Bishop reflects on Jubilee 2025, urges all to continue in hope
Jubilee 2025 (diojeffcity.org/jubilee-year) is winding down, but Bishop Ralph B. O’Donnell hopes the faithful will continue to persevere in their Pilgrimage of Hope.
He will preside at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Dec. 28 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, the Feast of the Holy Family, to mark the closing of the Jubilee Year.
“A Jubilee Year is, indeed, that — a year,” the bishop noted. “But hope is offered to us throughout our walk with Christ.”
In keeping with centuries-old Christian practice, Bishop O’Donnell made several prayerful pilgrimages during this Jubilee Year.
In May, before being appointed to lead the Jefferson City diocese, Bishop O’Donnell took part in a pilgrimage to Rome with the national officers of the National Christ Child Society (nationalchristchild.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children and families in need across the United States.
Special Holy Doors inside Rome’s four major basilicas are only open during Jubilee Years.
“Walking through the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica was a powerful experience for me and for the group I was with,” the bishop recalled.
Two months later, he traveled to the Benedictine Retreat Center in Schuyler, Nebraska, one of the designated pilgrimage destinations for his home Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska.
Pope Leo XIV appointed him bishop of Jefferson City in August.
“Upon accepting the pope’s appointment, I became interested in going to the sites designated for pilgrims in our diocese,” said Bishop O’Donnell.
There are five destinations, one for each deanery in the diocese.
His first stop was the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City, right before the press conference announcing his appointment.
There, he got to spend time in silent prayer before the Most Blessed Sacrament.
“It was powerful in that I actually made the journey from Omaha as a pilgrim, one sent by the Lord, with the intention of that journey bringing me to my new home,” he said.
He returned to the diocese to spend time with the priests at their annual institute at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Father John Schmitz — pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Laurie and the Mission of St. Philip Benizi in Versailles and spiritual director for the National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church, in Laurie — and parishioner Gary Slater arranged a special pilgrimage for the priests and the new bishop.
“We got aboard a boat and set out into the deep, coming ashore and heading over to the National Shrine” on the other side of Lake Ozark, the bishop recalled.
Fr. Schmitz, Andrew Wright, the Shrine’s executive director, and Tom Vincent, chairman of the Shrine’s board of directors, gave Bishop O’Donnell a tour.
There, in the presence of fall colors, autumn breezes and the impressive sculpture of Mary, Mother of the Church, he offered his pilgrim prayers for all the priests of this diocese.
“Both those living and ministering now, and those who have gone before us,” he said.
He also prayed for the religious sisters and brothers “who have served our diocese so well, and those who continue in that service.”
He entrusted them all to Mater Ecclesia, Mother of the Church.
Into the vineyard
Bishop O’Donnell scheduled for Nov. 30, the First Sunday of Advent, a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Patrick in northeastern Missouri and to historical St. Peter Chapel, which stands where Venerable Father Augustus Tolton was baptized as an infant in 1854.
“Unfortunately, winter decided to visit us early in the northern part of the diocese, so I was not able to visit then,” the bishop said.
The following weekend, he did make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows in Starkenburg.
Father Philip Niekamp, pastor of St. George Parish in Hermann and Church of the Risen Savior Parish in Rhineland and spiritual director of the shrine, welcomed him.
The priest and a group of parishioners from both parishes joined the bishop for Midday Prayer in the chapel at the shrine.
“The intentions I carried as a pilgrim to Starkenburg included the faithful of the Diocese of Jefferson City, and in a special way those who at this time know sorrow,” he said.
He lifted in prayer all who have lost loved ones or are struggling with the illness of family and friends.
“Both the image of the White Lady and the Pieta have a particular quality that brought me a profound awareness of Our Lady’s love for us and her faithful care,” he said.
He realized he was traveling in the footsteps of generations of pilgrims who had gone there before him.
“You think about how long Our Lady has been honored there, it brings such joy and grace,” he said.
