GAA leaves the field clear for a day of pilgrimage on May 21st

The Gaelic Athletic Association has agreed there will be no football matches on May 21st next year to allow people take part in the Catholic Church's National Jubilee Day of Pilgrimage. Father Patrick O'Donoghue, author of the jubilee calendar for the Dublin archdiocese, yesterday acknowledged the generosity of the GAA "for agreeing to leave people free to take part".

He said the focus in the archdiocese would be on a pilgrimage to Glendalough. "However, there are literally hundreds of traditional places of prayer such as holy wells, Mass rocks and so on that many people are not aware of - St Brigid's Well, in Finglas; the Round Tower in Lusk; Our Lady's Island in Dalkey, where people can assemble and pray in their own locality on that day that has been set apart," he said.

He was speaking in UCD at the launch of the programme of events planned by the Dublin archdiocese to celebrate "the Great Jubilee Year - AD 2000". Archbishop Desmond Connell said the theme chosen for the year by Pope John Paul was "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever".

Bishop Raymond Field, chairman of the Dublin diocese jubilee committee, said Pope John Paul would inaugurate the Holy Year when he opened the Holy Door in St Peter's Basilica on Christmas Eve. In the archdiocese, 14 committees had been preparing and co-ordinating events for the year.

A jubilee candle will be lit in all the churches on Christmas Eve "as a constant reminder that in the face of all the secular proposals the jubilee is about Jesus Christ the Light of the World," he said. One of the keynotes of jubilee was generosity, he said, and the archdiocese was "very much behind what the Holy Father has asked for regarding debt relief in developing countries". "In addition, we also support the Debt and Development Coalition."

The opening jubilee Mass in Dublin will be celebrated by Dr Connell in the Pro-Cathedral on Christmas Day at 11 a.m., with events continuing until January 6th, 2001.

In coming weeks, 200,000 flyers will be distributed to homes in the diocese's 200 parishes in anticipation of "a simple ceremony at sunset" on New Year's Eve when candles will be lit at 4:15 p.m. The leaflet will contain a prayer.

Services will take place in most parishes on the day, with Dr Connell leading a "There is a Time" celebration in the Pro-Cathedral at 3.30 p.m.

Postcards will be distributed in pubs, hotels and restaurants throughout the archdiocese inviting invite people to take five minutes "to learn a simple technique of Christian meditation".

A jubilee calendar will contain details of all events planned for the year.