Are you finding it to be a hard time to be a Catholic in the U.S.? I have to say that I am. There is so much around the Child/Youth Protection issue. It seems to never stop. I thought in 2002 we would fix this. Then each year after that I would continue to see in the news and other places discussion about our Church having difficulty addressing this big and important issue. Here we are in 2019 and we have done a lot of good work and we still have more to go. I feel tired.
So, what are we to do? I believe we need to allow time to mourn and grieve the fact that our precious church has this area of brokenness. The stages of Grief and Loss include; denial and isolation, pain, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It is important that we not isolate ourselves. Talk with God, friends, families and your priest about your feelings. Satan would like us to use this to separate ourselves from our Catholic family where we can flourish and live strong in God doing His bidding and work. Stay strong. Prayer. Reflect on the goodness of God and again morn as you need too.
As the Director of Child and Youth Protection for our Diocese, I hope that I am part of the solution. We need together to be actively worked on this issue. We need to reconstruct and work on our Church. I would humbly like to suggest a few things you can do:
- Report any known victims
- Pray for the victims and their healing, church leaders to make Godly choices and for the perpetrators to willingly self-report and participate in healing activities, prayer and penance.
- Read the Bible. I find the New Testament to have great ideas and thoughts about how to go through life.
- Encourage and pray for your brothers and sisters. Talk about this issue, grieve together and commit to making a positive change in some way.
- Attend liturgy faithfully.
- Make time and space daily to receive the peace and love that can only come from God.
If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me through email: julies@rcdcanton.org or phone: 330-493-9335.
I pray that God will keep and bless you daily and that we together can shift this broken area of our beautiful Church to something for good through our precious Jesus.
53:5 Isaiah “he was pierced for our transgression, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”