The Papal Document on the mystery of the Incarnation Incarnationis Mysterium decrees that the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 will begin on Christmas Eve, 1999 with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican(and) will continue until the closing of the Jubilee Year on the day of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, January 6, 2001. (January 7th in the United States).

Prominence among the signs which attest to the faith and foster the devotion of the Christian people is the notion of pilgrimage, which is linked to the situation of man who readily describes his life as a journey. Sacred Scripture often attests to the special significance of setting out to go to sacred places. This tradition was observed faithfully by the Jewish people and was observed by Christ Himself as is noted in Luke 2:41, where Jesus went with Mary and Joseph as pilgrims to the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Pilgrimage has always been a significant part of the life of the faithful. It is an exercise of practical asceticism and mortification, of repentance for human weakness, and of interior preparation leading to a change of heart.

Since, for reasons of time and economics, it is not possible for all to undertake pilgrimages to Rome or the Holy Land, the Church grants to the bishop of a diocese permission to designate certain churches including the Cathedral church and other places to which the faithful may undertake sacred pilgrimages accruing unto them spiritual benefits, the same spiritual benefits as if the pilgrim were to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome or to places in the Holy Land.

Another distinctive sign associated with the Jubilee is the indulgence. The indulgence discloses the fullness of the Father's mercy, who offers everyone His love, expressed primarily in the forgiveness of sins. Having received from Christ the power to forgive in His name, the Church is in the world as the living presence of the love of God who leans down to every human weakness in order to gather it into the embrace of His mercy. This diffusion of God's mercy in the world from very ancient times has been called "indulgence".

Through the sacrament of Penance the sinner enters the life of God anew and shares fully in the life of the Church.

From the first centuries, however, the Church has always been profoundly convinced that pardon, freely granted by God, implies in consequence a real change of life, the gradual elimination of evil within, and a renewal in our way of living.

"An Indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. "An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin." (Paul VI, Apostolic constitution, Indulgentiarum doctrine, Norm. 1;2cf.Norm 3.) Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.

To understand this doctrine and practice of indulgences, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This involves purification of the sinner in such a way no punishment would remain. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

Through the reality of the Communion of Saints whatever is ours in the arena of good works becomes Christ's and through Him takes on a healing power. This is what is meant by "the treasures of the Church" which are the good works of the saints. When they gain indulgences, the faithful are stirred to "saving deeds of humility," and understand how much each of us can help others-living or dead-to become more intimately united with our Father in heaven.

This special Indulgence of the Holy Year may be gained, when in the context and mode of a spiritual journey, a pilgrimage is made by individuals or a group to the church or shrines in the Archdiocese designated by the Cardinal Archbishop. The National Shrine of Saint John Neumann has been designated by Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua to be one of these shrines.

While visiting the Shrine do one of the following: attend Mass, or Lauds, or Vespers, or make the Stations of the Cross, or say the Rosary, or spend some time in Eucharistic adoration and pious meditations, ending with the "Our Father", the profession of faith in any approved form, and prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The plenary indulgence of the Jubilee can also be gained through actions, which express in a practical and generous way the penitential spirit, which is, as it were, the heart of the Jubilee. This would include abstaining for at least one whole day from unnecessary consumption (e.g., from smoking or alcohol, or fasting or practicing abstinence according to the general rules of the Church and donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor; supporting by a significant contribution works of a religious or social nature (especially for the benefit of abandoned children, young people in trouble, the elderly in need, foreigners in various countries seeking better living conditions); devoting a suitable portion of personal free time to activities benefiting the community, or other similar forms of personal sacrifice.

Participation in the Eucharist, which is required for all indulgences, should properly take place in the same day as the prescribed works are performed.