From the pews to policy change: St. Joe’s Jubilee signature success!
In the Gospel reading of the last weekend in January, the lectionary recounted Jesus’ first words ever spoken in public. (So, the message must have been of utmost importance!)
If we were to ask ourselves, “Who is this Jesus?” The answer is here in Luke, Chapter 4, when Jesus says:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Another translation for “a year acceptable to the Lord” would be “a Jubilee Year.”
In Ottawa, at the downtown parish of St. Joseph’s, the guest homilist encouraged parishioners to celebrate the Jubilee Year 2025 in many ways – but especially by signing the ecumenical petition to cancel the debts of countries of the Global South. Margie Duthie and Joan O’Connell collected over 120 signatures after the services that weekend!
signatures at St. Joseph’s, located in downtown Ottawa. Photo Credit: Joe Gunn
At least four persons remarked that it was a shame that a certain well-known member of the parish was unable to attend that particular Sunday – a man named Mark Carney. Many attendees at St. Joe’s recall how Finance Minister Paul Martin had been in these same pews to hear the faith communities’ Jubilee call for debt cancelation in 2000…and eventually, the federal government’s response back then had been favourable.
We all realized that our response to the call of Jubilee justice cannot end after one prayer, one church service – or even one year of activity! The job of all of us, of every Christian, is to continue to strive to be “Good News to the poor.”
So what could our community look like were we to be “Good News to the poor”?
How might you live into the practice of Jubilee justice in this holy year?
By Joe Gunn.
Joe Gunn is the past director of the Centre Oblat – A Voice for Justice. He was part of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (1998–2001).
