By Gretchen Keiser

To those whose hearts are open, the Year of the Jubilee of the Redemption can be a special time of extraordinary favor.

Those are the words Archbishop John May of St. Louis uses to talk about the particular time of grace, prayer, reflection and repentance that began March 25, 1983 and continues until April 22, 1984.

Pope John Paul II declared a Holy Year to mark the 1950^th anniversary of the “saving death of Christ” – the Redemption which is the central mystery of Christian faith and the Good News for all mankind.

That Holy Year began on the feast in 1983 of the Annunciation, recalling, as the pope expressed it, “the providential moment when the Eternal Word, becoming man through the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, became a sharer in our flesh” that He might deliver mankind from the power of death and from the fear of death which holds people in bondage.

The Holy Year will culminate on Easter Sunday, 1984, “the day of the fullness of the joy obtained by the redeeming Sacrifice of Christ.”

While there is a focus during the Holy Year upon Rome, the center of the universal Church, there is also a decided emphasis upon the local Church and, particularly, upon making the special graces of the Holy Year available to everyone in the world.

The Church in the Archdiocese of Atlanta has also made plans to participate in the Holy Year.

While each year in the life of the Church commemorates Christ’s redemption, this special year is an occasion “to intensify our faith and to return to a more perfect practice of it,” said Father Don O’Connor, a member of the archdiocesan group planning the local events during the Holy Year.

An aspect of the Holy Year is always that of pilgrimage – at one time, the actual pilgrimage to the city of Rome during the year in order to receive the special indulgences granted to those making the journey and participating in particular acts of prayer, repentance and the sacraments.

In Atlanta there are churches designated throughout the archdiocese which will be Jubilee Churches – places which may be visited as a Holy Year “pilgrimage” and which will provide people an opportunity to receive the plenary indulgence granted during the Holy Year. Such pilgrimages are an outward sign of participation in the spirit of the Holy Year – combining the journey with personal repentance, prayer and with the reception of the sacraments.

In addition, two special events have been scheduled during the year in the archdiocese. Others will be held in parishes and regions of the archdiocese.

On Nov. 2 at Holy Cross Church, there will be a special clergy conference on the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation conducted by Father Bill Swann, the dean of studies at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

Father Swann, whose doctoral dissertation focused upon Church Fathers and their writings on the sacrament, believes that segments of the church have lost sight of the penitential aspect of the sacrament and focused primarily on the reconciliation aspect. He wants to find ways to recover the loss of this part of Church tradition concerning the sacrament.

Repentance and the sacrament of Penance are at the heart of the “inner conversion” which is sought during the Holy Year. There is also a worldwide Synod of Bishops in Rome this fall studying the sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation.

There will also be an archdiocesan Day of Recollection April 7, 1984, which will use preaching to exhort the faith of those attending.