A Call To Prayer

      Three weeks ago today the PA Grand Jury issued its report on child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in six dioceses over the last seventy years.  It was a blistering and sobering report that has been heard around the world.  These three weeks have been for me a whirlwind of emotions and sorrow, but also a time of strengthened Faith.  The darkness of this moment of facing our sin and failures as individuals and as Church will give way to the bright promise of grace and future immortality for those redeemed by Christ.

     Remembering that the Church  was instituted by Christ to bring grace, and that the Church consists of all of the Children of God, united with Christ as one body, guided by shepherds that he has chosen, some of whom have sinned grievously against his people and led by others who have made grave mistakes, we are a family in need of tremendous forgiveness and healing.  We must be in an attitude of total submission to the mercy and grace of God so that renewal and restoration may help us heal and be strong.  
   
    The response of our diocese has been thoughtful, reasoned and sincere.   More needs to be done ... and will be done.  But the Lord has laid it upon my heart that what we also need is a grassroots response of prayer - a "call to arms" or rather a "call to take a knee".   Every single Catholic and those of our brothers and sister from other Faiths who will join us need to beseech heaven for forgiveness and healing within the Body of Christ.   I believe that we need to pray for four things in particular: a) for the victims of abuse both within the Church and in society at large [this is a crisis much larger than the Church] ... they have suffered greatly and have had their trust betrayed; b) for the Church, the People of God, who are also suffering and are confused and struggling to understand this failure to their trust; c) for the overwhelming majority of good and faithful priests who have and continue to serve the Lord and his people with unwavering fidelity, including those whose accusations are unsubstantiated; and lastly [and this is the hard part, but necessary if we are to be faithful to Christ] we need to pray for those men who have sinned and for those who have made mistakes in dealing with them, for Christ has come to call not only the saint, but the sinner as well.

     Since we saw "our cross" on a Tuesday, Might I suggest making Tuesdays a day of pray and fasting for healing and forgiveness.  Go to Mass that day, if possible, or spend time before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer.  Pray the Rosary for these specific intentions, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet or the Liturgy of the Hours.  Fast.  Intentionally endeavor to meet the needs of the poor and lonely.  

     How long should we respond in this way?  It will take more than the commitment of a week or two ... it may take a lifetime for hurt to give way to forgiveness and healing find completion.  But we need to begin NOW!

     And as we say as we address Mary in her prayer: "... pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."  Amen