HOMILY
Day of Atonement and Healing – April 11, 2024
Thursday of the 2nd Week of Easter
Today, brothers and sisters, we once again gather during this month of April to focus upon Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, Healing and Justice. In these days, we pray for God’s healing and peace for all survivors of sexual abuse and particularly for those abused by members of the clergy and trusted Church workers. We pray as well for mercy and forgiveness for those who inflicted such abuse or enabled it to occur.
While we have celebrated this Mass in a very public way for seven years now, 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 inflicted by those who should have been trustworthy but were not.
Two months ago, Pope Francis met with members of the commission that he established to combat clergy abuse and encouraged them to help make the Church a safer environment for both minors and vulnerable adults. In reflecting upon the sentiments shared by many survivors of clergy sexual abuse, the Holy Father acknowledged that “it is easy to feel discouraged when confronting the realities of the sexual abuse crisis. Yet, our commitment must not wane. … I encourage you to move forward so that the Church will be, always and everywhere, a place where everyone can feel at home.”
Underscoring the importance of listening “firsthand” to abuse victims, the Pope stressed to the commission that “we cannot help others to bear their burdens unless we shoulder them ourselves, unless we show genuine closeness and compassion. … In protecting minors, closeness to victims of abuse is no abstract concept but a very concrete reality comprised of listening, intervening, preventing, and assisting.”
None of us will ever know the depth of pain that survivors endure. Yet, in courageously sharing their pain, so many survivors – so many of you – with whom I’ve spoken over the years have taught me a great lesson. You’ve taught me why this Mass is so significant. You’ve taught me that if we are 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. An authentic recognition of the pain of that cross is the only thing that can truly prompt us to change and to create a Church deserving of people’s trust.
It is significant that our prayers during this month dedicated to child sexual abuse prevention, healing and justice are offered during the Easter season – a time during the course of the Church year in which we celebrate Jesus’ victory over suffering and death through the resurrection.
I know for many of you, it has been and continues to be difficult to believe in, much less experience the loving and life-giving embrace of the risen Jesus that we proclaim during these days. And yet, your presence with us today in our cathedral and through Catholic Television, is a powerful reminder of your connection to God and a desire for healing, wholeness and peace at your center.
If you would, raise your eyes to reflect upon the great symbol that looms over this cathedral: the crucifix – the cross of Jesus. God could have chosen to save our world in any way he wanted. Yet he chose to save us through his son Jesus – a good, innocent, loving man who was consumed by a broken, sinful world and forced to carry a cross – so that we, in our suffering, might discover a God who understands, because he suffers like us and with us.
Brothers and sisters, don’t discount the significance of Jesus’ cross as we face the crosses that have been laid upon us and particularly upon the shoulders of so many of you. When we have nowhere else to turn – when we acknowledge that we are powerless on our own to fix the things that have gone awry in our lives – God, who suffers with us, is finally given room to step into our lives to carry us when we can no longer walk ourselves. Recall the words from today’s Responsorial Psalm taken from Psalm 34. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all, the Lord delivers him.”
Brothers and sisters, God is close to the brokenhearted, embracing our suffering – all of it, as unfair and as painful as it may be – and giving us hope, whenever we are ready to place our hand in his and to move forward on our journey of life and faith.
Take another look at the cross that hangs in our sanctuary. … See it for what it is – for what it says about Jesus – and for what it speaks to those of us who carry crosses in our lives – particularly the cross of sexual abuse. … Now allow your eyes to drift upwards a bit to look beyond the cross to the back wall of our sanctuary. You’ll see the image of Christ depicted in a painting of the transfiguration by the great Renaissance artist, Raphael – a moment in the life of Jesus that foreshadows the resurrection.
We believe that the cross, as painful as it may be, always gives way to life, resurrection and peace for hearts that seek the Lord, don’t we? … Therein, brothers and sisters, is the heart of the message of Easter!
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. In this season of hope and new life, I once again ask for forgiveness from the countless numbers of you who have suffered so much. And I pledge to continue to do all within my power to keep our Churches, our parishes and schools safe for our children and for all of our people to worship, to pray, to learn and to grow in their faith.
May the risen Jesus heal us of our pain, fill our hearts with his peace and strengthen us to reflect his life and love to a world so desperately in need of it.
Previous Homilies 2024
2024 Lenten Deanery Holy Hour National Eucharistic Revival
Saint Patrick’s Parade Day Mass March 9, 2024
Commissioning of Lay Ministers March 3, 2024
Rite of Election February 18, 2024
Ash Wednesday February 14, 2024
World Day of the Sick Mass February 12, 2024
Mass for those with Developmental Disabilities February 11, 2024
Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life January 21, 2024
Our Lady of Alta Gracia January 21, 2024 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time January 14, 2024 Donor Appreciation Mass
Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord January 7, 2024