Bishop to lead Rome pilgrimage Holy Year trip in 2000 sponsored by The Evangelist

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard will lead more than 250 local Catholics on a Jubilee Year pilgrimage to Rome in October 2000.

The eight-day pilgrimage, being sponsored by The Evangelist, will include tours of Vatican City, the major basilicas (including St. Peter's), the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and many other sites. An optional day trip to Assisi, the home of St. Francis, is also being offered.

According to W. Jon Harrington, diocesan pilgrimage coordinator, this trip to Rome offers Catholics a unique way to observe the end of the second millennium and the beginning of the third.

"You hear a great deal of excitement about the coming millennium, from the worry about the Y2K problem to excitement over what to do on New Year's Eve," he explained. "Catholics should remember the reason that any of this is happening: Jesus was born 2,000 years ago. How we are going to mark this Holy Year in a holy way is something we all need to consider. The pilgrimage to Rome offers a magnificent and appropriate method of celebrating this occasion in a spiritual way."

The trip presents local Catholics the opportunity to heed the words of Pope John Paul II.

"Pope John Paul has urged believers to make such a pilgrimage to take their faith on the road and bear witness to the ultimate destination of every person," explains Bishop Hubbard in a letter that appears on page 13. "I look forward to joining with [local Catholics] in prayer in the city that has been the center of Catholicism since St. Peter arrived there to spread the message given to him by Jesus."

This pilgrimage will be more than a vacation. According to the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers, "Pilgrimages have as their goal a personal meeting with God. The journey is not only a movement of the body but also an itinerary of the soul."

Pilgrims will leave Albany by charter bus on Oct. 20, 2000, and travel to New York City where they board a non-stop flight to Rome. A variety of accommodations will be available, ranging from two-star to five-star hotels. Pilgrims will return Oct. 27. The pilgrimage is open to the first 260 people who register. Prices start at $1,449.

(An informational meeting about the trip will be held Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at the diocesan Pastoral Center, 40 North Main Ave., Albany.)