Month: April 2022

SCRANTON – Acknowledging that most people will never know the depth of pain that survivors of sexual abuse endure, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, presided at a Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse on April 7. The liturgy was held at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

“As Bishop of this local Church, I continue to apologize for the pain that has been inflicted upon far too many of you by leaders of our Church. I once again ask for forgiveness from the countless numbers of you who have suffered so much,” Bishop Bambera said. “And as I have shared many times before, I pledge to do all within my power to keep our Churches and schools safe for our children and for all of our people to worship, to pray, to learn and to grow in their faith.”

The Diocese of Scranton has celebrated a Healing Mass for survivors of abuse for four years.

“It is vital that we continue to pray for survivors of abuse. Why? Because there is still pain. A few years of public prayer can’t change a lifetime of suffering. So many survivors continue to be burdened by nightmares of inhuman behavior on the part of those who should have been trustworthy but were not,” the bishop continued.

The Healing Mass took place at the beginning of April, a month dedicated to child abuse prevention efforts. During the Mass, the faithful prayed for church leaders to continue working to protect the most vulnerable from harm and for those who have suffered abuse that they may have the courage to tell their story and find the necessary support.

During his homily, the bishop explained some of the lessons he has learned from his conversations with abuse survivors.

“They’ve taught me that if the Church is truly intent upon creating safe environments for its children and all of God’s people, the Church – and especially Church leaders – must never forget or allow time to numb us to the pain that was so willfully inflicted on innocent lives by those who postured themselves as God’s representatives and ministers of his love and mercy,” Bishop Bambera said.

He continued, “While the Church has become much more cognizant of the need to eradicate this horrific behavior from its ranks once and for all, this crisis is not over! Far too many of our members continue to suffer. And only our recognition and acknowledgement of their pain can truly prompt us to change and to create a Church deserving of people’s trust.”

Emphasizing that “time doesn’t always heal,” the bishop encouraged anyone who is struggling to give God room to step into their lives.

The Diocese of Scranton’s Child Protection and Safe Environment Policy requires mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse and the immediate removal of someone credibly accused of abuse. It also emphasizes transparency and pastoral case in abuse cases.

The policy also requires that all clergy, employees and volunteers who will encounter children while working or volunteering for any diocesan institution and/or program will undergo the relevant state and federal criminal background checks. The policy also includes ongoing education for children and youth, as well as for adult staff members and volunteers, designed to help prevent abuse from happening.

Information on the Diocese of Scranton’s Child Protection and Safe Environment Policy can be found online at dioceseofscranton.org/child-protection-victim-assistance

WILKES-BARRE – Four students from Holy Redeemer High School received recognition April 7 for their quick thinking and bravery after coming to the aid of their bus driver who had a medical emergency last month.

Kaden Ayre, Lainey Conway, Max Filchak and Ryan Martinelli each received keys to the city of Wilkes-Barre, along with proclamations from the Pennsylvania Senate.

“We gather today to celebrate you and to publically acknowledge our pride in your actions,” Holy Redeemer principal Doreen Dougherty said in welcoming everyone to the ceremony. “Not only did you chart a course on March 21 during the bus incident but you blazed a trail, recognizing an issue existing, you acted decisively, definitively, cooperatively in the midst of a hazardous situation.”

On March 21, a total of 13 high school and elementary school students from Holy Redeemer and Saint Nicholas/Saint Mary School were on a Rinehimer bus, headed from Wilkes-Barre to Mountain Top, when the driver began experiencing a medical emergency on Blackman Street in Wilkes-Barre Township.

That is when the four Catholic school students jumped into action.

“We worked almost like it was rehearsed, everyone just got to work,” Conway, who was responsible for calling 911, explained. “Kaden and Ryan went to help the driver; they unbuckled him so they could get to the brake. We started rolling backwards so they stepped on the brake. We hit the car behind bus but we would have kept rolling if they didn’t step on the brake.”

Martinelli, 17, a junior, was sitting in the very back of the bus listening to music when the emergency started to unfold. His first instinct was to assist the driver as he dashed to the front of the bus.

“I loosened his jacket, took off his seat belt to see if he could get some air because it looked like he was having trouble breathing and then apply pressure to the brake to stop us from rolling backwards because we had hit the car behind us at that point,” he said.

Martinelli is a member of the United States Navy Sea Cadet Corps. Prior to the incident, he had received training on responding to car accidents that was held by both active and retired police officers.

“I felt calm during the event,” he added.

While Martinelli was attending to the driver, Ayre held the brake pedal down to keep the bus from rolling backward.

“Buses don’t have park on them, it’s only a foot brake. We didn’t know that until we had the bus driver out of the seat,” Ayre said. While the incident lasted only about a minute, the teen added, “I think God was with us that day.”

While Ayre and Martinelli were attending to the driver, Filchak got the other students off the bus and out of danger.

“I didn’t really think at all, I was just on my toes,” Filchak explained.

Family members of each student, along with classmates, lawmakers and the media attended the recognition ceremony.

“It is such an honor and privilege to join you today in what I deem a celebration of community, a celebration of the Holy Redeemer School, a celebration of faith and a celebration of young men and a young woman who showed us all what it is to be a true hero,” Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, said.

