August 5, 2008
ANNOUNCES INDULGENCES DURING PAULINE YEAR
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has announced that parishioners in the Diocese of Brooklyn can receive plenary indulgences for participation in events connected with the 2008-2009 jubilee year of St. Paul the Apostle proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI in May.
The Pauline year began June 28 and will close June 29 next year to mark the approximately 2,000 anniversary of the saint’s birth.
In a decree, dated July 23, Bishop DiMarzio designated the places where the faithful may benefit from the plenary indulgence if they take part with devotion in a liturgy or other public exercise in honor of the saint during the Pauline year.
On any day during the jubilee, indulgences can be gained at St. James Cathedral Basilica; St. Paul’s Church, Court St.; SS. Peter and Paul Church, South Third St.; St. Paul’s Church, Corona; SS. Peter and Paul Spirituality Center at two locations: Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, and 118 Congress St., Brooklyn; and Bishop Molloy Retreat House, Jamaica.
The indulgence can also be obtained within the territory of the Diocese on Dec. 8, 2008, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; Jan. 25, 2009, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and June 29 next year, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul and the solemn closing of the jubilee commemoration.
Other days when the faithful can gain the indulgence are the patron feast day of each parish in Brooklyn and Queens.
The decree lists the usual conditions for receiving the plenary indulgence: sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father and “complete detachment from any inclination to sin.”
A plenary, or full, indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins, even though those sins have been forgiven. An individual can obtain more than one plenary indulgence during the jubilee year, but not more than one per day.
The decree also states that the indulgence is available to a person who travels in pilgrimage to the Papal Basilica of St. Paul on the Ostian Way in Rome.
8/5/08