The Schlattmanns are volunteers assisting with Holy Year Peter's Basilica, they will be met by smiling faces and lime green jackets. Jubilee volunteers of all ages and nationalities have become a mainstay along the boulevard leading up to St. Peter's Square since the start of the Holy Year.
Wearing uniforms emblazoned with "volontario" across their backs and the Jubilee and Vatican logos on their chests, the volunteers line the pilgrims' path, offering guidance and companionship on their spiritual journey. They escort pilgrims along the final leg of their pilgrimage to the Holy Door, checking passes, providing directions and accompanying groups in prayer. For Craig and Laura Schlattmann -- a married couple of Jubilee volunteers from Tacoma, Washington -- participating in the current Holy Year has been 25 years in the making.
Craig was stationed in Italy for military service, and the couple lived in Rome during the Holy Year Back then they "vowed, God willing, to come back for the next ordinary Jubilee year in ," Laura told Catholic News Service.
After Craig's recent retirement, the couple decided to fulfill that promise. Though volunteer positions are open to all Catholics over 18 who can volunteer at least one week of their time at the Vatican, the Schlattmanns committed to moving to Rome for the duration of the Jubilee Year to host friends and family making pilgrimages to the Eternal City and assist other pilgrims. Volunteers arrange their own travel to Rome, but once they arrive, the Dicastery for Evangelization provides meals and accommodations at the "Domus Spei," a former convent in central Rome equipped with dozens of rooms and beds.
Applicants must submit a letter of introduction from their parish priest or another representative of a church organization. The dicastery said it had received more than 7, volunteer applications before the start of the Jubilee. In their day-to-day activities, the volunteers "are here to smooth the pilgrim's path so that they can focus on their spiritual journey along the pilgrim way," Laura told CNS.
