Two city churches open their ‘Holy Doors of Mercy’

Two city churches open their ‘Holy Doors of Mercy’
The main doors of the Colaba’s Holy Name Church and Bandra’s Mount Mary Church have been declared ‘Holy Doors of Mercy’. These doors will now become pilgrimage sites for Catholics to walk though, asking for grace, purification and forgiveness from sins.

This follows Pope Francis’s declaration of this being a ‘year of mercy’ and his historic order to open such doors in designated churches in every diocese for community members who cannot journey to Rome. Until now, there had been only one Holy Door of Mercy at the Vatican, a side door that had been specially designated for this purpose.

Opening rituals at the Mount Mary Church were conducted by Cardinald Oswald Gracias last month, where the Bible was used to push the door open. Both doors will remain open to the public until November 13.

After that, the flock has to wait until the next year of mercy. This one has come after 33 years. And more Doors of Mercy are planned. “India has 172 dioceses,” said Fr Nigel Barrett, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Bombay and assistant parish priest for Holy Name Church.

“Each one will have at least one Holy Door of Mercy.”

Bandra resident Peter Desouza said he had walked through the Mount Mary door several times since he was a boy, but now, the door was special.

“It means a lot to us now,” he added. Sister Vandana Francis of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception likens the experience to walking through the door of heaven. “As human beings we all make mistakes, but when we walk through the Holy Door, our commitment to being good is renewed,” she said.

The newsletter of the Archdiocese of Bombay announced the opening of the doors last week. “Remission of sins can be gained by walking through these Holy Doors,” the newsletter said. “No one should say that it is difficult to reach god and difficult to obtain mercy, for the Church is indeed the vehicle of mercy”.