Holy Door sealed at nation’s largest Catholic church

Tyler Arnold   By Tyler Arnold for CNA

December 4, 2023 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 2 Print

 

Archbishop Timothy Broglio blesses the doors to be used as a Holy Door for the 2025 Jubilee Year at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2023. / Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Washington D.C., Dec 4, 2023 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

In preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year, two of the massive entry doors at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., have been sealed.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, blessed and sealed the two doors, which are scheduled to be reopened on Christmas Eve next year as a Holy Door for pilgrims. The ceremony took place on the first Sunday of Advent — a little more than one year before the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year, which will center on the theological virtue of hope.

“May this long-range planning for the holy year inspire our efforts so that 2025 will truly be a year of hope,” the archbishop said in his homily during Mass at the basilica. “We symbolically close a door this afternoon to anticipate its opening and the graces that will be offered to us.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at Mass on Dec. 3, 2023, where he also blessed and sealed two entrance doors at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., to be used as a Holy Door for the 2025 Jubilee Year. Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at Mass on Dec. 3, 2023, where he also blessed and sealed two entrance doors at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., to be used as a Holy Door for the 2025 Jubilee Year. Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Broglio said the jubilee theme “Pilgrims of Hope” indicates that “we are on a journey and not pessimistic travelers,” highlighting the need for a message of hope amid ongoing crises around the world.

“We journey to the fullness of life,” the archbishop said. “You and I are charged to bring a message of hope to a world that desperately needs that gift. Think about the horrible fighting in the Holy Land where Israel wants security and the Palestinians a place to call home. War rages in Ukraine, where an innocent people longs to see the end of aggression. We remember Syria as well, where the common folk live in despair and constant need. We also want to bring hope to our neighbors in Haiti, where the hunger for stability and a plan for the future searches for resolution.”

Broglio tied the upcoming jubilee theme to the start of Advent, noting that “the notion that we must be ever prepared to meet the Lord when he summons us into his presence is not absent in these days [and] that thought is not meant to be frightening, but it is a call to open-eyed preparation in every day of the journey that is ours.” He also cited Pope Benedict XVI’s Angelus from Nov. 27, 2005: “Advent is the season in which Christians must rekindle in their hearts, the hope that they will be able with God’s help to renew the world.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio carries the seal to be placed on the Holy Door at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2023. Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Archbishop Timothy Broglio carries the seal to be placed on the Holy Door at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2023. Credit: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Holy Doors, which are traditionally sealed prior to jubilee years, provide special graces for pilgrims who walk through them. A pilgrimage through a Holy Door also permits one to receive a plenary indulgence when the other normal conditions for such an indulgence are met. The 2025 Jubilee Year begins on Dec. 24, 2024 (Christmas Eve), and concludes on Jan. 6, 2026 — slightly more than one calendar year.

Pope Francis designated the basilica for the use of a Holy Door for the upcoming Jubilee. The basilica also received this designation during previous jubilee years in 2000 and 2016.

In a statement, Monsignor Walter R. Rossi, the rector of the basilica, said that hosting a holy year door in another jubilee year is a great privilege.

“To host the national holy year door has been a great privilege for this National Shrine, first granted to us by St. John Paul II and again by Pope Francis,” Rossi said. “While it may seem unremarkable on the surface, to walk through a Holy Door is a moment of grace, and the opportunity to do so while entering Mary’s house is a special spiritual experience.”

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Live nativity scene (camel included) gives Catholic University students a welcome study break

December 12, 2021 Catholic News Agency 1
Students at The Catholic University of America posing with Delilah the Camel at the school’s annual “Greccio” live nativity event on Dec. 12, 2021. / Patrick Ryan/The Catholic University of America

Washington D.C., Dec 12, 2021 / 22:29 pm (CNA).

You knew this wasn’t your average live nativity scene when you saw the camel.

Delilah, to be more precise. 

On Sunday night, Dec. 12, she was the B.M.O.C. (Biggest Mammal on Campus) at The Catholic University of America — and the scene-stealing star of this year’s “Greccio,” a popular Advent event that pays homage to St. Francis of Assisi’s first-ever re-enactment of Christ’s birth, in Greccio, Italy, in 1223.

“Big” does not adequately convey Delilah’s dimensions. She measures 7 feet tall, from her well-cushioned feet to her impressive-looking hump, and tips the scales at approximately 900 pounds (not counting the 12 pounds of dormant grass she munched off the quad during her breaks.)

Delilah brought more than sheer size to the role of 1st century dromedary, however. With extraordinary patience, she let people stroke her surprisingly soft coat to their hearts’ content, and she posed like a pro for hundreds of selfies, looking directly into the camera with what looked an awful lot like a smile.

“Steady … cheese!” her handler, Jennifer Caton of Bar C Ranch, prompted her. Delilah got an animal cracker each time she complied, which was almost always. (This wasn’t her first rodeo — er, nativity scene.)

Students at The Catholic University of America re-enact the nativity scene during the school's "Greccio" event on Dec. 12, 2021. Patrick Ryan/The Catholic University of America
Students at The Catholic University of America re-enact the nativity scene during the school’s “Greccio” event on Dec. 12, 2021. Patrick Ryan/The Catholic University of America

Catholics in St. Francis’ day had become consumed with worldly cares. Reenacting the nativity at a cave out in the countryside, he hoped, would re-focus their attention on God’s profound humility and love.

The Conventual Franciscan friars in charge of the university’s campus ministry had a similar goal in mind when they initiated the first Greccio event on campus seven years ago. Coming at the end of the semester, it serves to remind students that there is more to celebrate this time of year beside the end of finals.

Held outside the St. Vincent de Paul Chapel, Sunday’s observance featured carols and scripture readings; costumed shepherds, wise men, and the Holy Family; hot chocolate and humongous home-baked cookies … and one very cool camel, among assorted other animals.

There were lots of little kids in attendance — the free event is a huge hit with young families from the surrounding Brookland neighborhood — but nobody seemed more overjoyed to see Delilah than The Catholic University of America students, who welcomed the interruption from their exam week studies.

“I didn’t know there was going to be a camel here,” said Emily Thomas, 19, a freshman from Baltimore who was taking a break from writing a 10-page paper on the Beatitudes.

“She’s like the coolest animal I’ve ever seen,” said a smitten Ben Rees, 19, a sophomore from Smithfield, Rhode Island, who had already knocked out two papers on Sunday but still had one to go.

“I love this,” said Susan Gibbs, the university’s interim executive director of communications, as she watched the festive scene unfold.

This was her first Greccio, and she seemed as delighted to be there as the students. “I mean, how often do you get to meet a camel?” she said.

[…]

1 Comment

  1. For over a year, RCC authorities locked cathedral and church doors at the behest of governmental authorities who feared a virus. Now RCC authorities reiterate the act and call it a Year of Jubilee. Francis’ letter talks, as usual, of synodality, care for creation, and universal brotherhood. This tends to farcical.

    Does Francis expect the laity to render obeisance to a new tradition of doors opening to bless sin?

    Yes, some of us are full of justifiable cynicism and pray more earnestly to God for mercy. Jubilee Year or no.

    Reply

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