Tag: door of mercy

On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Schoenstatt Shrine has busy Year of Mercy

The Schoenstatt Founder Shrine in Madison has one of three Doors of Mercy in the Diocese of Madison during the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which continues until November 20. (Photo (c) by Robert J. Arntz)

MADISON — It has been a busy year at the Schoenstatt Founder Shrine in Madison, primarily because the shrine was designated as a Door of Mercy during the Church’s Jubilee Year of Mercy.

During the Year of Mercy, the Diocese of Madison designated three Holy Doors. The other two sites are at the Cathedral Parish: St. Patrick Church and Holy Redeemer Church in Madison.

Place of pilgrimage

The doors provide a place of pilgrimage and they bear with them a plenary indulgence granted by Pope Francis.

The possibility for an indulgence comes under the usual conditions: a person must be in the state of grace, make a sacramental Confession, receive the Holy Eucharist, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, and have the interior disposition of being detached from sin, including venial sin.

People have until November 20 to take advantage of this opportunity to pass through a Door of Mercy.

Busy year

According to Sr. M. Catherine Ditto, Schoenstatt Movement coordinator in the Diocese of Madison, “It has been a busy year at our shrine. About 550 people each month have visited the shrine from different parishes, schools, and organizations.”

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

On the Year of Mercy

year of mercy diocese of madison door of mercy
Bishop’s Letter

“I desire that the year to come will be steeped in mercy, so that we can go out to every man and woman, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God! May the balm of mercy reach everyone, both believers and those far away, as a sign that the Kingdom of God is already present in our midst!” — Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 5

“We serve to ensure that all individuals throughout the 11-county diocese are graciously invited every day to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face and be changed by Him.” – Mission Statement of the Diocese of Madison

To the faithful of the Diocese of Madison,

In calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has issued a call meant not only to urge a return to the Almighty, but also to reinvigorate and inspire those of us who try to live lives as followers of Jesus Christ. In fact, the Holy Father has also unintentionally, but not surprisingly, endorsed our own diocesan “mission.”

The Holy Father begins his Bull of Indiction, Misericordiae Vultus, with the following words: “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy. These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith.” In carrying out our diocesan mission of “inviting others to meet the person of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, face to face, and be changed by Him,” we are inviting them to meet the face of the Father’s mercy — to meet mercy incarnate. This invitation is one which is tied up in a challenging realization with regard to who God is and who “I” am, and it should be a profound and even startling invitation for each woman and man who lives in, and grapples with, a world that is nearly completely lacking in mercy.

Our world and our culture offer a great deal of lip-service to certain notions of tolerance and license, but these notions are grounded in a premise that truth is what you make it, and is subject to change, if public opinion is swayed to agree on the matter. Absent a grounding in the Truth and a foundation in humanity’s authentic encounter with mercy itself, all attempts at justice and mercy are mere shadows, structures built on sand. To experience mercy and to grant mercy, individuals and cultures must be anchored in the Truth and in a recognition of sin and repentance.

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