A Prayerful Reflection on the Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Church

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018: A DAY OF PENANCE AND PRAYER

Though our hearts have been broken God’s grace has not been tainted.

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As a human being, as a parent, as a deacon, and as a Roman Catholic, I am enraged, ashamed and heartbroken by the sexual abuse scandal within our Church.My heart aches for the countless ‘holy innocents’ - the children and young people who have been, raped, violated and spiritually wounded by many evil members of our clergy.And I remember Jesus’ warning in the Gospel: 

“Woe to those who cause one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away - it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hungaround his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.”

                            (Matthew 18:6)

My heart also goes out to the many, many members of our clergy who are good and holy men:men who are faithful to their vows, yet prejudged and stigmatized because of the Roman collar that they wear;pure and innocent men who are unjustly mocked and reviled.

I ask myself how a priest or a deacon, a man vowed to lead others to spiritual wholeness,could share the Eucharist at the altar in the morning and then violate a little soul in the afternoon?

I ask myself how a bishop, a shepherd vowed to protect his flock, could overlook and reassign a credibly accused sexual predator? 

And I ask myself why am I still here in this church? Why am I still wearing these vestments? Why am I I still a Catholic?

That is a deeply personal question.The answer may be different for each of us.The reason I stay is Jesus.His message is pure; the grace that flows to each of us from his Gospel and through the Eucharist is pure.

Though our hearts have been broken, God’s grace has not been tainted.

The Church is an institution made up of human beings.Those human beings can corrupt themselves and the institution but they cannot corrupt the grace.We are called to confront and speak out against the corruption, but we are also called to embrace the grace and to let it flow through us to heal our world.

The reason we stay is for that grace,it is our connection to Jesus and to his Last Supper.Each time that we come to Mass and say ‘yes’ to the Eucharist, we are reliving that Last Supper.

The sexual abuse scandal within our Church is a shameful cross: a cross for innocent children, for young people and for their families; a cross for all of us who identify as Catholic;a cross for humanity.

Father Dan reminds us that the road to recovery and healing will be long, and that we must journey to and through Calvary, the place of the Cross.

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It is no accident that Cardinal Tobin chose this significant day to be our Day of Penance and Prayer. I believe it is meant to be a reminder that we are never alone even in the midst of this most shameful cross.

God is with us at the center of this and every cross in life. Though our hearts have been broken, God’s grace has not been tainted.

Let us go forward in prayer to be a source of grace and healing for the victims of this shameful scandal, for their families, for our Church and for our world.

http://www.deaconlex.blogspot.com

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Readers of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. They are available on Amazon.com:

Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Follow-My-Friend-Experiencing/dp/1456360728/

The Gospel of You, The Gospel of Me: Making Christ Present in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-You-Me-Present-Everyday/dp/1517176077/

Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry

http://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-Work-Holy-Spirit-Spiritual/dp/1463518781/

All Will Be Well

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

Psalm 34:8

A number of years ago I was home for several weeks recovering from surgery. I took the opportunity to work on a family project I had wanted to do for a very long time. I selected the best photographs from 65 albums of family pictures taken over the years and digitized them onto one three hour DVD with background music. I called it, The Ferrauiola Family Video Special.   

The DVD begins with photos of my wife Wanda’s and my parents and grandparents and scenes from our childhood. It goes on through our teens, our high school romance, the early years of our marriage, the arrival of each of our four children and our two grandsons, and many special moments from our life together over the past fifty years.

Sitting with Wanda in our family room and watching the DVD is a real joy for me. Seeing our marriage and our children weave and grow together across the years fills me with thanksgiving for my life. 

But along with the joyful times there have been difficult days: the challenges of raising four children, of work, of illness. I know that if I could drill down and see scenes that didn’t make it to the camera, I would see moments of anxiety and doubt. 

But sitting in our family room with my arm around Wanda, smiling and laughing as we watch 50 years of life and love roll across the TV screen, it’s clear to me that God’s grace and love has always been with us.           

