Holy Doors for Buckeystown


	Holy Doors for Buckeystown - January 2000
	St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor blesses "doors", distributes keys on Christmas Eve
	ROME, ITALY - Amidst solemnity and fanfare, an aging pope slowly pushes open the heavy door of St. Peter's Basilica, and heralds the beginning of the Jubilee Year. BUCKEYSTOWN, MARYLAND - The pastor of a growing rural parish invokes God's blessing upon banner likenesses of these very doors, meticulously designed for this local church's celebration. St. Joseph's actually had two sets of banners made for the Jubilee. Since		A door by any other name... The Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica [left], and the banner reproductions at St. Joseph in Buckeystown [above]

	the community uses both its small church and its Parish Center for worship, banners were designed to grace the doorways to both buildings. The banners replicated in painstaking detail the 16 panels of the Holy Door, depicting images of salvation history. This remarkable feat took hundreds of hours, and was accomplished almost exclusively by one parishioner, who wishes to remain unnamed.

	At the end of the Christmas liturgies, these "doors" were blessed. Throughout Advent the parish collected used keys. These keys were painted gold, and given out with a prayer card to each person who came to mass. Parishioners were reminded to "keep the doors of their hearts open wide to Christ" throughout this Jubilee Year. At right: close up on one of the "door " panels designed for St. Joseph Parish.