Pope accepts Cardinal Wuerl’s resignation

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Catholic News Service
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Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington talks with Pope Francis at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland near Washington Sept. 22, 2015. Cardinal Wuerl announced Sept. 11 that he will meet soon with the pope to discuss the resignation he submitted three years ago when he turned 75. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl as archbishop of Washington but did not name a successor.

When the pope’s decision was announced Oct. 12, the Archdiocese of Washington released a letter from Pope Francis to the cardinal, making clear his support for Cardinal Wuerl’s ministry and leadership, but also praising the cardinal for putting the good of the church first.

“You have sufficient elements to ‘justify’ your actions and distinguish between what it means to cover up crimes or not to deal with problems, and to commit some mistakes,” the pope wrote. “However, your nobility has led you not to choose this way of defense. Of this, I am proud and thank you.”

The archdiocese also announced the pope has named Cardinal Wuerl as apostolic administrator to oversee the archdiocese until a successor is named.

Cardinal Wuerl had been facing pressure to resign after an Aug. 14 grand jury report detailing sexual abuse claims in six Pennsylvania dioceses painted a mixed picture of how he handled some of the cases when he was bishop in Pittsburgh from 1988 until 2006.

The 77-year-old cardinal, the sixth archbishop of Washington, had submitted his resignation, as is mandatory, to the pope when he turned 75, but it had not been accepted until now.

After his resignation was announced Oct. 12, Cardinal Wuerl said in a statement: “Once again for any past errors in judgment, I apologize and ask for pardon. My resignation is one way to express my great and abiding love for you the people of the church of Washington.”

The cardinal also thanked Pope Francis for what he had expressed in his letter, saying, “I am profoundly grateful for his devoted commitment to the well-being of the archdiocese of Washington and also deeply touched by his gracious words of understanding.”

In early September, Cardinal Wuerl told priests of the archdiocese that he would meet with Pope Francis and ask him to accept his resignation “so that this archdiocesan church we all love can move forward” and can experience “a new beginning.”

The Vatican announcement that the pope accepted his resignation came more than two months after the announcement that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of retired Washington Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick from the College of Cardinals. Archbishop McCarrick faces credible allegations of sexual abuse, including two that involved minors; Pope Francis ordered him to maintain “a life of prayer and penance” while awaiting a trial or other canonical process on the charges.

Cardinal Wuerl has said until the Archdiocese of New York began investigating the claims that Archbishop McCarrick abused a minor, he was never informed of such accusations or even the rumors of Archbishop McCarrick’s sexual harassment of seminarians.

In a letter Aug. 30 to the priests of the archdiocese, Cardinal Wuerl apologized for not being as close to his priests as he could or should have been in the wake of all the abuse-related scandals.

Cardinal Wuerl asked the priests “for prayers for me, for forgiveness for my errors in judgment, for my inadequacies and also for your acceptance of my contrition for any suffering I have caused, as well as the grace to find, with you, ways of healing, ways of offering fruitful guidance in this darkness.”

“Would you please,” he told the priests, “let the faithful you serve know of my love, my commitment to do whatever is necessary to right what is wrong and my sincere solidarity with you and them.”

Cardinal Wuerl has been archbishop of Washington for the past 12 years. He earlier served as an auxiliary bishop of Seattle from 1986 until 1988, when he was named bishop of Pittsburgh, where he served for 18 years.

The Archdiocese of Washington is home to more than 655,000 Catholics, 139 parishes and 93 Catholic schools, located in the District of Columbia and in the five surrounding Maryland counties of Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s.

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Contributing to this story was Cindy Wooden in Rome and Mark Zimmermann in Washington.

Feast of St. John XXIII

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Catholic News Service
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This carving of Pope St. John XXIII is found on the right side of the altar at St. Bernadette Parish in Scottsdale. The parish is attached to the school that bears his name. (Tony Gutiérrez/CATHOLIC SUN)
This carving of Pope St. John XXIII is found on the right side of the altar at St. Bernadette Parish in Scottsdale. The parish is attached to the school that bears his name. (Tony Gutiérrez/CATHOLIC SUN)

Oct. 11

Ordained a priest in Italy in 1904, Angelo Roncalli was a medic and chaplain in World War I. He served as a Vatican diplomat in Bulgaria, Turkey and France before being named a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in 1953.

Elected pope in 1958, he convened the Second Vatican Council and issued the famous encyclical “Pacem in Terris” just months before his death from stomach cancer. In the book “Last Words,” Pope John is quoted as saying to family members by his deathbed, “Do you remember how I never thought of anything else in life but being a priest?”

