Holy Door at Salt Lake cathedral 'a blessing'

Friday, Nov. 18, 2016

The Holy Doors in local dioceses throughout the world closed on Nov. 13, an indication that the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy called by Saint Francis is drawing to an end. In the Diocese of Salt Lake City, “I think it was truly a blessing … to have a Holy Door here at the Cathedral of the Madeleine,” said Father Martin Diaz, the cathedral rector. Throughout the year, the cathedral saw a few visitors each week who came to pass through the door, but for the last month “every Sunday, more and more people were coming through, and every Saturday there were more and more confessions,” he said, adding that several of those he spoke with gave him the sense “that the Holy Door and the Year of Mercy prompted them to come to confession, to come back to the Church, to seek reconciliation with God and the Church.” More than double the number of people attended the Spanish Mass two weeks before the closing of the door, and on Nov. 13 that Mass was standing room only “because they wanted to go through the Holy Door, which they did,” Fr. Diaz said. Also, “I’ve heard of and seen people responding to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy more and more. I think we have grown in our understanding of compassion, of love, our sense of reaching out to the other in so many different ways,” he said. IC file photo