Jubilee Parish Celebrations

Bishop De Angelis has chosen the three churches dedicated to St. Paul (in Lakefield, Norwood and Gravenhurst) and the Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains as pilgrimage centres which Christians are encouraged to visit during this jubilee year. Attending one of these parishes and carrying out a spiritual exercise in honour of St. Paul is necessary to receive the indulgence in the Diocese.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has granted indulgences during the Jubilee Year celebration. An indulgence is the removal, either partially or completely, of the temporal punishment a Christian must endure due to his or her sins, which would otherwise have to be completed as penance on earth or in suffering temporarily in purgatory. The individual's guilt in committing these sins (a related but separate matter) must be forgiven beforehand. Then the Church, as "the minister of redemption," grants the gift of an indulgence, which is a dispensation of the merits of Christ and the saints applied to Christians who meet particular requirements (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1471-9).

In order to receive an indulgence as part of the Year of St. Paul, one must:

1. Make a sacramental Confession,
2. Receive Eucharistic Communion,
3. Pray for the Pope's intentions (at least one Our Father),
4. Recite the Creed (either Apostles' or Nicean),
5. In a spirit of total detachment from any inclination to sin, take part devoutly in a sacred function or in a pious public exercise in honour of St. Paul.