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Catholics to observe o voor of nercy
by Craig T. Neises
(AP) Concepts of mercy are
central to observances of the
Christian faith. It is regularly
spoken of, preached on and sung
about in church, and acted out in
myriad ways.
In Luke 6:36, Jesus says “Be
merciful, just as your Father is
merciful.”
But in the coming year, after
a declaration by Pope Francis in
April of what has been dubbed
the Holy Year of Mercy, Catholics
around the world will give special
attention to the role of mercy in
their lives and in their parishes.
“It’s basically a year that we
celebrate God’s mercy for us,”
said the Rev. Marty Goetz, pastor
of SS. John and Paul parish in
Burlington.
The Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy opens with a special Mass
to be celebrated at the Vatican, and
in pilgrimage churches throughout
the Catholic world. By declaring
a special year of jubilee, Pope
Francis has set mercy at the heart of
Catholic teaching throughout 2016.
The jubilee year ends Nov. 20.
“One of the themes of the
pope,” Goetz said, “is that God
is very loving; that God is very
merciful. God never tires of
forgiving us. We’re the ones that
get tired of going to God.”
Though a central idea of the
faith, the added emphasis presents
an opportunity to concentrate
on forgiveness, receiving God’s
mercy and sharing that mercy
with others, Goetz said. Among
the ways to accomplish that goal,
he said, will be through homilies
centered on the notion “that we
are to be a people of mercy.”
Each Catholic parish will
observe the Holy Year of Mercy in
its own way with special events,
masses or projects.
Every Catholic is asked to
make a pilgrimage during the
year. Non-Catholics, many of
whom have become interested
in the church since Pope Francis
began his papacy, also are welcome
to come learn more about the
Catholic faith. Welcome as well are
those who have drifted from the
church and are feeling themselves
called by the pope’s example to
return.
“We’re just going to try to
bring an attitude of mercy into
the parish,” Goetz said of several
events planned in his parish in
2016.
That will mean, he said,
living the corporal and spiritual
works of mercy. Those include
feeding the hungry, providing
drink to the thirsty, clothing to
the naked, giving shelter to the
homeless, visiting the sick and
the imprisoned and burying the
dead; and also instructing the
ignorant, counseling the doubtful,
admonishing the sinner, bearing
wrongs patiently, granting
forgiveness willingly, comforting
the afflicted and praying for the
living and the dead.
“It’s a call to action,” Goetz
said.
That action will take place
inside and outside the church, so
the church, he said, can “become
a face of mercy” in the broader
community. The work of the St.
Vincent de Paul Society, based
at St. John the Baptist Catholic
Church, to provide food to
people in Burlington who might
otherwise go hungry is one
example of how the parish already
puts mercy into action.
“We are all missionaries of
mercy,” he said, “by how we live,
by how we speak, by how we act.”
The full text of Pope Francis’s
call for a Holy Year of Mercy can
be read at tinyurl.com/p6y6etx.