YOUNGSTOWN — With as much fanfare as when it began, the Youngstown Diocese Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope, concluded Sunday with a special Mass at St. Columba Cathedral.

With Bishop David Bonnar presiding, five Diocesan priests in attendance, including Ashtabula native the Rev. Sean Conoboy from the Vatican, as well as three deacons and eight seminarians who are in various stages of priestly formation, the sanctuary was a sea of white among the white and red poinsettias. Even the Christmas trees had white lights, adding to the festive occasion.

Conoboy is on the staff of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He began his position June 1, 2023, and was home for the holidays.

At the end of Mass, Bonnar thanked Conoboy for being there and told those in attendance they were lucky to have a Diocesan priest serving in such a prominent position. He was appointed by Pope Francis.

The Jubilee Year began Dec. 29, 2024, also at St. Columba Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Youngstown Diocese. A special vestment worn by Bonnar with the jubilee logo on it traveled around the diocese throughout the year. At the opening Mass, representatives from each deanery of the diocese presented intentions of hope developed by each parish that they intended to accomplish during the jubilee.

Different events took place throughout the diocese all year, including an 11-day pilgrimage to Rome by Bonnar, the Rev. John Michael Lavelle from St. Michael Church in Canfield, Catholic Charities Executive Director Rachel Hrbolich and three dozen parishioners representing all six counties.

Bonnar said the pilgrims also had the honor of meeting Pope Leo XIV and the group passed through the Holy Doors of all four basilicas: St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Peter. The doors of all four were opened by Pope Francis for the first time in 25 years to open the Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve of 2024, and he will close them again on the Feast of the Epiphany, which is Jan. 6.

Parishioners also embarked on pilgrimages to sacred sites within the diocese, including the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Youngstown, the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Canton, St. Columba Cathedral and Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton.

SUNDAY’S CLOSING MASS

During his homily, Bonnar said through the Jubilee, the Lord has caused “a river of grace and blessing to flow. He has granted all of his hope and his peace.”

“Today, we the Diocesan community of pastors and people, the Lord says to all of us ‘Take courage; do not be afraid,'” Bonnar said.

He said every Advent season, he reads a book called “Stations of the Crib,” a Christian devotional practice, similar to the Stations of the Cross, that guides participants through the events of Jesus’ birth, from the Annunciation to the Holy Family’s life in Nazareth, offering reflections on hope during Advent and Christmas. It involves 14 (or more) “stations” or steps, each with readings, prayers and songs, focusing on Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus, celebrating the incarnation and God’s promise.

Bonnar said it was fitting that the closing Mass of the Jubilee took place on the same Sunday as the Feast of the Holy Family.

Bonnar said the author begins with a story that takes place a few days before Christmas when a man enters a town called “Hope,” which has only a service station and a cafe.

“The town is so small that it is not even found on a map. The town seems to be in the middle of nowhere and suggests a helpless situation,” Bonnar said.

He said in the story, the townspeople strategically posted a sign a mile outside of town that reads “You are Now Beyond Hope.”

“Today marks the conclusion of the jubilee year of hope. For the past year, Catholics throughout the world have been celebrating this year of grace centered on hope,” Bonnar said.

He said Pope Francis has referred to hope as “the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”

“The Jubilee emblem has been prominent on the processional cross, which offers great hope amidst the storms of our lives. As this jubilee year comes to an end and we prepare to embrace a new day tomorrow, let us not think for one moment that we are now beyond hope. As we live our lives every day as Christians, as such we are never beyond hope. Hope remains an anchor and a vision for us moving forward. Hope is a cornerstone for our family life,” Bonnar said.

He said the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph exuded this hope and showed all of us through the trials they endured that they still had hope.

“Hope does not disappoint. Hope was for them an anchor of their family life and the key to holiness,” Bonnar said.

He said the holy family is a shining example for everyone to imitate.

“The holy family is for us a shining example and model to follow. They embody what it means to be pilgrims of hope,” Bonnar said.

He said the holy family’s hearts overflow not only with hope, but with faith and charity.

Bonnar said no matter what happens in each of our lives, we should remember the virtues of the holy family.

“Remember that we are never beyond hope,” he said.

During the Jubilee year, parishioners throughout the six counties of the Diocese showed expressions of faith.

“This has been an exciting year for the church, universal and local. And as a diocese, we’ve made every effort to embrace it, going back to the beginning where we processed in with the cross during that opening Mass, really signifying that we’re seeking in this Jubilee year to follow Jesus as pilgrims of hope,” Bonnar said.