Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
December 4 Ember Day prayer, fasting
can cast out these devils
11/29/02
You were hoping we were turning the corner
on the church’s child sexual
abuse scandal. You were even reassured
in an editorial of the Oregonian
that the Archdiocese of Portland was making
every effort to protect
children and deal with victims fairly
and forthrightly. Perhaps you were
even becoming hopeful that the healing
of hearts was under way.
Then the Nov. 18 evening news revealed
that more sexual abuse cases were
filed against the churches of Oregon.
One plaintiff’s attorney asserted
that “the church doesn’t get it.” We American
bishops tried earlier this
month to strengthen and ratify a charter
and norms, adopted in Dallas last
June, for handling such cases in a way
that protected the rights of all
persons and assured due process. But our
efforts were ridiculed by pundits
and cartoonists on one page after another
of the newspaper as you sipped
your morning brew.
As we celebrated the feast of Christ the
King this past weekend and drew
near the close of another liturgical year,
we all breathed a collective
sigh of grief and relief. It has been
a year of struggle, shame, hostility
and humility in Catholic communities across
this great nation. I know of
few places other than the Catholic Church
where the penalties to be
endured by the present generation for
the apparent sins of past
generations will be harsher. Our earnest
and sincere efforts to reach out
to victims and bring them to healing are
being gravely impeded with the
growing awareness that we ourselves have
become victims of these misdeeds.
Even though child abuse has been more
rampant in family life, in civic
institutions, even in other churches,
no one is singled out with greater
intensity than our Catholic community.
Many of us have readily identified
with the complaint uttered by St. Teresa
of Avila centuries ago during
some troubled times in her own life. She
said, “Lord, if this is how you
treat your friends, no wonder you have
so few!”
Many hearts are heavy. As we gather to
celebrate the Eucharist on the
first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1, we shall
be greeted with these words from
the prophet Isaiah, “Oh Lord, . . . behold,
you are angry, and we are
sinful; all of us have become like unclean
people, all our good deeds are
like polluted rags; we have all withered
like leaves, and our guilt
carries us away like the wind.” Yes, we
have all had those days in recent
months. But Isaiah goes on to say, “Yet,
oh Lord, you are our Father; we
are the clay and you the potter; we are
all the work of your hands.”
Yes, my sisters and brothers, we are still
the clay in the hands of our
heavenly potter. He will fashion of us
what He will. I have every
confidence that even in our present humiliation
and uncertainty, God
chooses to fashion us all the more surely
into the Body of Christ that we
are called to be. During the coming four
weeks of Advent, we shall “watch
for the day, hoping that the salvation
promised us will be ours when
Christ our Lord will come again in his
glory” (Preface of Advent I).
As I reminded you last week and as your
pastors hopefully have announced,
we shall be observing another Archdiocesan
Ember Day on the first
Wednesday of Advent, Dec. 4. It is to
be a day of voluntary prayer and
fasting for all victims of sexual abuse,
for their healing and
reconciliation with the body of Christ,
for the protection of our
children, and for the protection of the
church so that in the resolution
of the pending litigation before us our
ecclesial mission will not be
excessively debilitated.
Jesus Himself once said that there are
some devils that can be cast out
only by prayer and fasting. This great
evil of clergy sexual abuse and the
subsequent scandal that is afflicting
our faith communities are such
tragic calamities. In prayer please seek
God’s comfort for victims and for
yourselves. By fasting allow your bodies
to identify with the physical
aches that have afflicted all victims
of abuse, sexual, physical,
emotional or spiritual.
The last time I went to Confession, my
confessor assigned Psalm 80 for my
penance. What a gift! I recommend it for
your own Ember Day and Advent
2002 prayer. These excerpts tell you why:
“Lord of hosts, . . . you have
left us to be fought over by our neighbors,
our enemies deride us. . . .
look down from heaven and see; attend
to this vine, the shoot your right
hand has planted. . . . revive us, and
we will call upon your name. . . .
restore us, . . . let your face shine
upon us, that we may be saved.”
On this Advent Ember Day, I shall preside
at a healing service in
Portland’s Holy Redeemer Church at 7:30
p.m. Victims of sexual abuse are
extended a heartfelt invitation to participate
and to pray with me for
God’s comfort and strength. But I ask
others to come and pray with us too.
This is a moment of suffering for the
whole church. It is an opportunity
for all of us, clergy, religious and laity,
to unite in prayer, song and
gesture and together to await the coming
of the Lord in His healing mercy
and peace.
Advent 2002 will hopefully not find us
asleep or indifferent in the face
of the powers of darkness. Hard times
can become wearisome. But Advent is
a season for rising to meet the coming
of the Dawn of grace. We begin with
heads bowed and hearts aching, but we
know by faith that our only true
hope comes from the Lord. As we believe
that the Son of God once came to
us, we now look for him to come again,
to raise us up and to make us glad.
Come, Lord Jesus, please come!