A jubilee pilgrimage of hope through the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Detroit's mother church offers plenty of graces and special opportunities for prayer during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope

At the start of the Jubilee 2025 Year of Hope, Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron designated 12 pilgrimage sites for Catholics to visit during the holy year. Each month during 2025, Detroit Catholic will profile one of these sites to encourage Catholics to take advantage of the extraordinary graces offered during the jubilee.

DETROIT — Since the first jubilee was proclaimed in 1300 by Pope Boniface VII, Catholics have used jubilee years as an opportunity to make pilgrimages to visit Rome and other holy sites. With the commencement of the Jubilee Year 2025, which Pope Francis themed “Pilgrims of Hope,” Catholics are once again called to go on pilgrimage — only traveling to Rome isn’t always necessary; Detroit-area Catholics can find pilgrimage opportunities in their own backyard.

Pilgrimage sites can be found in churches worldwide; however, Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron designated 12 in the Archdiocese of Detroit alone, including Detroit's mother church, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Pilgrims can receive a plenary indulgence by making a pilgrimage to any of the sites during the jubilee year, as well as by performing certain works of devotion, mercy or penance, Archbishop Vigneron said in November.

The normal conditions for receiving an indulgence — a detachment from sin, sacramental confession, reception of Holy Communion and prayers for the intentions of the pope — apply.

The Catholic faithful and pilgrims from across the Archdiocese of Detroit already flock to the cathedral on Woodward Avenue in the city's North End. In February 2024, as part of the cathedral's ongoing transformation as an "apostolic center for the arts and culture," the cathedral unveiled its unique "Journey with the Saints” pilgrimage, a permanent installation of 14 “larger-than-life” statues accompanied by first-class relics of Christ's apostles.

However, during the Jubilee of Hope, the cathedral is not only adding elements specific to the holy year, as it has done during past jubilees, but also inviting visitors to contemplate more deeply the many elements, sites, and opportunities for prayer that the cathedral already offers not only as the seat of the archbishop, but also as a “Cathedral of the Arts.”

Fr. J.J. Mech, the cathedral's rector, has a vision of pilgrims returning again and again to the cathedral throughout the holy year as a continuation not only of their own personal pilgrimage, but also of the one begun by early Christian pilgrims in 1299.

“When we make these pilgrimages, you are (supposed to be) set free — you don’t go back to the same old same old,” Fr. Mech told Detroit Catholic. “You try to live a sincere and coherent life of faith, but that doesn’t just automatically happen. We need to have our pilgrimage experiences applied to our life and then put it into action.”

As reflected in the cathedral's namesake, Fr. Mech explained such a transformation is rooted in Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and everything the cathedral is implementing for the holy year begins and ends with the Holy Eucharist.

Throughout the jubilee year, visitors who seek out the small, intimate side chapel where the Blessed Sacrament resides will also be greeted by a glass case displaying the relics of saints whose patronage is significant to the jubilee's themes. Each month, the cathedral, which owns nearly 200 relics, will bring out a new saint for the display, tied to a specific theme and prayer intention.

“In this month of January, (our focus is) hope for young people," Fr. Mech said. "How many young people are experiencing loneliness, challenge and difficulty? We have St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Bosco out for them to pray with — we put it in Blessed Sacrament Chapel because we want you to connect with Jesus.”

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born American to be canonized a saint in 1975, is the patron saint of Catholic schools, students, orphans and children near death, while St. John Bosco, a 19th century Italian priest known for his work with disadvantaged young people, is widely regarded as a patron for the youth.

Fr. Mech added that new prayer cards for pilgrims will be available each month, with a prayer tailored to the month’s intention.

Additionally, beneath the relics in the glass display, pilgrims will see a ram’s horn or jobel — the Hebrew word for “jubilee.”

“The Jewish people would blow the ram's horn, which signified the beginning of the jubilee and of being set free,” Fr. Mech said.

While visiting the Blessed Sacrament and the holy relics, pilgrims will not be able to miss the sight of a 300-pound crucifix, specific to the jubilee year and with a nod to various chapters in the history of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“In preparation for the 2025 Year of Hope, each diocese around the world was asked by Pope Francis to prepare and bless a jubilee cross that represents or has meaning for the diocese,” Fr. Mech explained.

Archbishop Vigneron chose this cross for the archdiocese because it was built from the charred beams of the former seat of Detroit, SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, formerly St. Patrick's.

The parish of the Most Blessed Sacrament became Detroit's cathedral in 1937, and by 1973, the former St. Patrick’s Church was abandoned and fell into disrepair. In 1993, it was destroyed in an arson fire; however, the former parishioners rescued some of the support beams and turned them into a cross.

Fr. Mech said the destruction of the former cathedral and the repurposing of its beams for a new crucifix parallel Detroit's hopeful history.

“Fr. Gabriel Richard brought the faith to Detroit, and after the city was completely destroyed by a fire in 1805, he did not give in; they recreated the town of Detroit, and his motto following the fire was, ‘We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes,’” Fr. Mech said. “Now that is part of the motto of the city of Detroit."

During the Jubilee of Hope, Fr. Mech said the larger-than-life crucifix is a reminder of "this foundational aspect of what we are about."

“The ultimate sign of hope is the cross of Christ, and you can literally come here (and be inspired by) the people of our history who never gave up," Fr. Mech said. "They took the burned remains of our former cathedral, and now we have this cross, and pilgrims can touch it, and they can pray with it, and they can use it as an inspiration.”

Across the world, people are struggling to find hope, Fr. Mech added, and the opportunity to seek out and be pilgrims of hope is providential.

“All of us have our need for hope, whether we are in the hospital, whether we are struggling parents trying to figure out what to do, or an individual on their own feeling lonely,” Fr. Mech said. “Most people are not going to be able to travel to Rome, so we are offering these different opportunities where you come and experience reconciliation and the indulgences.

"And yet at the same time, it doesn’t just happen in a one-time experience," Fr. Mech continued. "You don’t just go to the Eucharist once — you don't just go to the Blessed Sacrament once. You come back to the mother church again and again and again, and each time, you can get a new message, a new purpose for your pilgrimage.”

The goal of a pilgrimage is to be transformed, Fr. Mech added, but that's not the end of the journey. Afterward, pilgrims are called to witness to the world what God has done and continues to do.

“Even though the world is filled with pain, it is also filled with hope because of Christ,” Fr. Mech said.