He is the patron of St. John XXIII School in Scottsdale.

‘Humanae Vitae’ a gift from Blessed Paul VI, says visiting bishop

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Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, speaks on “The Wisdom of Pope Paul VI” at San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff Sept. 15. The presentation was a part of the Shepherd Series presented by the Office of Natural Family Planning to recognize the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae.” (Lisa M. Dahm/CATHOLIC SUN)
Bishop James S. Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, speaks on “The Wisdom of Pope Paul VI” at San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff Sept. 15. The presentation was a part of the Shepherd Series presented by the Office of Natural Family Planning to recognize the 50th anniversary of “Humanae Vitae.” (Lisa M. Dahm/CATHOLIC SUN)

READ “HUMANAE VITAE (OF HUMAN LIFE)” BY BLESSED PAUL VI

FLAGSTAFF — Pope Paul VI gave to the world a beautiful gift in 1968, “and the gift he gave us was ‘Humane Vitae,’” said Bishop James S. Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, during a Sept. 15 presentation of “The Wisdom of Pope Paul VI” at San Francisco de Asís.

The evening was part of the Shepherd Series sponsored by the Diocese of Phoenix Office of Natural Family Planning in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae (On Human Life).” The series — which has been hosted in different parishes in the diocese throughout the year — also featured Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver. Bishop Wall was originally ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Phoenix in 1998 before becoming bishop of Gallup — a diocese that covers the majority of the Navajo reservation in northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico — in 2009.

“The encyclical itself is a letter addressed from the Holy Father to all the members of the Church, but when he speaks of all the members of the Church, in a sense, he is speaking to all the people of the world,” Bishop Wall told the audience.

In 1957, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the pill for menstrual disorders, the bishop said, and in the 1960s, the FDA the approved it as a contraceptive. In 1966, at the height of the “sexual revolution,” a 72-person international commission produced a report for the pope that recommended declaring the use of artificial contraceptives as moral. A small group that included the future Pope St. John Paul II produced a minority report against it. Someone leaked the majority report results, and many people believed the pope would condone artificial contraception. Instead of acquiescing, Pope Paul VI released “Humane Vitae.”

“There was such a rebellion from it,” Bishop Wall said. “Even the people in the Church were drinking the Kool Aid of the times and they were rebelling against it, too.”

Bishop Wall said that through the prophetic document, Pope Paul VI gave four warnings of what would happen if the Church were to choose to accept contraception: a lowering of moral standards, an increase in infidelity, an increase in the objectification of women and a coercive use of reproductive technology by governments.

He said Pope Francis calls the coercion “new colonization,” where wealthy countries tie foreign aid to poorer countries with contingencies that they must accept things like artificial contraceptives, sterilization and abortifacients.

Bishop Wall said there are positives if couples choose Natural Family Planning. Since it is God’s plan for marriage, it helps couples stay together, but it isn’t easy and takes self-discipline. Though the national divorce rate is 50 percent even among Catholic couples, the rate drops to about 2 to 4 percent for those who practice NFP.

“Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives but loves that partner for that partner’s own sake — content to enrich the other with the gift of self,” Bishop Wall said, quoting from “Humanae Vitae.”

“What they are doing is pledging to one another that they are going to love and honor each other just as Christ has loved them,” Bishop Wall said.

The bishop recalled a seminary professor who referred to the Church as the “Old Lady” who “got it right” with “Humanae Vitae.”

“And even with all these pressures that were mounting upon the Church in the 1960s, she didn’t budge because she was pursuing that which was true,” Bishop Wall said. “And that which was true was to remain faithful to what God’s plan for marital love is — the unitive and procreative aspect of always being open and husbands and wives always pouring out their lives for the sake of the other.”

From Ohio to Kenya, Glenmary brother trots globe in search of vocations

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Catholic News Service
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Br. David Henley, a native of Columbus, Ohio, poses in front of a waterfall in 2012 in Kenya. Brother Henley, serves the U.S.-based Glenmary Home Missioners, but travels the world in search of vocation prospects. (CNS, courtesy of Glenmary Home Missioners) See GLENMARY-VOCATIONS-HENLEY Oct. 9, 2018.
Brother David Henley, a native of Columbus, Ohio, poses in front of a waterfall in 2012 in Kenya. Brother Henley, serves the U.S.-based Glenmary Home Missioners, but travels the world in search of vocation prospects. (CNS, courtesy of Glenmary Home Missioners)
Glenmary Home Missioners

Glenmary Home Missioners, founded in 1939, is a Catholic society of priests and brothers who, along with coworkers, are dedicated to establishing a Catholic presence in rural areas and small towns of the United States where the Catholic Church is not yet effectively present.