The bishop rescheduled his pilgrimage to St. Patrick and Brush Creek for Dec. 14, but winter weather again intervened.
He hopes to schedule a visit to the Shrine of St. Patrick, which is named for his Confirmation saint, sometime next year.
He did get to visit St. Peter Chapel in Brush Creek.
“The cold temperature, in a way, helped me appreciate Fr. Tolton’s journey,” said Bishop O’Donnell.
“As I walked through the cemetery, I couldn’t help but think of how the modern comforts we enjoy today were far less available.
170 years ago — even less for those who suffered slavery,” he said.
Father Christopher Hoffmann, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Monroe City and St. Stephen Parish in Indian Creek, welcomed the bishop.
Joining them were Monroe City parishioner Carl Thompson, who has multigenerational ties to the former Brush Creek parish, and Amanda Durbin, who operates the Camp Tolton Lodge and Retreat Center in Shelbina.
“I’m grateful to them for providing me with important background,” said Bishop O’Donnell. “Their knowledge of Fr. Tolton and the history of that little church and his life helped make the experience very special for me.”
He said he’s grateful to Fr. Hoffmann and his parishioners for all they do to care for the site.
A time to heal
Since Dec. 29, 2024, Catholics have been observing the Jubilee Year with special activities aimed at mercy, charity, healing, reconciliation and concretely and actively growing in right relationship with God and all people.
Bishop O’Donnell encourages everyone to remain oriented toward the spirit of the Jubilee of Hope — “participating in those actions and those works of mercy and charity that help others experience God’s goodness.”
Jubilee celebrations in the Church, in modern times held usually every 25 years, harken back to the early history of God’s chosen people.
In keeping with the Law of Moses, the Israelites of antiquity celebrated a jubilee year every 50 years.
They let their fields grow barren for a year, having saved up enough to eat during the previous year.
They celebrated a year of thanksgiving, renewal, liberation of captives and freedom from debt.
Jesus presented himself as the fulfillment of a new jubilee when he told the assembly at the synagogue in his hometown that words from the Book of Isaiah — “The Spirit of God is upon me, for he has anointed me to announce a year of favor for the Lord and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn” — were being fulfilled in their hearing.
The word Jubilee comes from the Hebrew word yobel, a ram’s horn that was used to herald the year of favor.
Pope Boniface VIII called the Catholic Church to celebrate its first holy year in 1300. Since then, holy years have been times for repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, special blessings, prayers, pilgrimages and commitment to Christ.
The start and finish ceremonies — the opening and closing of the holy doors in the major basilicas in Rome — date back to 1500.
“Abound in hope”
Pope Francis, who died in April and was succeeded by Pope Leo XIV, called for this year’s Jubilee observance — a quarter-century past the Church’s Great Jubilee 2000 celebration of the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity — to be a “pilgrimage of hope.”
Christians must “abound in hope” to be credible witnesses of God’s love, the pope wrote in a document formally proclaiming the current Holy Year.
He said Christ’s followers can give signs of that hope by having children, welcoming migrants, visiting prisoners, working for peace, opposing the death penalty, helping young people find a job, pressuring rich countries to forgive the debt of poor countries, praying for the souls in purgatory and lobbying to divert money from military spending to food aid.
“Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love,” he said.
“Rise above”
Bishop O’Donnell said the sacred pilgrimages he made helped reinforce his hope for the continued success of God’s work in this diocese.
“Hope incorporates a particular confidence in God’s ability to draw us into deeper relationship,” the bishop said.
He noted that what people experience in this life can bring great challenges.
“One can see when reflecting on all that is challenging our world today, how important it is to pray for the gift of hope,” he said.
“Hope allows us to rise above fear and doubt, because ultimately, God’s desire for our good wins,” he stated.
In these final days of Advent and of Jubilee 2025, Bishop O’Donnell encourages the faithful to work toward transforming fear into trust in God “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
