On Christmas Eve 2024, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican marking the beginning of the Jubilee Year. The theme for 2025 is Pilgrims of Hope for a world suffering.

The Jubilee invites us all to embark on a journey of faith and transformation. A special year of prayer, full of HOPE. Hope that the people of the world will have a listening ear to the Holy Spirit. Hope that we will love each other as God loves us.

Hope is crucial in times of uncertainty, and in dealing with adversity, and unfortunately, there’s plenty of that.

In Australia, the Bishop’s Conference has named special places of pilgrimages e.g.  St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, St Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide, St Joseph’s Church in Penola (South Australia), Redemptorist Monastery in Galong (New South Wales) and the Benedictine Monastery in New Norcia (Western Australia).

Also nominated as a special place of prayer and devotion for this year of Jubilee is the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel situated within Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney. This is where our first Australian canonised Saint is buried. This is a recognition of the importance of St Mary MacKillop to the life of the Church in Australia.

St Mary MacKillop stands as a woman of hope in a world yearning for peace. She reminds us that:

Being on the Pastoral Care Team for only a short time, doing ministry in the Chapel in North Sydney, I have met many beautiful people and heard their stories of how St Mary has interceded on their behalf. People from many countries come to spend some quiet time in the Chapel and spend time at St Mary’s tomb, requesting her intersession and giving thanks.

Life is a journey and in this Jubilee Year, let us travel together with St Mary, full of hope for our struggling world. Pope Francis has expressed many times, and we know it, that we are currently living in a world that needs hope.

Sr Colleen Clear