How to Participate

Make a pilgrimage to the “Door of Mercy” at St. Stephen Cathedral.

The Door of Mercy is a special door that is opened at the cathedral of the diocese at the beginning of the Jubilee Year, a ritual that has been a part of our faith for centuries. The Cathedral of St. Stephen in Owensboro, along with the basilicas in Rome and around the world, will open their Door of Mercy on the third Sunday of Advent, as a sign of God’s opening a new pathway to salvation. As pilgrims pass through the door, we pray that they will also pass through the threshold into a life of mercy.

Make a pilgrimage to one of the other places of pilgrimage in the Diocese of Owensboro.

  • Fathers of Mercy, Auburn
  • Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, Maple Mount
  • Chapel of Mercy at St. Thomas More Church, Paducah
  • Marian Shrine, Bowling Green
  • St. Mary of the Woods Catholic Church, McQuady

Indulgence:

A plenary indulgence may be gained once daily by each member of the faithful who, renouncing any personal attachment to sin, even venial sin, and desiring to obtain the indulgence, makes a pilgrimage to any of the 6 pilgrimage sites during the Jubilee Year and fulfills the following conditions:

  • makes a sacramental confession while on pilgrimage or within a few days before or after;
  • participates at Mass and receives Holy Communion, preferably on the same day of the pilgrimage;
  • offers one Our Father and one Hail Mary or any other prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father;
  • while on pilgrimage, devoutly assists at a liturgical celebration or other pious exercise (e.g. stations of the cross, rosary), or spends time in pious meditation ending with the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ or the Nicene Creed, and prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Offer a parish mission or parish days of reflection and action, to reflect and act on the Corporal Works of Mercy.

Open hearts and hands to those whom society forgets

Create or expand food banks, visitation programs to hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons, parish outreach to homeless shelters, immigrant communities, Habitat for Humanity builds, etc.

Celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent and Lent with a particular focus on God’s mercy.

Participate in “The Light is On For You” during Lent.

Publicize the Message of Mercy

Use social media, print media, display of sign or banner, and/or combine with other parishes in your area or deanery and purchase billboards. (Designs for print materials, including billboards, are available from the Office of Worship.)

Deanery-Wide Celebration of Mercy

Join with other parishes in your deanery to offer a Celebration of Mercy, including a communal reconciliation service (with Bishop Medley and other priests on hand as confessors) and conclude with a reception/celebration of God’s Mercy. (The Office of Worship will provide the text for a Reconciliation Service.)