December 29, 2025

Bishop Byrne celebrates closing Mass of Jubilee Year of Hope

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

Bishop William D. Byrne celebrated the closing Mass of the Jubilee Year at St. Michael’s Cathedral Sunday, Dec. 28.

SPRINGFIELD – Bishop William D. Byrne celebrated the closing Mass of the Jubilee Year of Hope, Sunday, Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. at St. Michael’s Cathedral. The Mass was broadcast live on “Chalice of Salvation,” on WWLP-22 News.

The Jubilee Year, entitled “Pilgrims of Hope,” began on Christmas Eve 2024 when Pope Francis opened the Holy Doors at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and runs through Jan. 6, 2026 on the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Other holy doors were opened at the Rome basilicas of St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. These basilicas and local churches were designated places where pilgrims could obtain an indulgence after receiving Holy Communion, going to confession and praying for the pope’s intentions.

In the Catholic Church, jubilees are marked every 25 years and are rooted in Jewish tradition. In the Old Testament jubilees were a call to come back to God and stood as a reminder of his mercy.

“Especially the gift of hope is what we need in our culture,” Bishop Byrne said in his homily. “To be a people confident in the victory of Jesus Christ and to live each day in that way, not to be pulled down by the world, but to have our hearts and minds set on the world yet to come. And we get there by bringing it here, not without difficulty, not without challenges. God doesn’t take the troubles away, but gives us the grace to make our way through,” he said.

The local sacred sites where pilgrims were able to obtain an indulgence this year included: St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield; the Dominican Nuns Adoration Chapel in West Springfield; St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Basilica in Chicopee; the Monastery Chapel at the Sisters of Visitation in Tyringham; the Newman Catholic Center at UMass in Amherst; Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel at Thomas Aquinas College in Northfield; and the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge.

“There is in this diocese all over the pictures of the Divine Mercy of Jesus. At the bottom it says ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’ Jesus, I trust in you. I say it and I pray that this will be all of our prayers in the new year to come. As we read in the paper, we get discouraged, but we say ‘Jesus, I trust in you,’ why because I believe in a happy, forever after,” he said.

Many jubilee year events were held throughout the Diocese of Springfield including pilgrimages abroad and locally. The Office of Missionary Discipleship brought back both the Men’s Conference and the Women’s Conference. St. Michael’s Cathedral hosted different cultural Masses, a Men’s Night, the Handel’s Messiah concert, and the opening Mass and procession for the Steubenville East Catholic Youth Conference in July.

“We have to try to continue the momentum that we gained in the Jubilee Year,” said Father Gary Dailey, the rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral Parish. “One of the reasons we had so many events in the cathedral, we want to bring people to the cathedral. So many people through the Jubilee Year that came for various liturgies or celebrations said they have never been here before and it’s the cathedral church. That’s one of the reasons we had 20 some events during the Jubilee of Hope,” he said.

Father Dailey also led a pilgrimage to Rome.

“Now we move towards the extraordinary jubilee year in 2033, the 2000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus,” Father Dailey added. He said Catholics have every reason to hope in the new year.

On the feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, Pope Leo will close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, formally concluding the Holy Year 2025.