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| November 9, 1999 Catholic Donors Hold Day of Reflection Bishop Gregory Says Jubilee is Time to Forgive, Practice Justice and Celebrate Boston, MA. The chairman of the U.S. bishops' millennium observance program, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, of Belleville, Illinois, told Catholic donors that the forthcoming Jubilee Year is not just a "nice thought", but "a special time to do the work of Jesus." The Bishop's remarks were part of a day-long annual retreat for Catholic foundation trustees held November 5th at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Cohasset, MA, on the theme: Jubilee in a Christian Context. Linking the observance to the ancient Jewish tradition of Jubilee as a time of forgiveness and healing, Bishop Gregory called an end to "caustic, and mean-spirited" infighting within the church. "The Jubilee year is a corporate examination of conscience", he said, and "a time of conversion of the heart and forgiveness." Bishop Gregory told the thirty-four foundation trustees present that he hoped the Jubilee observance would motivate Catholics to proclaim the person of Jesus more, to assert their hope in Him, to celebrate their diversity as a gift, and to be "a people more willing to act and to take risk to serve the Gospel." The official Catholic opening of the Jubilee Year will take place next month in Rome with the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica December 25th. The FADICA day of reflection and prayer was part of an ongoing series of annual events featuring prominent spiritual writers and church leaders. Past FADICA conversations have included the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and Father Henri Nouwen; Trappists Thomas Keating and Basil Pennington, Howard Gray SJ, Bishop Robert Morneau, and British writer Rosemary Houghton, among several others. Return to List of News Releases | Back to Top |