By
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Archbishop
Jose H. Gomez said penance and purification is needed to rebuild the U.S. Catholic
Church and respond to the abuse crisis.
He stressed the importance of
strong procedures and protocols for addressing abuse claims, helping the victims
and creating safe environments for all children and young people.
“Programs, protocols, and best
practices are essential. But they are not enough,” he said in an Aug. 17 letter
to the people of the archdiocese.
“We need to hold people
accountable and we need to atone for these sins as a church,” he said.
He called it “a sad and
confusing time for all of us” with the abuse allegations against Archbishop
Theodore E. McCarrick, followed by the Pennsylvania grand jury report on a
months-long investigation into abuse claims spanning 70 years in six Catholic
dioceses in that state.
“I am praying for
you and your families and for our young people; and for our bishops, priests,
deacons, seminarians and religious,” he said. “I am praying most intensely for
the victim-survivors of these crimes, and am trying to offer what small penance
I can for everyone who has suffered abuse by pastors of the church.”
Archbishop Gomez also addressed
what he sees as “the deeper crisis today in the church,” a spiritual and moral
crisis.
“I believe we need to respond to
this crisis with a new call to penance and purification and a new dedication to
leading holy lives,” he said.
“Renewal of the church is first
of all a duty for bishops and priests,” Archbishop Gomez said. “We need humble
penance for what has been done by our brothers. We need to live with simplicity
and integrity and be models of conversion and holiness.
“Now more than ever, I pray that
every bishop and every priest will rediscover his love for Jesus Christ and
burn with new desire to bring holiness and salvation to our people.”
He said priests, like all
Christians, “are all called to holiness and to grow in our relationship with
Jesus and to glorify God by our lives. But the priest above all is consecrated
to serve ‘in the person of Christ.’ That is why the evil at the heart of these
scandals is so terrible.”
“A sacred trust has been broken
by men whom Jesus entrusted to be his representatives on earth,” he continued. “These
priests have betrayed Christ and done violence to his children. The cruelty
they have done casts a shadow on the priesthood and the vast majority of
priests who are good and faithful servants of the Gospel.”
Archbishop Gomez said he
understands the anger and frustration that people have against the church “and
her leaders right now.” He said he feels “a deep sadness” and is “horrified
that such crimes could be committed against innocent children of God.
He noted that as vice president
of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he is on the Executive Committee,
which has issued two statements so far. Among other initiatives, the committee
has outlined a plan to have “substantial involvement of the laity”
from law enforcement, psychology and other disciplines in investigating abuse
and responding to it. Another component is “addressing the culture of
clericalism that contributed to these abuses and failures in leadership,” he
explained.
He also
emphasized the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has an effective system in place for
reporting and investigating suspected abuse by priests and for removing
offenders from ministry, conducting background checks and creating safe
environments. He encouraged anyone who is a victim or knows a victim to contact
the archdiocese.
“What has happened is the
responsibility of bishops and priests. That is clear,” Archbishop Gomez said. “But
the way forward will mean laypeople and clergy working together. ‘ We need to
begin again right now, starting with those of us who are bishops and priests.
“All of us in the church need to
commit ourselves again to the basic practices of our Christian life: personal
prayer, the Eucharist and confession, the works of mercy, growing in the
virtues,” he said and he urged Catholics to not “lose hope in the church.”
“In this moment, our Lord is
counting on us. So please do not give in to discouragement,” the archbishop
said. “Put your hope in God’s promise: Where sin increases, his grace will
increase even more.”
In a letter to Catholics of his archdiocese,
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone also emphasized that the
archdiocese has strong policies and protocols for addressing abuse and creating
but that he would review them with archdiocesan officials.
But beyond that, he, like
Archbishop Gomez, said that “what is called for at this time is penance in
reparation for sins against faith and morals.”
“This is how we keep the
righteous indignation that so many of us feel at this time from becoming an
anger that divides the body of Christ,” he said.
He said the reports of episcopal
negligence and malfeasance in the face of clerical sexual abuse, coupled with
some reports of bishops themselves guilty of sexual predation, have “reopened
old wounds” for Catholics and the larger society.
He also decried the “spirit of raw
ambition on the part of some, who will stop at nothing to advance their careers
and climb the ecclesial corporate ladder over investing themselves in serving
the people of God. Such behavior on the part of church leaders is despicable,
reprehensible, and absolutely unbecoming of a man of God.”
Archbishop Cordileone said he
will designate a day “when together we will make an act of reparation, and how
that will be conducted.”
In the meantime, he asked all Catholics
in the archdiocese, including the priests, “to engage in prayer, penance and
adoration as an act of reparation for sins against chastity and the reverence due
to the Blessed Sacrament, in accordance Our Lady’s wishes.”
The archbishop invited all to
join him in:
— Praying the rosary daily. (He
urged families to pray the rosary together at least once a week.)
— Practicing Friday penance by
abstaining from eating meat and one other additional act of fasting (e.g., another
form of food or drink, or skipping a meal).
— Spending one hour of
adoration before the Blessed Sacrament at least once a week.
“While I pledge to attend to
policies and their observance, we all must be engaged at this time on the
spiritual level,” Archbishop Cordileone said. “Without prayer, penance and adoration
in reparation for the horrendous sins rampant in our church for very many years
now, any efforts of the temporal order will be meaningless.”
He also asked Catholics “to stay
close to your parish priest.”
“Our priests make great
sacrifices to serve their people with generosity and compassion. They are there
for you, attentive to providing you pastoral care,” he said. “I am grateful to
them for their labors in the Lord’s vineyard, and pray that the divine
assistance may be with them as they minister to you during this time of crisis”
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