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By John Stegeman
Catholic News Service

CINCINNATI (CNS) — God’s ability to call vocations isn’t limited by geography, and so a vocation director must go wherever the Holy Spirit leads.

For Br. David Henley, a member of the Glenmary Home Missioners, it’s led all around the world.

The Columbus, Ohio, native professed his first oath with Cincinnati-based Glenmary in 2003. Knowing Glenmary’s mission is to bring the Catholic Church to small towns and rural counties of Appalachia and the South, he figured his days of traveling were limited.

With an increase of Hispanic immigrants in Glenmary’s missions, Br. David quickly found himself in Mexico to learn the language. Since becoming vocation director in 2010, he has visited 39 states, Mexico again, Kenya and Uganda, all in search of vocation prospects.

“When I joined Glenmary, I thought I would have to give up traveling, but God obviously had a different plan,” Br. David told Glenmary Challenge magazine. “I have realized my love to travel to new places and to meet new people has served Glenmary well. Guys are not lined up outside our door to sign up, so we have to go to where they are to meet them.”

“Glenmary has seen a surge in vocation prospects contacting us from different parts the world,” he added. “It is exciting that men from places that were once served by missionaries are feeling inspired to serve as missionaries themselves.”

The international surge is real. Glenmary has three fully professed members from Kenya, two of whom made their final oath this year. Of the 10 men in Glenmary’s formation program, one is from Ohio, the rest come from abroad. In all, six countries are represented in the group.

Brother David Henley, a former circus performer turned vocation director, juggles for children in Kenya. The Columbus, Ohio, native has visited 39 states and three countries in search of vocations for Glenmary Home Missioners. (CNS, courtesy of Glenmary Home Missioners)

Despite the international flavor, Br. David’s Glenmary vocation department spends most of its time seeking vocations in the United States. Br. David and vocation counselor Wilmar Zabala spend their days hosting “Come and See” events that take potential recruits to the missions, traveling to youth conferences, speaking at schools or otherwise reaching out, helping young men to hear God’s call in their lives.

“Looking for vocation prospects has meant road trips across the USA, vocation events in different states and even traveling to other countries,” Br. David said. “By joining Glenmary, I have gotten to see rural USA, which is so different from where I grew up in Columbus.

“I think my love for the people that I met on home mission trips helped to inspire me to become a Glenmary brother,” he added. “I was responding to God’s call, but I felt confirmed in my call to Glenmary because of my love for the mountains of Appalachia. Now as vocation director, getting to meet people all over the U.S. and in other countries when I make vocation visits has been a bonus.”

Glenmary is a religious society of priests, brothers and lay co-workers dedicated to serving parts of small town and rural America that lack a formal Catholic presence.

Its founder, Fr. William Howard Bishop, was known for saying that people in what he termed “No Priest-Land, USA” were as entitled to missionaries as any overseas mission territory. He knew God would raise up men to answer this missionary challenge. Br. David said that’s the reason behind all his travels.

“The notion that home mission communities are entitled to a Catholic presence,” he said, “is precisely why Glenmary remains open to vocations from wherever the Spirit calls them.”

John Stegeman is editor of GLENMARY CHALLENGE, quarterly magazine of the Glenmary Home Missioners.

Church must answer abuse survivors’ thirst for justice, archbishop says

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Catholic News Service
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By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Responding to clerical sexual abuse demands truth and justice, not just admitting a sin was committed, said Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta.

When he speaks with survivors, “I find a great thirst and a great hunger for justice, which I share,” he told reporters at a synod briefing Oct. 8.

A longtime abuse investigator — in the past for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and more recently at the request of Pope Francis — the archbishop was attending the Oct. 3-28 Synod of Bishops on young people as archbishop of Malta.

As an abuse investigator, he said his role is to help the Church understand what the truth is and to help bring justice.

“What pains me is the fact that sometimes justice takes an amount of time that is a bit excessive. And this is a problem that very much pains Pope Francis,” he said, referring to how slow the process is.

When he speaks with a person who has experienced abuse, “there is little to say. I prefer to cry with them as has happened to me many times.”

But the initial mourning and silence are followed by “an enormous thirst for truth and justice, which is not incompatible with mercy because we all need mercy,” he said, but not a “hollow mercy” that does not respect the truth.

