Let God shape our heart

By Kristine Rilling
11/20/2025

Having just returned from our diocesan pilgrimage to Italy, I am still carrying the weight—and the joy—of what we experienced. To walk in the footsteps of the saints, to pray at the tomb of Padre Pio and to cross the Holy Doors in Rome during this Jubilee Year was humbling and profoundly moving.

A pilgrimage of this magnitude is not merely about traveling across miles. It is about letting God shape our hearts along the way. I am grateful to the pilgrims who journeyed with us and to the many back home who prayed for us as we prayed for them.

As I reflect on the Jubilee Year of Hope, I find myself returning to a line Bishop Lawrence Persico wrote in the first edition of our Jubilee Journey: Pilgrims of Hope newsletter. He wrote, “As we unite during this sacred time, may our hearts be opened to the graces and blessings of this extraordinary celebration. …Let us honor this Holy Year with a renewed sense of mission and hope.” This call for hope is not something we manufacture ourselves. It is God’s gift to us, to be received and then shared.

This year, our diocesan family has sought to live as true pilgrims of hope. From parish life to personal journeys, we have been invited to cross thresholds of grace. We are called to step into deeper communion. We must recognize how faith carries us through change.

In these pages, you will read about Amazing Parish, an initiative introduced in the Diocese of Erie to help parishes flourish as places where people encounter Christ, grow as disciples and open their hearts.

The diocese also welcomed His Eminence Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. We were grateful for his presence and the spiritual encouragement he brought to our local church.

We also pause with gratitude to honor Bishop Persico, who celebrates his 75th birthday on Nov. 21. His steady presence and pastoral care remind us that leadership in the church is measured in heartfelt service. As he wrote earlier this year: “As Catholic communities, we must take action to renew our commitment to prayer and evangelization. We must ensure that our faith is lived and shared.”

As the Jubilee Year ends, its graces remain. We move forward, united as “Pilgrims of Hope” with full hearts to embrace our call to be one faith, one family.