“If One Member Suffers, All Suffer Together”

 
Last weekend, while we were discussing, preaching, and praying in our parishes
about the crisis of abuse and the attempts to silence it by leaders in the church, Pope Francis finished an unprecedented letter to all the People of God on these topics. While he and other popes have spoken and written about abuse by clergy before, those were addressed to specific audiences or parts of the world. The Pennsylvania grand jury report and the renewed outcry by the faithful and general public gave rise to a statement from Pope Francis’s spokesman, and now an extensive letter from the pope himself to the whole world in less than a week. (That is lightning-speed for a worldwide church that is used to thinking in terms of centuries, not “news cycles”.) While important, the letter by itself is not a sufficient response to the crisis - it is meant to be a companion to ongoing and increased actions to promote healing and prevent both abuse and cover-up in the future.

I am sharing the introduction of his letter with you today, and from time to time we will reflect on other parts of the letter - as we continue to pray for those directly harmed by church ministers and all those whose faith or relationship with the church has suffered as a result. If you want to read more, I encourage you to search for the pope’s actual letter (not articles about it), which he has addressed to you and me - the People of God - for our prayerful reflection. As I said last weekend, our faith is not in priests or bishops - it is in Jesus Christ, who brings us together in his Body, the Church, and walks with each of us - especially those who suffer.
- Fr. Joe
 

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults....”  - Pope Francis