As the head of an archdiocese, he said his role as bishop demands he be a father to both an accused priest-perpetrator and a victim. “This is a tragic rift, a split for a bishop,” he said.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta speaks at a news conference to discuss the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 8. (Paul Haring/CNS)

But “finding the truth is essential,” he said, which is why he turns to the help and advice of lay experts to lead the investigation and offer their suggestions to avoid letting his own subjective feelings skew the process and let him “serve the truth” and his people.

When asked whether the need for greater accountability of bishops was being discussed at the synod, Archbishop Scicluna said he was not aware of any direct discussion happening on the topic, but that accountability would be a topic at the world meeting on abuse prevention the pope called for Feb. 21-24.

“We know there is a great expectation for more accountability,” he said. “Now how is that going to develop? I think we need to trust Pope Francis to develop a system whereby there is more accountability.”

What has been getting mentioned in every working group at the synod, he said, is the general problem of abuse and the need for safeguarding. Because of this ample concern, the final synod document “will have to find probably more space” dedicated to these issues than the one paragraph item (66) that was dedicated to abuse in the synod’s working document.

If a “good representation of the 260 bishops from all over the world” attending the synod tell Pope Francis they have the same desire “to go from beautiful words to action, he is obviously empowered to do what he really wants for the Church and that is to make the Church a safer place and to get different cultures and different conferences of bishops to implement what is now policy in the Church,” he said, referring to a 2011 circular letter asking every bishops’ conference in the world to develop guidelines for review.

“Now from the documents we need to go to the grass roots, to empower people to disclose abuse, but also to raise the threshold of accountability” so that it includes bishops, said Archbishop Scicluna, who is also president of a board of review handling abuse cases within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“We bishops realize that we are accountable not only to God but also to our people,” he said, and accountable not only for what they do, but what they fail to do when it comes to “stewardship” and protection.

Speaking through a translator, Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Lyon, France, told reporters, “It is better for the sin to be revealed rather than remaining hidden” because it not only helps victims by recognizing what has happened, it can lead to accountability and reform.

Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Gobillliard of Lyon, France, speaks at a news conference to discuss the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 8. At left is Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta. (Paul Haring/CNS)

Young people want the Church to be safe, he said, and it is important to them that the priests and workers who are accompanying them are also being accompanied in their life and supported with ongoing formation.

Bishop Gobilliard spoke to the synod about the importance of open discussion about human sexuality and the need for sexual education, including for seminarians because young people “expect a true answer” about the body.

Sexual education is important because of “the beauty of sexuality that God gave us,” he told reporters, and the scandals of abuse should not push people to be silent about sexuality. “It is something that is beautiful that should not be idealized nor rejected,” he said.

Archbishop Scicluna said the crisis caused by ongoing revelations and allegations “is a very important moment” for everyone in the Church because “it is going to make us really, really humble. There is no other way to humility except through humiliation and it is a big humiliation and it is going to make us humble, I hope.”

In response to those who have left the Church because they see the hypocrisy of how “you say one thing and you do the opposite. Shame on you,” the archbishop said, “I think I need to say, ‘Yes, you’re right, shame on us.’”

“I think there is no other way to the heart of a human being who has been scandalized than true humility and penance and also silence,” he added.

However, Archbishop Scicluna said he sees with his own eyes many holy priests doing good work and performing “miracles” every day as they help people change their lives by bringing them closer to Christ.

“This does not get the headlines” while the scandals or accusations do, he said, saying, “A tree that falls creates more sound than a forest that is growing.”

Church must answer abuse survivors’ thirst for justice, archbishop says

Historic day for Byzantine Catholics as Phoenix Eparchy’s cathedral marks 50 years

By
Jeff Grant
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Bishop John S. Pazak, CSsR, of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, leads hundreds of parishioners in the opening prayer for the Sept. 30 Divine Liturgy celebrating St. Stephen Byzantine Cathedral’s 50th anniversary as a parish community. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)
Bishop John S. Pazak, CSsR, of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, leads hundreds of parishioners in the opening prayer for the Sept. 30 Divine Liturgy celebrating St. Stephen Byzantine Cathedral’s 50th anniversary as a parish community. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)
St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral

8141 N. 16th St., Phoenix
(602) 943-5379

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St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Cathedral, the cathedral for the Phoenix-based Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy, celebrated 50 years of serving the faithful with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy Sept. 30.

The liturgy, how Eastern Catholics refer to the Mass, marked the cathedral’s jubilee.

“It’s a feast day to remember,” said the eparchy’s Bishop John S. Pazak, CSsR, during his homily before over 250 worshippers who filled the cathedral to overflowing. “As we recollect, we’re all part of what God has blessed in this community in Phoenix.”

