Every 25 years, the Catholic Church holds a Jubilee Year. All members of the global Church family are called to participate in this Holy Year. It is a time to grow in our faith and prayer life.  A time too to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.

The Jubilee Year began with the opening of the Holy Door in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, on Tuesday 24 December 2024 and runs to the Feast of Epiphany 2026.

The official start for schools was 24^th January 2025

We had a special Mass at school. To see the service, please click here

During this Jubilee, Pope Francis asks us ‘to discover hope in the signs of the times that the Lord gives us. We need to recognize the immense goodness present in our world.’

 Hope is an important virtue – it assures us that our destiny will be with God when we die.

 Key aspects of a Jubilee Year include how we treat one another and how we live out the mission Jesus states in Luke 4:16-21;

 ⁶ Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath, he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures ¹⁷ and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free the oppressed
¹⁹     and announce that the time has come
    when the Lord will save his people.”

²⁰ Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the people in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on him, ²¹ as he said to them, “This passage of scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read.”

Jubilee Icon

In order to celebrate and commemorate the Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope, CAFOD commissioned an icon from artist Mulugeta Araya in Ethiopia, for the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Ethiopia was chosen because of the strong tradition of iconography within the country and to demonstrate that this is a global Jubilee - not just something that is happening in England and Wales.

 Mulugeta Araya, 30, is an artist and an engineer who studied at St Mary's College, Wukro, in Ethiopia, which is supported by CAFOD.

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is a journey to a special place of significance, with some intention in mind.  Pilgrimage has long since been a part of each Jubilee experience, and The Pope has called us to be Pilgrims of Hope and he has written:-

'Pilgrimage is of course a fundamental element of every Jubilee event.  Setting us on a journey is traditionally associated with our human quest for meaning in life. A pilgrimage on foot is a great aid for rediscovering the value of silence, effort and simplicity of life.  In the coming year, pilgrims of hope will surely travel the ancient and more modern routes in order to experience the jubilee to the full.'

In Westminster Diocese, several churches have been chosen as sacred sites that we can visit.  These are:-

Our Lady of the Rosary

The Blessed Sacrament

The Tyburn Martyrs

Our Lady of Willesden

In addition to these sacred sites, churches across the diocese have been chosen as Jubilee Churches. In the Hillingdon Deanery -  St Gregory the Great, was chosen for the west of the Diocese.   

Other activities included sharing

A whole school service about the Year of Jubilee

A themed Christmas performance to launch the Jubilee Year

A Mass to mark the start of the Jubilee

Displays in the chapel and around the school

Learning to sing and sign a Jubilee song – A Song of Hope

Visit to St Gregory’s Church, Ruislip – a Jubilee Church