DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — On Ash Wednesday, Gervin Charles knew exactly where he wanted to be, so he made his way to the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn around noon to receive ashes on his forehead.
“Today’s Ash Wednesday, and I feel like it’s just … a great way to start off Lent,” said Charles, a student at the New York City College of Technology, adding that he looks forward to the Lenten season.
“It’s a perfect way to get closer to God,” he said. “All year around, I try my best to get closer to God, but times like this are just perfect.
Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated the Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. James on March 5. Speaking to The Tablet before the Mass, he described Lent as a chance for a new start.
“We begin the season of repentance and conversion. First is good news that there is room and opportunity for conversion in the light of God’s love,” he said. “God gives us the ability to turn once again to him. This is a chance for us to deepen our relationship with the Lord, and we always do so in the light of God’s love for us.”
For Margaret Ames and her husband Richard Griffiths, attending Mass and receiving ashes was a chance to renew their faith.
“I wanted to return to my roots,” Ames said.
Ash Wednesday also marked the start of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten pilgrimage — a chance for the faithful to visit parishes other than their own and participate in Masses, prayer services, Stations of the Cross, and the sacrament of reconciliation or to spend some quiet time with the Blessed Sacrament.
This year, there are 37 churches along the pilgrimage route, with the excitement heightened by the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year.
Bishop Robert Brennan has designated six churches as shrine churches for the Jubilee Year. These churches, which are all along the Lenten pilgrimage route, will serve as destinations for a different type of pilgrimage — faith journeys that the faithful can take in the hope of being indulgences, the removal of temporal punishment for their sins.
The six churches are the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Downtown Brooklyn, the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, St. Jude Shrine Church in Canarsie, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bayside, and the Shrine Church of St. Gerard Majella in Hollis.
Their status as shrine churches for the Jubilee Year means they will be open to the public until the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8.
“They’ll continue to be of significance, not only on the day of their Lenten visit, but through the year,” Bishop Brennan said of the designated shrine churches. “And so during the course of the year, we’ll be able to have special invitations to people come to those churches to pray, to ask the Lord’s blessing.”
To obtain an indulgence, one must participate in a pilgrimage, participate in a designated time of prayer, receive the sacrament of reconciliation, receive the holy Eucharist, perform works of charity, and pray for intentions set by Pope Francis.
“It’s very important during the Jubilee Year, when we think of indulgences, is to see them as a way of meeting the Lord and preparing to enter the kingdom of God,” explained Father Joseph Gibino, vicar for evangelization and catechesis for the diocese and administrator of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James.
The Lenten pilgrimage, now in its third year, continues to generate excitement in the diocese. The pilgrimage, which runs from Ash Wednesday to April 16, allows people to visit any of the more than three dozen churches on the pilgrimage route. Each day is dedicated to a specific church.
Participants can mark their progress on the pilgrimage through an app — Lenten Pilgrimage — created by DeSales Media Group, the ministry that produces The Tablet and Currents News. The app is available in the Apple Store and Google Play. There is also a paper passport that pilgrims can use to mark off the churches they have visited.
Even if parishioners are not able to participate in person, they can still join the community online through the app to see all of the pilgrimage stops and even make prayer requests. Participants can get more information by visiting lent.dioceseofbrooklyn.org/.
Madeline Flood visited all the churches along the route in 2023 and 2024 and hopes to do so again this year. “It’s amazing, the best. It’s so spiritual,” she said.
“To be honest, it has made me metamorph like a butterfly,” she added, noting that each pilgrimage stop is “taking me through where I was, where I am, where I want to be.”
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, a time of renewal as the Church journeys towards Easter. Bishop Robert Brennan is asking the faithful of the Diocese of Brooklyn to turn their attention to the following regulations.
Click the image below to view the full PDF in the March 1 print edition of The Tablet.