The occasion also reinforced the faith bond between the eparchy, which serves 13 western U.S. states, and the diocese, which is home to 1.8 million Roman-Rite Catholics. The Eparchy, whose members practice the Byzantine Rite, one of the Church’s Eastern Rites, has a population in the thousands. Joining the celebration were Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted (center) and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares (right) of the Diocese of Phoenix join Byzantine Catholic clergy — including Bishop Emeritus Gerald N. Dino of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix (left) — in concelebrating the Eucharist during the Sept. 30 Divine Liturgy celebrating St. Stephen Byzantine Cathedral’s 50th anniversary as a parish community. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)

“St. John Paul II said the Church breathes with two lungs: Eastern and Western,” noted Bishop Olmsted, who was appointed Aug. 1 by Pope Francis as Apostolic Administrator Sede Plena of the Eparchy. “To have an eparchy in Phoenix, as well as the diocese in the Latin Rite [shows] we’re breathing with both lungs. It shows a fuller Church that’s alive with the Holy Spirit — the breath of God.”

Originally based out of Van Nuys, California, the eparchy moved its pastoral offices to Phoenix after a 1994 earthquake damaged its cathedral — St. Mary. The jurisdiction’s name was changed by the Vatican at the request of then-Bishop Gerald N. Dino in 2010, elevating the parish to the status of cathedral.

“It’s growing nicely. It’s gratifying,” said Dino, now the eparchy’s bishop emeritus.

Bishop John S. Pazak, CSsR, of the Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, preaches the homily at the Sept. 30 Divine Liturgy celebrating St. Stephen Byzantine Cathedral’s 50th anniversary as a parish community. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)

While young families and immigrants from the Middle East, notably Iraq, are helping fuel the cathedral’s current growth, a core of established members has sustained St. Stephen.

Thomas and Jennifer Hetrick of Phoenix, members for about a decade, embrace the sense of family as well as the worship style, which is highlighted by chanting the liturgy without musical instruments.

“Everyone gets involved. Even visitors can pick up the rhythms. It doesn’t take much if you come several times. It is a lot more like a prayer. It reminds me of all the heritage back East and you think more about what you are doing,” said Jennifer, who is originally from West Virginia, a state that is among many where the Byzantine heritage is more prevalent due to stronger ties with Eastern Europe.

Volunteers welcome parishioners at a reception following the Sept. 30 Divine Liturgy celebrating St. Stephen Byzantine Cathedral’s 50th anniversary as a parish community. (Jesús Valencia/CATHOLIC SUN)

The liturgical tradition also appeals to Chester and Dolores Sugent, parishioners for more than 20 years who moved here from central Pennsylvania. But Dolores cited other factors, too.

“It’s the fellowship, fun and camaraderie; the support. It’s very important. It’s God house and it is important to feel at home in God’s house,” she said.

Fr. Diodoro Mendoza, rector of St. Stephen and chancellor of the eparchy noted the celebration was also a time to “… look ahead at the mountains we still must climb and to continue working in the vineyard of the Lord to proclaim the message of salvation to those around us. Today, we pay homage to the founding fathers and to every single person who has been part of this spiritual journey.”

“God has blessed us, and we want to share those blessings…and bring about the transformation of the world. That’s what Stephen was all about,” said Bishop Pazak after the liturgy, referring to the cathedral’s patron and namesake — St. Stephen, the first martyr. “He paid the ultimate price of laying down his life for Christ. As we celebrate the parish feast, it is a good chance to renew ourselves and allow Stephen to show us the way to be better followers of Christ.”

 

Crisis points to need for repentance, conversion, courageous witness

By
Joyce Coronel
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This photo of Fr. Damien, from the Hawai’i State Archives in Honolulu, Hawai’i, was taken in 1888, the year before his death, by William Brigham outside St. Philomena Church. Brigham had come to Molokai as a companion of leprosy specialist Dr. Prince A. Morrow. The photo was among several used by artist Marisol Escobar in sculpting the statue of St. Damien that now stands at the Hawai’i State Capitol and in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. This particular likeness was preferred for the sculpture because of the details in scarring on the face, the strongest indicator of leprosy. (Public Domain/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)
This photo of Fr. Damien, from the Hawai’i State Archives in Honolulu, Hawai’i, was taken in 1888, the year before his death, by William Brigham outside St. Philomena Church. Brigham had come to Molokai as a companion of leprosy specialist Dr. Prince A. Morrow. The photo was among several used by artist Marisol Escobar in sculpting the statue of St. Damien that now stands at the Hawai’i State Capitol and in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. This particular likeness was preferred for the sculpture because of the details in scarring on the face, the strongest indicator of leprosy. (Public Domain/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Tumultuous. That’s the word that comes to mind when I ponder the unfolding crisis in the Catholic Church. Like many of you, I’ve been reading about the scandals, the cover-ups, the accusations and the sharp divisions among the hierarchy.

