When our Holy Father, Pope John Paul declared the Holy Year in celebration of the Millennium, he said it would begin on Christmas Eve 1999 and conclude on Epiphany 2001.

As part of the Holy Year the Holy Father declared that Plenary Indulgences could be received for visiting certain pilgrimage churches in Rome and also gave the bishops the opportunity to declare pilgrimage churches in their dioceses. Our bishop Andrew has declared the Basilian Monastery in Matawan and our Cathedral as pilgrimage sites for our diocese. Also, Archbishop McCarrick of Newark has declared St. John the Apostle Parish in Clark as a pilgrimage site. The pope explains the place and meaning of pilgrimages, the meaning of indulgences and the conditions and inner dispositions necessary for gaining any and all indulgences. The pope explains that we must see our entire life as a pilgrimage -- a personal journey in the footsteps of Christ, striving through God's grace to reach the state of the perfect man.

This is the best part and the part that I think is the most important. An appendix from the Apostolic Penitentiary (a Vatican office that deals with indulgences), lists places of pilgrimage for the Holy Year. After naming churches in Rome, the Holy Land and our own diocese, the appendix says that we may obtain a plenary indulgence any place if we visit for a suitable time our brothers and sisters in need or difficulty - the sick, the imprisoned, the elderly living alone, the handicapped, etc. - as if making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them. The appendix reminds us of Christ's words in Matthew 25:40, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did it for me."

Living the Christian life is the best way to be conformed to Christ. May all of us follow Christ in everything we say and do.

Fr. John

last updated 02 May 2000 Copyright © 1999-2001, St. Thomas the Apostle Church