“The courage that you showed on March 21, I want you to continue that through your high school education, through your college education if you go to college, or in the military, whatever your chosen field is, continue that courage and as you get out into the workforce, continue that courage,” Wilkes-Barre mayor George Brown added.

Kristen Donohue, Catholic Schools Superintendent in the Diocese of Scranton, also lauded the students’ actions.

“I know God’s presence was working through you, as your quick thinking and calm approach to an extremely complicated situation kept your classmates safe and provided the rapid medical attention for the bus driver,” Donohue stated. “Your teamwork and confidence is truly remarkable. We are incredibly proud of each of you.”

Scott Henry of Rinehimer Bus Lines also attended the recognition ceremony. He said the bus driver is recovering thanks to the valiant efforts of the students.

“My brother and I were raised Catholic. We’re thanking Saint Christopher for putting you guys on the bus that day,” Henry said.

While each of the students say they appreciate the attention and recognition they’re getting, they don’t belief their actions were “heroic” in nature.

“We just did what we had to do,” Conway said.

“I don’t know if I deserve it. I just did what I thought was right. I reacted to the situation how I knew how to,” Martinelli added. “I’m confident that many of my peers would do a similar thing if they were in that situation.”

 

SCRANTON – Even though she has been deceased for more than 125 years, the life and memory of Mother Theresa Maxis lives on at Marywood University.

Dozens of people gathered April 5 for the official unveiling of Theresa Maxis, Torn Woman, a portrait created by Sister Helen David Brancato, IHM.

“We’ve known about this portrait for many, many years because we know the sister from the IHM Congregation in Philadelphia who actually did the portrait,” Sister Mary Persico, IHM, President of Marywood University, said.

Born of unwed parents in 1810, Mother Theresa Maxis co-founded the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), together with Father Louis Florent Gillet, a Redemptorist priest from Belgium, to educate girls of the Michigan frontier.

“She suffered from classism, she suffered from racism, she suffered from sexism,” Sister Mary Persico added. “We can join her sufferings to the sufferings of people all over the world today.”

In 1829, she became a founding member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation of African American women religious in the United States. Despite poverty, Mother Theresa Maxis and her IHM Sisters established schools and sheltered orphans. Under her leadership, the IHM order and its social services expanded from Michigan and Pennsylvania. She died in 1892.

“We have such an affinity here at Marywood for Theresa Maxis and all the good that she has done in the world,” Persico added. “She really worked for the empowerment of women and Marywood was founded as a university for women. We thought this would be a really good place to have her portrait.”

Mother Theresa Maxis’ legacy lives on today in North America, South America and Mexico with close to 1,000 IHM Sisters and more than 240 associates who labor in her spirit, committed to the eradication of the oppression of women, the shaping of just social justice and the building of a culture of peace.

The portrait, which was unveiled at Marywood University, is on display to the public in the Archives Room, Second Floor of the Learning Commons, on the University’s campus.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has asked several families to write the prayers and meditations for his Stations of the Cross service at Rome’s Colosseum on Good Friday.

The request comes during the year Pope Francis asked Catholics to dedicate to families and to a rereading of “Amoris Laetitia,” his exhortation on the family, which was published in 2016.

The authors of the texts to be used for the nighttime service April 15 are “families linked to Catholic volunteer and assistance communities and associations,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

Families also will carry the cross between the stations at the Colosseum, he said. Those chosen will reflect the focus of each prayer and meditation — for example, migrants and refugees or the elderly or those caring for a person with a disability.

In 2020 and 2021, the service was scaled down and held in St. Peter’s Square because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pope still used the prayers and meditations of special authors. In 2020, they were written by inmates at an Italian prison and in 2021 by Scouts and other children at a Rome parish.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, presented his credentials to Pope Francis April 7. He also met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

Vatican Media images from the meeting showed Yurash presenting the pope with several gifts, including a traditional Ukrainian decorated round loaf of bread and a sheaf of wheat wrapped in a ribbon of the colors of the national flag: blue and yellow.

Ukraine, known as the “breadbasket of Europe,” is the fifth largest exporter of wheat; Russia is the world’s largest. Together, the two countries provide 19% of the world’s barley supply, 14% of wheat and 4% of corn, making up more than one-third of global cereal exports, according to the European Commission’s spring 2022 report.

The meeting marked the official beginning of Yurash’s tenure, even though, as an exception to protocol, he had been functioning as ambassador since early March. His appointment had been announced in mid-December.

He has been providing images and details of his many meetings, interviews and diplomatic efforts in Rome on his Twitter feed @AndriiYurash.

After his meeting April 7 with the pope, he tweeted that it was an “incredible honor & privilege” to present his credentials and that he had an “inspiring & extremely motivating conversation” with the pope and Cardinal Parolin.

He said it has shown him yet again that the Vatican is a “sincere partner” of Ukraine “doing everything possible to stop the war.”

Born Jan. 17, 1969, in central Ukraine, he has a degree in journalism and taught journalism at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, including teaching in the department of radio broadcasting and television. He earned his doctorate in political science in 1996.

He served as vice-director, then director, of the department of religious and ethnic affairs of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture from 2014 to 2020. He then led the department of religious affairs concerning the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, at the secretariat of the cabinet of ministers from 2020 to 2022.

He is a member of the All-Ukrainian Association of Religious Scholars and is a co-founder of the International Association for the Study of Religion in Central and Eastern Europe (ISORECEA).