Jubilee around the world

America

Chile

A new beginning marked by reconciliation

Chile has experienced a tortuous history in the last few years. The repatriation of General Pinochet, after having been detained for 15 months in London, returned the media spotlight on our country. For years there was talk of his dictatorship and the “disparecidos.” Something was said about the economic recovery. Little is known about the effort the country has made to rebuild national unity and to reconcile its people with the new-found democracy. And little to nothing is known about the role of the Church in this national effort of reconciliation. In the Church, a beautiful sign, in this regard, took place last December 17 at the Cathedral of Santiago. Archbishop Monsignor Francisco Javier Errazuriz wanted to organize a national and ecumenical event to begin – with Jesus Christ – the third millennium. The motto was: “With Christ we open the doors to the new millennium,” and it alluded to the Holy Doors that the Pope was to open n December 24. It was an event filled with profundity and amazing musical expressions, that was shown throughout the country on three networks. A great life-size creche was built for the occasion in front of the Cathedral, made with the noble wood “rauli” (a Chilean tree). And in front of this creche, the three moments of encounter took place: Praise and Adoration, Reconciliation, the Beatitudes. All of Chile was represented during the event. The President of the Republic Eduardo Frei, who read a message of thanks because Chile “lives today in freedom and democracy.” Some parliamentarians presented their requests on labor themes and on women. The commanders of the armed forces were also present, along with teachers, artists, representatives of the media, workers, entrepreneurs...and different religious confessions and other religious groups. And amongst them all, the two candidates, who within a month’s time were to square off against each other in run-off elections for President of the country were present. It was an unusual event and probably very unique in the world. It was one of the fruits reaped thanks to the Jubilee. The Archbishop ended the encounter with a message in which he invited everyone to exchange a sign of peace. It was moving seeing the two candidates, who took up the invitation and exchanged a sign of peace. The Archbishop emphasized that the vast majority of the Chilean people adhere to the Christian faith and that the Gospel raises human values. Recognizing that we are children of God provides a solid base of authentic fraternity, which is exactly Chile’s goal in the third millennium. The event ended festively with the lighting of a great candle, praying together the Our Father, receiving the final blessing by the Archbishop, with everyone signing together the Hymn of Joy, and announcing to Chile the message of the angels of Bethlehem: “I announce a great joy: today in the city of David, the Messiah, the Lord is born.” All of Chile was grateful for this moment, so full of spirituality, reconciliation and hope.

Ecuador

A Jubilee for young people

Ecuador is a nation of young people. And for this reason the Ecuadorian Church, becoming an echo for the “choice of the young” the motto of the Church in all of Latin America, reserves a special announcement for the person and the Mystery of Jesus. The Great Jubilee year will culminate with the First National Congress for Young People, Vocation and Missionary, following the theme “Young prophets of life and hope, committed in the new millennium,” which will take place at Guayaquil between August 1 to 5, 2000. The initiative, described in a preliminary text entitled “Listen young person! Shout with Christ for life and build hope,” is part of a project created to help different social and ecclesial environment within the Ecuadorian community to walk together. “In this moment dominated by corruption, indifference, egoism, passivism and the lack of personal identity, we invite the youth of today to be the leaders in the history of the third millennium,” so write the President of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference Jose Mario Ruiz Navas, the Secretary General Jose Vicente Equiguren and the President of the Episcopal Commission of Lay People Jesus Esteban Sadaba, to the young of Ecuador. The congress, which throughout the country will involve some 100,000 young people, will develop through a series of education seminars on the appreciation for missionary spirituality, to be preceded and followed by a phase of preparation and application in the various dioceses of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian Church is intensely experiencing the Jubilee. Once the period of preparation ended with the National Congress of Caritas, that took place at Quito between October 19 and 21, 1999 (which had three themes: social reality and the answers of the Church; Charity and Mercy, the new names of justice; and Parish community, a community of charity,) the Holy Year was open, in every part of the country, with celebrations for Christmas, even on a domestic level: many families, together with the Pope, opened the doors of their own homes to let Jesus enter and to meet him through the mystery of his birth. This was aided through the prayer of the Christmas Novena, which was printed along with other traditional elements and suggestions in a pamphlet that was widely distributed.

Canada

The program from the Vancouver Archdiocese

Three events are particularly emphasized in the Jubilee calendar for the Canadian Archdiocese of Vancouver. The first is a great out-door Marian celebration, on May 28, which will include prayer, music, the recitation of the rosary and the coronation of the image of the Virgin. Therefore, on the two week-ends preceding that date, the faithful can participate in a spiritual ritual at the “Rosemary Heights Center” that will be held by the Legionaries of Christ and will focus on the need to create “a plan for life and to begin the new millennium.” The culmination of the Jubilee in Vancouver will take place on November 26 on the occasion of the solemnity of Christ, King, the fundamental sign of the entrance of this local Church in the new millennium. During the event, the Archbishop will confer the mandate to the catechists and to the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist to celebrate the rite of Acceptance.