None of this turmoil should surprise us, really. In its 2,000-year history, the Church has weathered many a crisis, and yet Christ’s promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church are as true today as they were when He uttered them to St. Peter so long ago.

What I’m hearing from others — and frankly feeling myself — is anger and sadness that this nightmare we thought had been taken care of has actually continued to fester at the highest levels of the Church.

As a lifelong Catholic, I was raised with the unspoken understanding that you didn’t ever question a priest’s or a prelate’s intentions or integrity. Those days are over. And really, that’s a good thing. Our faith has never been in men who, like the rest of us, are human. Our faith is in Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death and who promised never to abandon us.

Joyce Coronel is a regular contributor to The Catholic Sun and author of “Cry of Ninevah.” Opinions expressed are the writers’ and not necessarily the views of The Catholic Sun or the Diocese of Phoenix.

In the midst of all this upheaval, we must give thanks. Thanks that dark deeds are being exposed to the light, thanks that victims are coming forward to tell their stories, thanks that priests are recounting what they experienced in a formation poisoned by sin.

At the same time, we should focus on the fact that we’ve been blessed in our time and through the centuries with heroic priests, bishops and popes, men who call us to holiness by their preaching and their lives, men who refuse to be silent about sin and who point us to repentance and conversion of heart.

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St. Damien of Molokai was one such priest. In 1873, while serving in Hawai’i, he volunteered to serve an ostracized colony of lepers where an atmosphere of immorality, drunkenness and lawlessness prevailed. At the time, it was erroneously believed that leprosy (now known as Hansen’s Disease) was highly contagious. Fr. Damien was warned not to touch anyone, yet, as depicted quite movingly in the biographical movie “Molokai: The Story of Father Damien,” he embraced and cared for the poor and suffering, tending to their maggot-infested wounds, hearing their confessions, praying over them and leading them to Christ.

“I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.” Those were his words. “The Eucharist,” he said, “is the Bread that gives strength … He gives Himself every day so that our hearts as burning coals may set afire the hearts of the faithful.”

After 11 years serving the lepers of Molokai, Fr. Damien contracted the disease himself but refused to leave the colony for treatment. His personal holiness, his willingness to suffer in union with Christ, his fierce courage to spread the Gospel — that is what we need from our clergy today. That is the greatness priests — and frankly all baptized Christians — are called to. We are the heirs of courageous martyrs and saints who risked everything to follow Jesus, who did not conform to a sinful world but were transformed by God. The widespread, genuine conversion of heart that is needed in our time will not take place through adherence to political correctness and the refusal to name and expose evil. It will only happen when each of us truly repents, submits completely to Christ and follows Him humbly along the narrow way.

“Let your light shine before men.” How beautifully St. Damien followed the words of Jesus, spreading the light of salvation and still inspiring us today with his generous spirit. May each of us embrace that call in these dark days, striving for holiness, proclaiming the Gospel and serving the poor and the least among us. Let repentance, conversion and healing begin today with you and with me. Through the intercession of St. Damien, may the Lord purify our Church and embolden us to be true followers of Christ.

Synod: Let young people describe their reality, walk with them to God

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Catholic News Service
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Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic, is seen at the Vatican Nov. 19, 2016. In early May, the cardinal warned against revenge after a priest and at least 24 lay Catholics were killed during a gun and grenade attack on a Mass in the country's capital. (Paul Haring/CNS) See CENTRAL-AFRICA-ATTACK May 3, 2018.
Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic, the youngest cardinal in the world, is seen at the Vatican Nov. 19, 2016. The key question before the Synod of Bishops is: “What is God trying to tell us through young people?” said the 51-year-old cardinal. (Paul Haring/CNS)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church’s youngest cardinal, 51-year-old Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic, said the key question before the Synod of Bishops is: “What is God trying to tell us through young people?”

Finding better ways to pass the faith on to younger generations is one part of the task, the cardinal told reporters Oct. 6. The other part is to encourage them and support them in sharing the faith with others.

Participants in the synod of bishops — the 267 voting bishops, priests and religious brothers, as well as the 72 experts and observers — spent the evening of Oct. 5 and the morning of Oct. 6 getting to know each other in their small groups, which are divided by language.

