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Year of St. Paul draws to a close

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

Each year at the end of June, Trinity Heights in Sioux City holds a day dedicated to prayer and celebration.
As one of four designated pilgrimage sites for the Pauline year in the Diocese of Sioux City, Father LeRoy Seuntjens said the spiritual committee at Trinity Heights felt the timing of this celebration was particularly appropriate. The 18th Annual Prayer and Celebration Day will be held from noon to 4 p.m., June 28, at Trinity Heights. Due to the economic climate, he noted that Trinity Heights opted not to hold a banquet this year.

Pauline year
Pope Benedict XVI officially opened the Pauline year at a June 28, 2008, vespers service in the Rome Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls where the saint’s tomb is located. The year, which ends this June 29, marks the 2,000th anniversary of St. Paul's birth.

The pope has referred to St. Paul as a model of evangelizing energy. Known as the "Apostle of the Gentiles," the saint preached across a large area of Mediterranean lands and helped move the early church into the larger world.

"May this great spiritual and pastoral event stimulate in us a renewed faith in Jesus Christ, who calls us to announce and witness his Gospel without any fear," the pope said of the Pauline year in June of 2008.
It is with the spirit of evangelization in mind that Trinity Heights wants to raise awareness about the faith through the Prayer and Celebration Day.

“I will be available in the chapel to answer any questions about the Pauline year,” said Father Seuntjens, spiritual director at Trinity Heights, who added that a tapestry of St. Paul hangs in the chapel. “St. Paul is a major figure relating to the spread of the church in the apostolic age.”

He pointed out that Sondra Johnson, who sculpted Rachel Weeping for Her Children located at Trinity Heights’ Circle of Life, will display clay models of Sts. Peter and Paul. The six-foot bronze statues of the two saints will be installed in the Way of Saints in 2010.

The Prayer and Celebration Day, he said, might also be the first time for people to see the relic of St. Faustina, which has found a home in the Divine Mercy Chapel at Trinity Heights since April. In addition to answering questions about one of the church’s early saints, St. Paul, Father Seuntjens can answer questions about St. Faustina, who has been called a modern-day saint.

Whether by reading the writings of St. Paul in the New Testament or the diary of St. Faustina, the priest noted that these are both ways to “help bring us to Jesus. They are both ways to help us appreciate the roots of our faith and what redemption is. That’s the whole purpose of all these things – bringing people to the saving Lord.”

Another highlight of the day will be the opportunity for visitors to speak with Jerry Traufler, who carved the life-size wood carving of the Last Supper.

“We will close the day with the Hour of Mercy at 3 p.m. with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy,” said Father Seuntjens, who will share his thoughts of his journey to Poland to secure the relic of St. Faustina.
After the chaplet, there will be a procession to the Mound of Mary where the rosary will be prayed. A reception will follow in the Marian Center.

Larry Walsh, a member of the spiritual committee at Trinity Heights, called the Prayer and Celebration Day “a great opportunity for everyone in the diocese to have a chance to receive the indulgences and blessings that are available to us at this shrine, dedicated a pilgrimage site on the occasion of the Year of St. Paul.”
Father Seuntjens said this will be the last opportunity “to really tap into the plenary indulgence, which Rome granted for the whole year.”

Indulgences
Receiving a plenary indulgence is a grace Pope Benedict XVI has attached to the Pauline Year. Indulgences may grant plenary or partial remission of temporal punishment for sins that have been forgiven.

To receive a plenary indulgence for this holy year, a Catholic must receive the sacrament of penance with true repentance, receive the Eucharist, pray for the intentions of the Holy Father and make a pilgrimage with silent reflection, including the Our Father, Profession of Faith, and an invocation to the Blessed Virgin and St. Paul, to the papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome or one of the designated pilgrimage sites.

Last June, Bishop R. Walker Nickless designated Trinity Heights in Sioux City, Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, Sts. Peter and Paul Church in West Bend and St. Paul Church in Scranton as diocesan pilgrimage sites for the Pauline year.

In addition to Trinity Heights, two other diocesan pilgrimage sites – St. Paul in Scranton and Sts. Peter and Paul in West Bend - are hosting special activities on June 28 as the Year of the St. Paul draws to a close.