Tour of Holy Doors

Diocesan priest visits three Holy Doors in three states for Jubilee Year of Mercy

OAK RIDGE  The recent spiritual journey that Father Jhon Madrid took in this Jubilee Year of Mercy — a two-day tour of Holy Doors in three Catholic cathedrals in three states — started in early January not only with a simple step but also with lots of questions about the Holy Year from relatives he was visiting in New England.

During a “mini vacation” to Boston, Father Madrid, parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish here and St. John Vianney Parish, Stockholm, fielded lots of inquiries from his family, such as, “What is the Jubilee Year of Mercy?” “What is a Holy Door?” and “What is a Missionary of Mercy?” So, he decided to take them to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the mother church of the Boston Archdiocese, on Jan. 7 to receive a plenary indulgence — a remission of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven — by passing through its Holy Door. On the next day, Father Madrid felt inspired to continue his pilgrimage on his drive back to the Diocese by visiting Holy Doors in two other “mother churches”: the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hartford, Conn., and St. Patrick Cathedral, New York City.

“Walking through the Holy Door in Boston was an exciting moment. Wow!,” said Father Madrid, who has been selected as one of five priests from the diocese to join priests from around the world on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10, in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. There, Pope Francis will commission them as Missionaries of Mercy — preachers of mercy and confessors filled with mercy — for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

During his first Holy Door visit during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Father Madrid enjoyed the ornate beauty of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the largest Catholic church in New England. It was built in the Gothic Revival style and dedicated in 1875. Even before walking into Holy Cross, Father Madrid noticed a large banner attached to the cathedral’s stone exterior that proclaims the Jubilee Year of Mercy in languages, including English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. The sign reminds visitors, “As you pass through the Holy Door, remember that Jesus Christ is the door, who leads you to the embrace God’s mercy.” Then, the priest sat in a pew and recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which he prays everyday.

Father Madrid posted comments and photos from his pilgrimage in Boston on FaceBook before driving alone the next day to the Cathedral of St. Joseph, mother church of the Hartford Archdiocese. Com­pleted in 1962, the postmodern church was made with concrete and covered in Alaba­ma limestone. He walked through its silver Holy Doors that are topped with Pope Francis’ coat of arms and located to one side of the cathedral’s worship space. A sign near the door encourages pilgrims to walk through, receive and plenary indulgence, and receive God’s mercy.

“I visited the Cathedral of St. Joseph early in the morning. There weren’t a lot of people there and it was quiet. It was a great time to pray and reflect on God’s mercy,” said Father Madrid, who commented on one of the church’s prominent artistic features: its large expanse of spectacular stained-glass windows crafted in Paris, which reminded him of churches in his native Colombia. “I would compare God’s mercy to the cathedral’s windows. There is not much light inside the church. Light comes through the windows to illuminate the darkness — like God’s love and mercy,” he said.

Like Father Madrid, pilgrims everywhere have been taking up Pope Francis’ invitation to visit and walk through the Holy Doors — which symbolize that Jesus serves as our only door to the Lord’s forgiveness and salvation — at countless designated churches all around the world during the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The Holy Doors in the Paterson Diocese are located at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Morristown and Holy Rosary Church / St. Pope John Paul Shrine in Passaic.

During the Holy Year, Pope Francis is granting a plenary indulgence to Catholics, who make a pilgrimage and pass through a Holy Door, whether in Rome, which Father Madrid plans to visit during his upcoming pilgrimage, or in their own diocese. They also have to make a “worthy sacramental Confession, receive Holy Communion, recite the Creed and pray the Our Father for the intentions of the Holy Father,” Bishop Serratelli writes in his recent pastoral letter, “The Jubilee of Mercy and the Promise of Christ.”

After Hartford, Father Madrid headed for New York City for the final leg of his “mini vacation.” There, he visited St. Patrick Cathedral, the Gothic Revival-style mother church of the Archdiocese of New York, originally dedicated in 1879. A banner near its Holy Door urges pilgrims to perform ordinary acts of mercy during the Holy Year, the priest said.

“John the Baptist invited people to prepare for the way of Jesus by encouraging those who had two tunics to give one to someone who doesn’t have one. In the United States, we are blessed with many possessions. We should share God’s love and mercy with others and share our possessions with people in need,” Father Madrid, who listed a few Jubilee Year of Mercy events at St. Thomas and St. John, including a parish mission, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and small-group sharing and a retreat day for parish staff. “Visiting a Holy Door is a wonderful way to celebrate the Holy Year, but it’s more about how we treat other people. Do we forgive? Do we hold our tongues? We need to ask ourselves, ‘How do I make life easier for others?’ ” Father Madrid said.