A year of prayer, encounter and discovery in the Diocese of Nottingham in celebration the 2025 Year of Jubilee.
Although the Jubilee is being celebrated in 2025, the Holy Father Pope Francis has asked for two years of preparation before the Jubilee Year itself. The first of these came to a close at the beginning of the Year of Prayer, with 2023 having been a year dedicated to revisiting afresh the fruits of the Second Vatican Council and the four great constitutions in particular. Alongside resources provided by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Nottingham Deanery took a lead in organising speakers to present talks about Dei Verbum, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Gaudium et Spes, and Lumen Gentium. These are all available on the diocesan YouTube channel. If you're looking for more resources, head to the bottom of this page!
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The coming three years will form a tripos of celebrations around the Jubilee, tying-in with the diocesan Spiritual Themes as well as the celebrations across the Universal Church. Bishop Patrick asked the entire Diocese of Nottingham to consider the three Themes back in November 2018, and since then they have been well established in a pattern of Encounter in the Advent Term; Discipleship in the Lent Term; and Missionary Discipleship in the Pentecost Term.
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In Rome, all the Holy Doors of the Basilicas of Saint Peter, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, and Saint Paul Outside the Walls, will be opened to pilgrims as particular places of pilgrimage during the Jubilee Year; here a special indulgence may be received under the usual conditions of sacramental confession, reciting the creed and receiving Holy Communion.
Many people will be unable to visit these Basilicas in Rome, so here in the Diocese of Nottingham, nine churches as Jubilee Churches, one in each deanery:
- Cathedral Church of Saint Barnabas
- Good Shepherd, Woodthorpe
- Saint Philip Neri, Mansfield
- Our Lady of Lincoln, Lincoln
- Our Lady and Saint Norbert, Spalding
- Saint Mary, Derby
- Saint Joseph, Matlock
- Holy Cross, Leicester
- Saint Mary of the Annunciation, Loughborough
The Jubilee indulgence can be received in these churches under the same conditions when people visit them on pilgrimage.
Parishes across each deanery will make a special effort to journey as Pilgrims of Hope to the local Jubilee Church, and deaneries might also like to make a collective Jubilee Pilgrimage to our diocesan Cathedral.
From Advent 2023 there will be a whole year of Encounter, to tie-in with the Year of Preparation focusing on Prayer in its many forms. Each month there will be a different prayer theme considered across the Diocese, with a scriptural quotation and a focus for prayer. See the resources section to download and use these bespoke materials. Scroll down to access our Year of Prayer resources.
Dates: First Sunday of Advent (3rd December 2023) – Christmas Eve morning (24th December 2024)
The Jubilee Year 2025 will be a whole year of Discipleship, looking at some of the themes of the Year including care for creation, food poverty, modern slavery, cancelling debt, forgiveness, and rest and worship.
Dates: Year of Jubilee 2025 – Discipleship – Christmas Eve evening (24th December 2024) – Epiphany (6th January 2026)
The following year will look at Mission, as a thanksgiving for the Jubilee, and a response-in-action to the blessing and graces received during the Jubilee: we will be encouraged afresh to be those Missionary Disciples which is God’s gift to us at our baptism.
Dates: Post-Epiphany (7th January 2026) – end of ordinary time (28th November 2026)
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