Alumna Writes about Jubilee Year of Mercy

“The Jubilee is a time of joy,” writes Christina (Andres ’82) Deardurff. “It is a time of remission of sins and universal pardon.”

Published on the Inside the Vatican website in May, shortly after His Holiness Pope Francis announced the Year of Mercy, Mrs. Deardurff’s story is an informative account of the significance of the current Jubilee and the graces that it makes available. “The Pope himself opens the door in St. Peter’s Basilica,” in a symbolic gesture, she writes, that “reflects the exclusion of Adam and Eve — and of the whole human family — from the Garden of Eden due to sin, and the readmittance into grace of the penitent of heart.”

A homeschooling mother of 10, Mrs. Deardurff recently joined the staff of Inside the Vatican as an editorial assistant at the magazine’s U.S. office in Front Royal, Virginia. Before taking a leave from writing and editing to raise her children, she worked in journalism and public relations, serving as an editor and contributor to Child and Family Review. She and her husband, Richard (’84), have also been active in promoting Catholic Montessori education and care for the mentally handicapped, particularly those with Down Syndrome.

An archive of Mrs. Deardurff’s other stories for Inside the Vatican is available on the magazine’s website.