Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
Archbishop’s Column
9/12/03
Wednesday, Sept. 17, will be our early
fall Ember Day of prayer and
fasting here in the Archdiocese of Portland.
Once again, I am asking all
of you to set some time aside on this
day to pray for the reconciliation
and healing of all victims of child sexual
abuse, particularly all persons
who were abused by priests of this local
church. I shall be visiting Lane
County that evening, and I hope that many
of our Catholic people will join
me for the celebration of the Eucharist
at 7:00 p.m. in St. Mary Church,
Eugene. We continue to need God’s help
in being reconciled to one another.
The multiple instances of child sexual
abuse by our clergy, here and
across these United States, have been
a great evil. But people of faith
know that God can and will bring something
good from this devastating
experience. The crucifix in our parish
churches and in our homes is a
poignant reminder of this great mystery.
Calvary was not the end of the
Jesus story. The empty tomb of Easter
morning reminds us that it is now
the risen Jesus who lives among us, forgives
us and grants us peace. We
need but ask.
Prayer and fasting offer the classic Christian
response to our felt needs
for divine assistance, particularly when
we are troubled. Time and again
Jesus encourages his disciples to ask
and they will receive. On this
coming Ember Day, I encourage you to ask
for God’s healing grace through
participation in the Eucharist, family
prayers, personal prayer,
particularly the recitation of the rosary.
By fasting from food and
pleasures on that day, we ask God to fill
up the empty places in our
bodies and our spirits that long for fullness.
We know by faith that only
God can truly supply all our needs in
a truly satisfying way.
Back last April, I had to alert the employees
at our Archdiocesan Pastoral
Center that many of them would be losing
their jobs and that services to
our parishes and institutions would be
reduced due to the drain on our
finances resulting from our efforts to
compensate the victims who have
come forward during this time of scandal.
I told them then, “The
archdiocese is basically healthy, but
the internal bleeding from a scandal
not of your making or mine has required
more radical surgery than was ever
envisioned. Hence we must slow down, heal,
regain our strength.” That is
my sincere desire for the Ember Day of
prayer and fasting next Wednesday.
As a people of faith, we too need to slow
down, heal and regain our
strength. Jesus reminded people time and
again that all people need the
help of a physician. We are all wounded
by sin. We need to acknowledge our
wrongdoing and seek forgiveness from God
and those whom we have offended.
Jesus preached forgiveness on many occasions.
But we know that the
response to His message was not welcomed
by all. In fact, He frequently
experienced a hostile response because
of His extraordinary outreach to
the most sinful. When Jesus forgave the
adulterous woman, many around Him
took offense. But He was showing us the
way. We surely need to help the
victims of this abuse scandal. But as
disciples of the Lord, we must also
begin to imitate His forgiving ways and
offer the grace of reconciliation
to the perpetrators and those who failed
to take adequate measures to stop
the abuse.
The news last month of the death of Father
John Goeghan in prison was a
shock to many. The publicity of his misdeeds
at the expense of so many
children in the Archdiocese of Boston
led to the shocking revelation of
these crimes in many other places as well.
The hostility directed toward
Father Goeghan is something in which many
of us have sadly shared. We have
extended it to all the perpetrators and
all those who mishandled the
fallout of these crimes and the subsequent
church and societal scandal.
It is time to acknowledge publicly that
true healing and reconciliation
will never be achieved until all of us
who have been victimized by the
situation begin to share forgiveness.
I readily admit that it is much
easier for me to write this than for someone
who has been so terribly
victimized to put this Christian teaching
into practice. But it is the
only road to true reconciliation. Otherwise,
most people move on with
their lives, and the only ones left hurting
are those who are unforgiving.
Back in 1950, Maria Goretti, a 12-year-old
virgin and martyr, was
canonized by Pope Pius XII. She was slain
by her would-be rapist,
Alessandro Cirinelli. Eventually Cirinelli
was imprisoned for his crimes.
Many years later, when St. Maria Goretti
was canonized, Cirinelli and
Maria’s mother were present together in
Rome for the canonization. Somehow
St. Maria’s family found a way to forgive
her slayer, just as he himself
discovered a way to reach out and express
his sincere sorrow. It is an
image I have thought of often in recent
months, and I pray that a similar
spirit of reconciliation will gradually
prevail in our own faith
communities.
You need to know that the Archdiocese of
Portland continues to make
genuine efforts to resolve all the allegations
of child sexual abuse by
our own priests that have come to our
attention during the past 18 months.
We were able to mediate some claims successfully
again this summer. We
continue to work with victims who are
still not satisfied with our
outreach. We also continue to investigate
some claims that remain
ambiguous or uncertain.
We American bishops agreed in the summer
of 2002 that the efforts we make
to deal with these matters will be much
more consistent across the United
States and that we ourselves will be publicly
accountable for our response
to the crime and scandal. Many of you
have assisted in that effort, and I
am most grateful. This coming week our
archdiocese will be undergoing an
audit of our compliance with the procedures
and policies established by
the bishops. We welcome the auditors and
pray that they may be able to
assist us in our efforts to be even more
effective and caring in our
response to victims of these crimes.
Last fall, I encouraged each of you to
use the Angelus prayer more
frequently in your devotional life. I
now suggest that you begin next
week’s Ember Day observance with the recitation
of that prayer and
continue doing so each morning. As we
recall the Annunciation to Mary of
the Incarnation of her Son, we also call
to mind that the Incarnation of
Jesus is a gift for us. He became truly
human, identifying with us in all
that we are, in our fears, pains and failings,
in fact, in everything
except sin. The grace of the Incarnation
continues to be shared as the
Lord Jesus remains present still, in His
church, in the Eucharist, in all
the baptized. Now more than ever we need
to be Christ for one another, the
healing and reconciling Christ, who blesses
and forgives all.