On October 11th, celebrate the “Year of Faith … Rediscover the Joy”

Event Date: Oct 11, 2012

The Year of Faith (October 11, 2012—November 24, 2013) is an opportunity for Catholics the world over to experience “an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei 6).

In Hamilton Diocese, the Year of Faith kicks off at 6:00 p.m. on October 11th with an evening prayer with Bishop Douglas Crosby at Cathedral of Christ the King, followed by a presentation by Dr. Michael Attridge from St. Michael’s College on “Vatican II – Fifty Years Later: Challenges and Opportunities for Living the Gospel Today” at 7:00 p.m.

All are invited to attend. On October 11th, please join Hamilton Diocese as together we “rediscover the joy” during this Year of Faith.

The Year of Faith
A Reflection by Jerry Creedon

On October 11th, 2012, we begin “the Year of Faith”. Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, announced this Year of Faith in an Apostolic Letter given in Rome, at St. Peter’s, on October 11th, 2011. The Year of Faith begins on the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Christ the King, November 24, 2013. The starting date of October 11th, 2012, also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which Pope Benedict has convoked for October 2012 is “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. The theme of our Catholic Education Week, May 5th to May 10th, 2013: “Catholic Education: Growing Together in Faith”, is in full harmony with the chorus of calls to renewal of our faith and Christian witness. It is not the first time, of course, that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. Pope Paul VI announced one in 1967 to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their death. And Blessed John Paul II, in announcing the Year of Jubilee, 2000, declared that the primary objective of the jubilee was the “the strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians” (The Coming of the Third Millennium #42).

In this, the first of a series of reflections on the Year of Faith, I would like to focus on the title of the Apostolic Letter whereby Pope Benedict announced this great event. The title is Porta Fidei, Door of Faith. A door: what a wonderful image! The Year of Faith is the opening of a door, a sign of welcome, a message that we belong no matter what stage of the faith journey we are at, an assurance that we have a place at the hearth, that we are at home with family and among friends. Jay Cormier wrote a marvellous piece in the September issue of Worship called “Helping Your Community ‘See’ God in Their Midst”. He ends it with a meditation on doors inspired by Jesus comparing himself to a “door” (John 10: 1-10). Here are a few of his thoughts: “The open door welcomes; it ushers in fresh air and light. Yes, we’re open, come on in, welcome! The closed door shelters and protects us from the winter cold…Come in out of the cold, you’re safe here … Locked doors are sure signs of defeat, rejection, desperation … Doors can speak for us, as well. They can be slammed in anger. They can be opened in an act of compassion … the doors we pass through are transitions from fear to sanctuary, from isolation to community, from struggle to peace” (Worship, September 2012, p. 443). The Year of Faith is a call not only to faith but to greater openness. The call goes out to Church, school, parish, home, country, to open our hearts to one another. The most urgent call is to each one of us to open the door of our hearts to the One who asks us to listen to him knocking to be let in: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with me” (Revelation 3: 20).

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