The groups, taking what they hear in the synod’s general assembly sessions, are to make suggestions for a final synod document.

The Vatican does not publish the texts of speeches given in the sessions but allows the bishops to do so.

Auxiliary Bishop Mark Edwards of Melbourne, addressing the synod during the morning session Oct. 5, suggested taking St. John Vianney and his experience in Ars, France, as a model.

Moving to Ars, the bishop said, St. John Vianney did not know exactly where the town was, so he convinced a shepherd to take him, promising, “If you show me the way to Ars, I will show you the way to heaven.”

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, shares a laugh with Chiara Giaccardi, an Italian professor of sociology, as they leave a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 5. (Paul Haring/CNS)

And once the priest arrived in the town, he said, he got to know it and its people, not treating it “as a version of the previous parish where he had worked.”

“We stand at the edge of a new era,” Bishop Edwards told the synod. “We knew how to be Church in the past, how to pass on the faith and how to be effective missionaries,” but “at least some of what we did isn’t effective anymore.”

Young people, though, “more instinctively grasp the lay of this land with its values of equality, inclusion, respect, authenticity and the integration of multiple aspects of life such as body and soul.”

Bishop Edwards did not suggest that older Church members just give up, but said an “intergenerational encounter” is necessary. Church leaders and ministers must say to young people, “You show us the lay of this land, the way to the place where you dwell, and we will show you the way to God.”

Walking with young people, elders in the faith can help them encounter Christ, the bishop said. “When they meet Jesus, he will change their hearts. And this will enable them to discover appropriate ways to live fruitfully and really humanly and as effective Church in the tensions of this new age.”

Archbishop Luc Cyr of Sherbrooke, Quebec, spoke to the synod Oct. 4 about the importance of guiding and protecting the freedom of Catholic young people involved in new movements or religious communities.

Bishops and youth delegates leave a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 5. (Paul Haring/CNS)

When young people feel a call to religious life, “we must do everything to assure that their freedom” is respected, he said. In some groups, he said, “it was evident that the exploration of a vocation was not done in conditions that were favorable to making an informed choice.”

The archbishop did not mention any group by name. However, his archdiocese is home to the Marie-Jeunesse Family, which in January closed all but its Sherbrooke house and began what it termed a period of “deep restructuring.”

Archbishop Cyr told the synod that when young people are enveloped too quickly in a community “where the way of life leaves little space for freedom and empowerment,” some of them experience enormous pressure to enter religious life and don’t realize until they are in their 30s or 40s that they had not made the choice in full freedom.

For “healthy discernment” of a vocation, a young person needs a wise guide, the availability of a counselor outside the group and continued contact with his or her family, the archbishop said.

“Above all,” he said, “it is important to reiterate to everyone that the Lord calls people freely to freedom.”

Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Bryan Bayda of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, spoke to the synod about how young people are looking for authentic Christians to accompany them and that means people who will challenge the young to be authentic Christians themselves.

“Youth seek relationships of trust and discover how certain people, places or things either support or deceive them in their search,” he said. “They want commitment from others as they search for belonging, safety, honesty, integrity, peace and meaningfulness in life.”

Over time, he said, they should “discover their vocation in life is to become the very people they seek in friendships; that is, recognizing holiness is desirable, visioning themselves as holy and pursuing holiness.”

Young U.S. religious woman talks to synod about ‘accompaniment’

By
Catholic News Service
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Sr. Briana Santiago, a member of the Apostles of the Interior Life from San Antonio, speaks at a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 4. (CNS, via Vatican Media) See SYNOD-YOUNG-SANTIAGO Oct. 5, 2018.
Sr. Briana Santiago, a member of the Apostles of the Interior Life from San Antonio, speaks at a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 4. (CNS, via Vatican Media)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The first person under 30 to address the Synod of Bishops was Sr. Briana Santiago, a 27-year-old member of the Apostles of the Interior Life from San Antonio.

“I think all of us young people need to be listened to first of all and then guided” in discovering who they are and who God is calling them to be, Sr. Santiago told the synod Oct. 4.

Several sessions of the synod were to begin with a brief presentation from one of the 36 young people appointed observers at the synod. Several of them, like Sr. Santiago, participated in the presynod meeting of young adults in Rome in March.

The meeting brought together more than 300 young adults from around the world; the vast majority were active Catholics, but the group also included members of other religions and young people who profess no faith at all. Sr. Santiago told the synod she also helped read and summarize the comments of another 15,000 young people who followed the presynod on Facebook.

