By Damir Kolich
On Sunday March 16th, 2025 three school buses with parishioners from Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church traveled to the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn of the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese. Amongst the 150 parishioners there were about 50 Croatians. The Head administrator of Most Precious Blood Church Father Saša Ilijić, Phd originally a priest from the Krk Diocese in Croatia organized the pilgrimage in devotion to the Saint Joseph Jubilee declared by the present Bishop of the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese, Robert Brennan:
"This Jubilee is a reminder of our connection to the greatest moment in time when God became human, and how we measure time according to that great event in human history.
The parishioners' departed from Most Precious Blood at 2 pm and arrived at the Co-Cathedral located in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn by 3:00 pm. Reverend Christopher R. Heanue guided all of the pilgrims in the Cathedral with a brief history and the importance of former Bishop Nicholas Anthony Dimarzio's wise decision to restore St. Joseph's Church instead of demolishing it during his tenure as head of the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese. The meticulously renovated art exudes the thousands of painstaking hours performed by expert artists. After devotion to Saint Joseph with a Jubilee Prayer, Father Christopher R. Heanue gave a plenary indulgence to the pilgrims. The definition of a jubilee derives from the Old Testament of the Bible, Leviticus. 25:10:
"This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each one of you shall return to his own property, everyone to his own family estate." The jubilee is a time to "re-establish a proper relationship with God and with one another".
After refreshments in the basement, the pilgrims from Most Precious Blood Church went back to Astoria in the school buses. It is important to note that Net TV is a Catholic televsion on Cable TV (Spectrum Channel 97) which broadcasts daily live masses from St Joseph's Co-Cathedral in Brooklyn as well as rosary prayers and other interesting documentaries and interviews. This is also thanks to Bishop Dimarzio as well as Bishop Brennan who has faithfully continued to support this valuable local New York Catholic programming.
Listen to Croatians Online here:
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