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September 28, 2019There is a constant temptation, both as a pastor and as a human being, to follow the path of least resistance. It’s much easier to find some sort of DVD series about the faith, plop people down in front of it and press play than it is to find real, engaging speakers or topics for us to encounter Christ together as a parish family.
When a crisis emerges in the Church, the temptation is to either bury our heads in the sand or throw some resource at people in the hopes of sparing ourselves a difficult conversation.
With the last year and a half of the abuse crisis in the Church still looming over us, my sincere hope is to address it, but primarily to address it in such a way that we are beginning a real conversation and not just checking the box to say that “we did something.” This weekend we are handing out copies of Bishop Barron’s book “Letter to a Suffering Church,” in the hopes that our families will find comfort, solace, and wisdom in them. Generous donors have stepped forward to make this possible, because we are living in the midst of an exodus from the Church due to the
unconscionable and grievous sins of men who were supposed to be our fathers. It is heartbreaking to consider all those whose faith has been wounded by this disgusting breach of trust. So we must stand in the breach, pray, and demand that justice be done so that our Church may begin to heal. Please take a copy of the book for your family and prayerfully read it. The staff and I are here to help the parishioners on their journey of Faith, and if anyone needs to have a difficult conversation about this book or the wounds that it is treating, we’re here for you. I mean it.
Prayers always,
Fr. McC
Lord Jesus Christ, through your Incarnation you accepted a human nature
and lived a real, human life. Setting aside the glory of your divinity, you met us face
to face in the vulnerability of our humanity.
Though without sin, you accepted sinners, offeringforgiveness and placing yourself before even the most unworthy as a servant and a friend. You became small and weak in the estimation of the powerful, so that you might elevate to glory the small and weak of the world.
Your descent into our nature was not without risk, as it exposed you to the assaults of the darkest and most terrifying of humanity’s fallen desires—our cruelty and narrowness, our deceptions and our denials. All this culminated in the cross, where your divine love was met with the full fury of our malice, our violence, and our
estrangement from your grace.
You offered yourself to us with innocence and receptivity, and this was met with the abuse of your body, humiliation and mockery, betrayal and isolation, torture and death. All this—even the dereliction of feeling abandoned by God—you accepted. You became a victim, so that all those victimized since the beginning of the world would know you as their advocate. You went into the darkness, so that all those compelled into the dark by human wickedness would discover in you a radiant light.
Grant we pray, O Lord, healing for all victims of sexual abuse. Purify your Church of corruption. Bring justice to those who have been wronged. Grant consolation to all who are afflicted. Cast your light to banish the shadows of deception. Manifest to all your advocacy of those who have been so cruelly hurt, and your judgment upon
those who, having perpetrated such crimes, remain unrepentant. Compel those in your Church whom you have entrusted to safeguard the innocent and act on
behalf of the victims to be vigilant and zealous in their duties. Restore faith to those from whom it has been stolen, and hope to those who have despaired.
Christ the Victim, we call out to you!
Strengthen your faithful to accept the mission placed before us, a mission of holiness and truth. Inspire us to become advocates of those who have been harmed. Grant us strength to fight for justice. Impart to us courage so that we might forthrightly face the challenges to come. Raise up saints from your Church, and grant us the grace to become the saints you desire us to be. This we ask of you, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
