Betty Arrigotti’s Jubilee Women
Other celebrations or calls for a Jubilee Year
There is disagreement about whether the Hebrews ever observed the Jubilee Year. Did they ever wait through the 49th and 50th year without planting, relying on God’s providential harvest of the 48th year?
Some believe that Jesus proclaimed a Jubilee year when he read from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" then rolled up the scroll and said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Luke 4:18-21
The Catholic Church has often proclaimed Jubilee Years, beginning in 1300. It symbolizes a Holy Year by un-bricking a particular door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Most recently, in 2000, Catholic Churches throughout the world celebrated the year as a Jubilee Holy Year. Each parish designated a particular door as their Holy Year Door in a campaign to Open Wide the Doors to Christ. Priests, nuns, and monks have long celebrated their Jubilees, or 50th anniversary of religious profession.
The Jubilee 2000 Coalition petitioned the world to proclaim a Jubilee Year and cancel the debts of the earth's poorest countries. Then-President Clinton offered a Jubilee debt forgiveness to Third World countries who would spend the money on children instead. Canada and England followed his lead.
Near the same time, the Coalition for Jubilee Clemency petitioned President Clinton to release, on supervised parole, Federal prisoners serving long sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenses.