By Jessica Easthope
Jubilees happen every 25 years, but for those who made pilgrimages, received plenary indulgences and grew in faith, this was once-in-a-lifetime.
It started where faith thrives every day — on the streets of Brooklyn.
The Jubilee kicked off with Bishop Robert Brennan leading a Eucharistic procession from the Cathedral-Basilica of St. James to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph. Hundreds prayed amid the city’s hustle and bustle.
“It gives us a concrete reminder that we’re not alone, that Christ is walking with us,” Bishop Brennan told Currents News.
Lent brought on a pilgrimage closer to home for pilgrims of hope: a passport took parishioners around the Diocese of Brooklyn to six Jubilee station churches, where the faithful earned plenary indulgences — the freedom from the temporal punishment of sin.
“God is merciful and kind,” one pilgrim said of their experience.
And for some of New York’s finest, the Holy Name Society traded the boroughs of the Big Apple for the Eternal City.
Bishop Brennan also honored the elderly at Queen of Peace for the Jubilee of Families, praising their faith legacy.
But throughout the Jubilee year, the younger generation took center stage.
“Once you’re with people your own age you feel a lot more connected,” one young person said of their experience celebrating the Jubilee Year in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
All together, nearly 90 young pilgrims even got a front row seat to the first American pope, Pope Leo the XIV, speaking to them in a crowd of more than 1 million.
“To everyone that says young people aren’t falling in love with Catholicism — yes we are,” said JP Marasigan, co-youth minister at St. Mary Gate of Heaven Church in Queens.
But no young person was more of a source of inspiration than the first ever millennial saint, Carlo Acutis.
“He’s not only an inspiration to the young people but reminds us how much we have to learn from the young people,” said Bishop Brennan.
In September of 2025, Saint Carlo Acutis was canonized alongside St. Pier Giorgio Frassati during the Jubilee and continues to serve as an example unlike any other.
“He is this influencer for God even before we had social media, he’s like our patron, he did it first,” said Grace Lugo, a parishioner at San Damiano Mission Church in Brooklyn.
And back in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bayside, Queens was named as a diocesan shrine of Saint Carlo Acutis, a sacred place for pilgrimages and prayer for young people.
From processions to pilgrimages, art to adoration, and holy hours that packed the pews, the Jubilee’s impact was felt in every corner of the Diocese of Brooklyn.