“I was surprised by how many desires we young people have in common despite our many countries and cultures,” she said. “There was so much joy in that hall — the joy of getting to know and being known, which you could hear in the laughter, the songs and the chatter during breaks.”

Sr. Briana Santiago, a member of the Apostles of the Interior Life from San Antonio, speaks at a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 4. (CNS, via Vatican Media)

“We young people want dialogue, authenticity, participation, and there we found welcome by adults who were open and wanting to know what we carried in our hearts,” she said.

“In short, we want to be met where we are — intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, socially and physically,” she said, paraphrasing the presynod’s final statement.

The desire to be recognized, accepted and only then guided forward is something Sr. Santiago told the synod she has experienced on a personal level, too.

The people God placed in her life, she said, included a parish priest who was “one of us and, in his closeness, I saw a welcoming Church that was concerned about even the least of its members and my heart melted in the face of that love.”

She was blessed, she said, with catechists who “didn’t speak only about rules, but also about their personal relationship with Christ” in a way that “changed my image of God from judge to Father.”

While in university, she said, she met a religious sister “who took seriously everything I was experiencing and accompanied me, helping me to pray and develop my interior life.”

Young Catholics are looking for those kind of people, she told the synod.

How the synod works: Cardinal shares statistics, working rules

By
Catholic News Service
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Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, speaks as Pope Francis attends the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 3. (Paul Haring/CNS) See SYNOD-NOTES Oct. 3, 2018.
Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, speaks as Pope Francis attends the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 3. (Paul Haring/CNS)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, introduced the work of the synod on young people Oct. 3 with a variety of statistics and informational notes.

He told the gathering that the 267 voting members of the synod include: 51 cardinals (including two patriarchs and three major archbishops of Eastern Catholic Churches); four other patriarchs of Eastern Catholic Churches; the major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church; 45 archbishops; 102 diocesan bishops; 37 auxiliary bishops; six apostolic vicars; one bishop prelate; eight religious-order priests and two religious brothers representing the Union of Superiors General; and 10 diocesan and religious-order priests nominated by Pope Francis.

The synod’s working document was prepared with input from an online questionnaire for young people, responses from bishops’ conferences around the world and the results of a presynod meeting of young adults in March.

More than 220,000 people accessed the online questionnaire the Synod of Bishops’ office had active in June-December 2017, the cardinal said. Just over 100,000 people ages 16-29 — 58,000 young women and 42,500 young men — completed the survey.

Just over 50 percent of the respondents were 16-19 years old, he said. And more than 16,000 of the completed questionnaires originated with users in Uganda, making it the country with the highest response rate.

The preparatory document for the synod was released in January 2017 and included a series of questions to be answered by national bishops’ conferences or bishops’ synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches and by the offices of the Roman Curia. Cardinal Baldisseri said 40 percent of the Eastern Churches and 68.4 percent of the bishops’ conferences responded.

The rate is low for a synod. For the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family in 2014, more than 80 percent of bishops’ conferences responded; for the 2012 synod on new evangelization, the synod office had reported that 81.5 percent of the conferences responded.

This graphic shows a breakdown of who will participate in the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment. The meeting will take place Oct. 3-28 at the Vatican. (Graphic by Robert Duncan/CNS)

The general sessions in each of the first three weeks of the synod are devoted to one section of the three-part working document, Cardinal Baldisseri explained. Each voting member of the synod is allowed to address the general session only once and only for four minutes. His remarks must refer to the section of the working document being discussed that week.

In addition, at each working session, one of the 34 synod of observers who is between the ages of 18 and 29 will speak.

Continuing a practice begun by Pope Benedict XVI, the evening sessions of the synod end with one hour of “free discussion.” Again, each synod member may speak for no more than four minutes.

The 12 sessions of the synod’s working groups are where members can shake off those time limits and where experts, observers and the eight fraternal delegates from other Christian denominations also are free to speak.

The synod participants will be divided into 14 working groups according to language: French, Italian, English, Portuguese, Spanish or German. Although the groups are commonly referred to by their Latin name — “circuli minores” — there no longer is a Latin-language small group at the synod.

In accordance with new rules published just before the synod, participants will not be working on “propositions” to submit to Pope Francis, but on “amendments” to the synod’s working document with a view of transforming it into a final document to be submitted to the pope.

Pope Francis will decide whether it can be published, and he can decide whether to adopt it as his own teaching.

Bishop Fabio Fabene, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, told reporters Oct. 4 that no decision had been made yet on whether the bishops will be voting on the final document as a whole or whether they will be voting on the document’s individual paragraphs. “As we move along, we will decide.”

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