Now think about your own life and the life of every person who has ever lived and will live in the future and of all the DVDs that could be made from all those individual stories. What if they were made and someone edited them together into one big video called The Story of the Human Family? And what if someday, after we’ve died and been reunited with our loved ones who have gone before us, God gets us all together into that big family room in heaven to watch The Story of the Human Family? 

As we watch the story unfold, we would see moments of goodness, kindness and love. Sadly, we would also see moments of anger, pain and sorrow. But sitting with our loved ones in the presence of God, beyond the boundaries of time and space and the limits of human understanding, we would know that God’s grace had carried us through.

But we’re not there yet; and that’s where faith comes in. You see we’re here in 2018 and we’re still making the DVDs. We may be in the middle of a happy time or a painful time; we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and we certainly don’t know how the story will end. 

But we are here at Mass today because we have faith. We trust that no matter what difficulties or tragedies befall us as individuals, as a family, a church, or a nation, they are only isolated moments in time. 

We trust that in the end - either in this life or the next - God’s grace will pull us through, heal us and fix whatever is broken in our life.

Some day we will all gather together in God’s eternal family room with our loved ones, the ones here now and the ones who have gone home before us. And we will watch a wonderful story, the story of our journey home.

And we will taste, and we will see the goodness of the Lord.

And we will know that we were never, ever alone; that God was always walking beside us, holding our hand.

http://www.deaconlex.blogspot.com

………………………………………………………………………………..

Readers of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on Amazon.com:

Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Follow-My-Friend-Experiencing/dp/1456360728/

The Gospel of You, The Gospel of Me: Making Christ Present in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-You-Me-Present-Everyday/dp/1517176077/

Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry

http://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-Work-Holy-Spirit-Spiritual/dp/1463518781/

From First Class to Economy

One of the nicest things that anyone has ever done for me happened about forty-two years ago high above the Atlantic Ocean. I had been working for a pharmaceutical company in international information systems; and on one of my many trips to Europe, my boss decided to make the trip with me.

Because of his executive position, the company flew him first class wherever he went. I, on the other hand, as a 28-year-old computer programmer, was relegated to economy. But on this, our first time flying together, he chose to give up his first class seat and to keep me company in economy. Some people thought him foolish, but I deeply appreciated it as a gesture of kindness and friendship. It was a particular comfort to me as we hit turbulence.

Many times when I look at the cross, I think about that flight across the Atlantic and the meaning of friendship. I can see Jesus hanging on that cross in much the same way as I saw my old boss riding with me in economy. And it is a reminder to me that we are not alone; that God loves us so much that he chose to leave the comforts of first class behind; to step away from heaven; enter our time and space and ride with us through the turbulence and crosses of life.    

Eventually, the life of every human being is overshadowed by a cross, probably many different crosses. It might be the loss of a loved one or abandonment or rejection. It might be poverty or illness or an incurable disease. And if not any of these things, eventually we all face death, the end of our earthly existence. In time, life brings each of us to the foot of the cross.

But, the message of the cross is hope. It tells us that we are not alone; that God is with us in the chaos and the darkness; he is present in the pain, the loss, the suffering; he is there at he center of the turbulence, the center of the cross. And it is this God who travels beside us through the turbulence and the crosses of life who eventually will lead each of us to the resurrection of Easter morning.

What an incredible friend!

As we move through this season of Lent, let us reflect on the times of turbulence we have safely come through, and let us rejoice and thank God for riding beside us and for being our friend.

http://www.deaconlex.blogspot.com

………………………………………………………………………………..

Readers of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on Amazon.com:

Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Just-Follow-My-Friend-Experiencing/dp/1456360728/

The Gospel of You, The Gospel of Me: Making Christ Present in Everyday Life

http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-You-Me-Present-Everyday/dp/1517176077/

Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry

http://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-Work-Holy-Spirit-Spiritual/dp/1463518781/