The end of one year and the beginning of another is a very appropriate time to “look back” and “look forward.” Here in our diocese, as we come to the close of 2024 and look forward, with the whole Church, to the New (Jubilee) Year of 2025, there is a special reason for us to “look back” with gratitude and “look forward” with great hope.

I wrote my first weekly column in the Beacon in September 2020. Msgr. James Mahoney was Vicar General and an excellent proofreader, editor, and coach, helping me with the column (and so many other “new experiences”) in my first months as Bishop. Msgr. Mahoney retired as Vicar General at the end of September 2020, and Msgr. Mark Condon has been serving in that role ever since. Msgr. Condon has also been a great help to me with my weekly column — and in many other areas.

With these words, “SPES NON CONFUNDIT…,” Pope Francis invites the whole Church to enter into a HOLY YEAR, a great Jubilee. This invitation was offered to us all when Pope Francis published the Bull of Indiction on May 9, 2024. Now (seven months later), the beginning of the Jubilee, which will take place in Rome on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2024, with the opening of the Holy Door, is only two weeks away.