GARY – With Bishop Robert J. McClory presiding, the Diocese of Gary opened the Year of Jubilee 2025 with a celebratory Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels on Dec. 29, 2024, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Bishop McClory opened the Jubilee Year as did prelates around the world following Pope Francis’ lead at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome at a Christmas Eve Mass. A year later, the Jubilee Year of Hope is now coming to an end.
“We started the Jubilee year with great fanfare, and about a month ago somebody asked me, ‘Are we going to conclude it with any fanfare?’” said Father Mike Surufka, OFM, rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Angels. “And we quickly realized we had no plans.”
As most churchgoers generally attend Sunday Mass at their home parish, Father Surufka started to consider having the Cathedral of the Holy Angels host evening prayer later that day and began making plans for a service titled Concluding the Year of Jubilee on Jan. 4, 2026, on the Epiphany of the Lord.
There will be the regular 11 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary. Following the liturgy, from noon to 5 p.m., there will be Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and the opportunity for confession.
“For those who would like to go to confession and for those whom the indulgence is an important part of their piety, here’s a chance to participate in that one last time this year,” Father Surufka said.
Solemn Vespers will then begin at 5 p.m.
“Vespers is something that the diocese doesn't do very often, and it's a very prayerful way of ending an evening,” Father Surufka said. “It's a beautiful way of ending the day, and it's a great way of ending the year.”
The vespers will feature three main expressions of music, including Gregorian, Byzantine and English Hindi.
Father Andrew Summerson of St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Whiting stated that Byzantine Catholics love being part of the wider Catholic community of Northwest Indiana. He alluded to the fact that Pope Leo XIV’s first official talk after being named Pope was to a group of Eastern Catholics gathered for the Jubilee of Eastern Churches, one of the worldwide festivities as part of the Jubilee of Hope. In his discourse, the pope said the Church needs the Eastern Catholic Churches, “our spiritual traditions are medicinal.”
“This is true in Rome and at the local level here in Gary,” Father Summerson said. “We are here to help and bring the experience of being a ‘martyr Church’ to Northwest Indiana. We might not die martyrs' deaths, but we are called to live martyrs’ lives. The witness of the Eastern Catholic Churches, replete with martyrs during 20th century totalitarian regimes, teach us this.”
Father Summerson shared that those in attendance can expect to hear scripture remixed, both ancient and new. “O Joyful Light” is a central hymn of Vespers, “Our Magnificat” will be featured prominently as well as an elegant choral arrangement of Psalm 141.
Whether it’s the music or a more personal reason for attending, Father Surufka said people will enjoy seeing the inside of the cathedral decorated for the Christmas season.
“The church is beautiful,” he said. “I'm decorating it like more this year than I have ever since I've been here, so it's really spectacular. Come for adoration, go to confession and stay for vespers. I guarantee it will be a prayer experience that very few people have had.”
Father Surufka provided a reminder that although the Jubilee Year of Hope is ending, it doesn't mean that hope ends. He paraphrased a statement about hope from one of his favorite Vatican II theologians.
“Hope is an attitude we have now toward the future where we believe the future is already held by God even when we cannot see it,” he said.
Father Surufka explained the Jubilee of Hope is supposed to leave the faithful with a sense of confidence in the future, not because of anything they do themselves, but because of God's promise.
“I think people can agree we live in some very difficult times right now, and people are wondering,” he said. “I think public expressions of hope in the future are really important. When people leave here on Sunday after Vespers, I hope they feel renewed for the future, because it's already held by God.”
The Cathedral of the Holy Angels was open every first Friday of the month during the 2025 Year of Jubilee from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for adoration, prayer and confessions. The Franciscan friars residing at the cathedral plan to follow this same practice in 2026. Father Surufka said it was popular enough, and enough people came for adoration and confession that it made sense to continue it.
“I think if more people knew that it was available, then even more people would go out of their way to make a point of coming,” he said, “so we're going to continue it.”
Father Surufka pointed out that the City of Gary is also in a mode of renewed hope. He commented that “there are all kinds of wonderful things happening in the city, old things are coming down, new things are being planned to come up. It's a very vibrant moment.”
“Coming into the City of Gary, which our diocese is named after, is an important act of Christian witness to hope not only for ourselves personally, but for the city that we live in, which is the home of our diocese,” he said.
Caption: Faithful from across the diocese gather for an indoor procession leading to the baptismal font at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary on Dec. 29, 2024 to celebrate the anticipation of the Jubilee Year 2025. The Catholic Church recognizes the 2,025th anniversary of the Incarnation of Our Lord and dioceses around the nation will commence efforts of "great spiritual, ecclesial and social significance in the life of the Church," according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)
