Decree for the Jubilee Year 2025 - Diocese of Lake Charles

DECREE FOR THE JUBILEE YEAR 2025

Glen John Provost

by the Grace of God and the Favor of the Apostolic See

Bishop of Lake Charles

For an Everlasting Remembrance.

Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks the reason for the hope that is in you” (I Peter 3:15). Seventeen centuries ago, in June of 325, in the town of Nicaea not far from the then-capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople, more than 200 Bishops met to fulfill these words of the Apostle Saint Peter by reaffirming the unchanging Catholic faith received from the Apostles concerning the true divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Name in which mankind can hope for salvation (Acts 4:12). Upon this foundation we remain firm today.

As proclaimed in the Bull of Indiction, Spes non confundit, the Most Holy Father Francis, Bishop of Rome and Servant of the servants of God, solemnly declared the opening of the ordinary Jubilee Holy Year of 2025 in Rome, calling all Christians to be “pilgrims of hope.” His Holiness points us toward the pierced Heart of Jesus Christ as the one “through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Rom. 1:2). He is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19).

THEREFORE, following the decree of Pope Francis, as the Bishop of the Diocese of Lake Charles, We hereby proclaim the Holy Year of 2025 for this local Church of Lake Charles, to be solemnly inaugurated in Our Cathedral on Sunday, December 29^th of this year, and to continue until its conclusion on Sunday, December 28^th, 2025. In order to cooperate most fully with this initiative and to favor the reception of manifold graces,
WE ALSO HEREBY DECREE

THAT the following shall be designated as pilgrimage churches in the Diocese of Lake Charles for the Holy Year of 2025 (cf. Decree of the Sacred Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, May 13, 2024):

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in which stands the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary crowned by the authority of His Holiness Benedict PP. XVI. (one of only four in the nation and of only two in the state to be so honored);
The parish church of Sacred Heart of Jesus in Lake Charles, well-known for its connection to Saint Katharine Drexel, whose love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and whose courage and initiative in addressing social inequality among minorities have been a lasting legacy;
The parish church of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Sulphur;
The parish church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Jennings; and

THAT the following shall be designated as pilgrimage holy sites in the Diocese of Lake Charles for the Holy Year of 2025 (ibid.):

The diocesan Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cameron;
The parochial Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette in Sulphur; and

THAT, in addition to the indulgences already contained in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, IV. ed., which remain in force, We remind the faithful of those already granted by Us concerning the recitation of the Divine Office and the Prayer for the Family (Decrees of June 7^th, 2014), as well as those already granted concerning the diocesan Shrine of Our Lady Star of the Sea (Decree of March 25^th, 2020), and We exhort the faithful to take advantage of those special plenary indulgences granted by the Holy Father for this Holy Year of 2025 and obtainable each day of the Holy Year.

THAT, in order to facilitate access to the sacrament of Penance and the obtaining of divine forgiveness through the “Power of the Keys,” all priests who are incardinated into this Diocese or who have been approved for ministry in this Diocese, and whose faculties have not been revoked, are granted for the period of this Holy Year the same authority to absolve from censures that We have granted to Our diocesan Penitentiary, or granted by universal law (canons 508 §1, 1355 §2), whenever they are administering the Sacrament in any of the aforesaid pilgrimage churches or at the aforesaid holy sites (cf. Decree of the Sacred Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, May 13, 2024).

THAT the Instruction which We have caused to be appended to this Decree, which contains Our other dispositions with regard to the initiatives and opportunities through which this Jubilee of hope will benefit the Christian faithful of Our Diocese, shall be faithfully and generously implemented by the Parish Priests and those others whom it concerns.

With unbounded confidence in her intercession for the fruitfulness of this coming Year of Grace, we entrust these things to that incomparable Woman of Hope, the Most Blessed Virgin, Star of the Sea.

All things to the contrary not withstanding.

Given at the Seat of Our Chancery in Lake Charles and signed by Our hand and that of Our Chancellor, on the First Sunday of Advent, the first of December in the Year of the Incarnation 2024.