

Each destination will be the site of designated pilgrimage events during the Jubilee Year.

The colorful and informative passport is available at each of these locations and for download and printout at the diocese’s Jubilee 2025 page at diojeffcity.org/jubilee-year.

The passport includes photos and information about each of the pilgrimage destinations, along with a place to add a sticker from each.

It also contains the Jubilee Prayer, information about how to make a good pilgrimage and ways to obtain a plenary indulgence from making a Jubilee pilgrimage.

Scanning the QR codes in the passport leads to more information about each pilgrimage location, as well as other Jubilee resources on the diocesan website.

People can also upload photos from their pilgrimage to the diocesan website, adding to the collective experience of the Jubilee.

Maureen Quinn, diocesan director of religious education and youth/young adult ministry, said the Jubilee Passport is a physical reminder of the spiritual encounter that takes place during a pilgrimage.

“I think there’s something really powerful about taking something home, especially for young people and families,” she said. “It helps them to be engaged at a higher level.”

She likened the effect to the beautiful artwork in churches.

“They remind us of what is unseen in our faith,” she stated. “You can’t necessarily see an experience, but you can see this passport with this sticker that reminds you of where you went, in the footsteps of countless pilgrims before you.”

Mrs. Quinn believes pilgrimages are a great way for families to bond while encountering Christ in new ways during the Jubilee Year.

“I envision families packing a picnic or hunting down a local restaurant and seeing parts of our diocese that they may have never seen before,” she said.

All Catholics in the diocese are bound by their connection to one Church, under the local leadership of one bishop.

“As such, we’re all like extended family to one another,” Mrs. Quinn stated. “So, it may be like having some distant relatives that we don’t get to see very often, and some of them we may not feel as connected to.

“Then,” she continued, “we go to our family reunion, and we’re reminded of how they fit into the big picture, almost like pieces of the family quilt, and we find that there is something to treasure out there.”

She marveled at the diversity of history, architectural styles and surroundings that each of the pilgrimage sites possesses.

“You have the Brush Creek church, which stands where Venerable Fr. Tolton was baptized, and it’s so old and simple, while the shrine in Laurie is very big and elaborate and modern,” she said.

“And you have the shrine in Starkenburg, which has miracles associated with it and a history that’s so rich, and our newly renovated Cathedral, which is a symbol of the unity we all share as Catholics of this diocese.

“And at each of them, the minute you arrive, you know you’re on sacred ground,” Mrs. Quinn stated. “And that is a beautiful gift.”

She encouraged families, youth groups, parish organizations and even entire parishes to organize pilgrimages to one ore more of these sites — and maybe not just the one that’s closest or most convenient.

“Who knows?” she said. “We could be walking in the paths of saints who went there before us. And how great would it be for those who come after us to be able to say they walked in our footsteps — perhaps in the path of even more saints?”

A year of favor

Worldwide Jubilee celebrations in the Church, in modern times held usually every 25 years, hearken back to the early history of God’s chosen people.

In keeping with the Law of Moses, the Israelites of antiquity celebrated a jubilee year every 50 years.

They let their fields lie fallow for a year, having saved up enough to eat during the previous year.

They celebrated a year of thanksgiving, renewal, liberation of captives and freedom from debt.

Jesus presented himself as the fulfillment of a new jubilee when he told the assembly at the synagogue these words from the Book of Isaiah — “The Spirit of God is upon me, for he has anointed me to announce a year of favor for the Lord and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn” — which were being fulfilled in their hearing.

Pope Boniface VIII called the Church to celebrate her first holy year in 1300. Since then, holy years have been times for repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, special blessings, prayers, pilgrimages and commitment to Christ.

Pope Francis called for this year’s Jubilee observance — a quarter-century past the Church’s Great Jubilee 2000 celebrating the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity — to be a “pilgrimage of hope.”

Christians must “abound in hope” to be credible witnesses of God’s love, the pope wrote in a document formally proclaiming the current Holy Year.