Press Release: Jubilee for Deacons

27-05-2016 PCPNE

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PRESS RELEASE

From today until Sunday, May 29: the major Jubilee Event dedicated to permanent deacons

 

“The Deacon, Image of Mercy for the Promotion of the New Evangelization”. The theme of the three days of the major Jubilee event dedicated to deacons, involving pilgrimage, prayer, and sharing.

 

A great number of permanent deacons from around the world, many with their families, have gathered for the major Jubilee event dedicated to them, taking place from today until May 29 in Rome.

This international encounter of permanent deacons, men who are closely linked to works of charity in the Christian community through their vocation and ministry, will be a precious occasion for reflection, prayer, and discussion on the role and ministry that they carry out in the Church, through which they manifest to the world that "mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life" (Pope Francis, Misericordiae vultus 10). 

The special fiftieth anniversary of the re-institution of the Permanent Diaconate by Vatican Council II (Lumen Gentium n.29) is the occasion for repeating the importance of this ministry at the service of the liturgy and of charity.

The Jubilee for Deacons begins today at 16:00 with a presentation on the theme The Deacon, Image of Mercy for the Promotion of the New Evangelization”, which will take place simultaneously in various churches in order to give everyone the possibility of following the conference and discussion in their own languages. The theme for the following day will be “The Deacon: Called to be a Dispenser of Mercy in the Christian Community”.  The division according to language groups locates the Italian speakers in S. Maria in Vallicella, with Tonino Cantelmi, Enzo Petrolino and Giuseppe Colona presenting on Friday, and Archbishop Lorefice presenting on Saturday.  A second group in Italian will meet in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle, with  Giorgio Agagliata, Andrea Spinelli and Carlo De Cesare presenting on Friday, and Bishop Camisasca on Saturday. For English speakers, there will also be two locations: in the Basilica of S. Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini, where Harold  Burke-Shivers, Tony Schmitz and Thomas Dubois present on Friday and Cardinal Turkson on Saturday; and in the Basilica of S. Maria Sopra Minerva, where there will also be translations into Portuguese and German. The meditations there on Friday will be offered by James Keating, Anthony Gooley and Greg Kandra, and on Saturday by Cardinal Pell. Spanish-speakers will gather in the Basilica of S. Marco Evangelista at Campidoglio, where their presenters will be Manuel Abadias Suarez, Rafael Casas Salgado and Jose Espinos on Friday, and Bishop Patron Wong on Saturday. On the morning of Saturday, May 28, from 9:00 to 14:00, time for pilgrimage to the Holy Door in Saint Peter’s Basilica is planned.  The Jubilee will conclude the following morning, Sunday, May 29, with Mass with the Holy Father at 10:30 in Saint Peter’s Square.

In addition, during the three days of the Jubilee, there will be Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the three Jubilee Churches (S. Salvatore in Lauro, S. Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova), S. Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini), and all the deacons are invited to make a personal pilgrimage to the churches dedicated to the Martyr Saint Lawrence, proto deacon of Rome (San Lorenzo in Piscibus, the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso, San Lorenzo in Lucina, San Lorenzo in Miranda, San Lorenzo in Fonte, San Lorenzo in Panisperna and the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura).