Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC has offered a pastoral letter to our diocesan faithful for this special Year of Saint Francis of Assisi.
In our diocese, pilgrimage sites include:
- Saint Francis of Assisi Church (Lincoln), in Saint John Paul II Parish
- Vigil Mass for the Feast of Saint Francis 4pm Saturday October 3
- the Saint Francis of Assisi Shrine at Skiff Lake, in Saint John the Baptist Parish
- annual shrine Mass presided by Bishop Christian 11am Sunday August 9
- Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
- First Saturday pilgrimages with 10:30am Adoration, confessions, and personal devotions; 12:10pm Mass; veneration of relics of Saint Francis and Saint Clare
From Bishop Christian’s letter:
As we enter the holy season of Lent, Pope Leo XIV invites us to place the mystery of God back at the center of our lives through attentive listening in prayer, abstinence, and the self‑discipline of fasting, practices that free our hearts from complacency and direct our desires toward God, inspiring us like Saint Francis to embrace simplicity, conversion, and a renewed openness to the cry of the poor. Inspired by Saint Francis, may we devote ourselves to rebuilding the Church in communion with one another in Christ so that the world may see and believe that Jesus is Lord.
See Bishop Christian’s full pastoral letter, here.
Plenary indulgences may be gained ‘by visiting in the form of a pilgrimage any Franciscan conventual church, or place of worship in any part of the world named after St. Francis or connected to him for any reason, and there they will devoutly follow the Jubilee rites or spend at least a suitable period of time in pious meditation and will raise prayers to God so that, following the example of Saint Francis, may sentiments of Christian charity towards one’s neighbour and authentic wishes for harmony and peace among peoples spring up in hearts, concluding with the Our Father, the Creed and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare and all the saints of the Franciscan Family…
The elderly, the sick and those who take care of them and all those who for serious reasons are unable to leave their homes, will also be able to obtain the Plenary Indulgence, provided that they are detached from any sin and intend to fulfill the three usual conditions as soon as possible, if they join spiritually in the Jubilee celebrations of the Year of St. Francis, offering their prayers to the Merciful God, the pains or sufferings of one’s life.’