By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA—During the Jubilee Year 2000, 17 churches in the Archdiocese of Atlanta have been designated as pilgrimage churches, places where visitors are encouraged to come and pray and seek the special graces of this Holy Year.

The theme of a pilgrimage is central to the Jubilee Year, which began historically with pilgrims journeying to the city of Rome seeking to rekindle the flame of faith in their lives through sacrifice, prayer and reconciliation with the church. Those who are able to make pilgrimages to places intimately linked to the Gospel and the life of Christ, such as Rome or the Holy Land, area encouraged to do so in the Jubilee Year.

Writing on the topic of pilgrimages, Pope John Paul II said, “The great jubilee is not just a series of functions to be held, but a great interior experience to be lived.”

The Jubilee Year is a sacred time, the pope said. But another dimension to the Jubilee is sacred space.

In sacred space, the pope continued, “the encounter with the divine may be experienced more intensely than it would normally be in the vastness of the cosmos.”

Since many people are unable to travel abroad, Archbishop John F. Donoghue has extended to those who visit one of the pilgrimage churches of the archdiocese the same opportunity to receive the plenary indulgence under certain conditions.

The conditions are for pilgrims to go to the sacrament of reconciliation and receive the Eucharist within a short time of visiting one or more of the pilgrimage churches and while there offer prayers for the intentions of Pope John Paul II.

Pilgrimages may be made alone, as a family, with faith-sharing communities, as a parish group or with friends.

Within each geographic section of the archdiocese, known as deaneries, several churches are pilgrimage sites. They are:

In Northwest metro: the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, and the Church of St. Ann, Marietta;

In Northeast metro: St. Pius X Church, Conyers, St. Marguerite D’Youville Church, Lawrenceville, and St. Matthews Church, Winder.

In South metro: the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Atlanta, St. Gabriel Church, Fayetteville, and our Lady of Viet Nam Church, Riverdale.

In the Northwest: Our Lady of LaSalette Church, Canton, the Church of St. Joseph, Dalton, and St. Mary Church, Rome.

In the Northeast: St. Joseph Church, Athens, St. Augustine Church, Covington, St. Michael Church, Gainesville, and Sacred Heart Church, Hartwell.

In the South: St. George Church, Newnan, and St. John the Baptist Mission, Thomaston.

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: After the publication of this article Archbishop Donoghue added two additional pilgrimage sites. They are: Pinecrest Academy in Cumming and the Monastery of the Visitation in Snellville.