(OSV News) – “There are no unwanted children,” an anonymous inspiring quote declares, “just unfound families.” If that’s so, the almost 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system – approximately 100,000 of whom are legally adoptable – need only wait. But the reality, especially in post-Roe v. Wade America, presents a more complex and challenging scenario – one in which foster care must, Catholic experts urge, be viewed as a pro-life issue.

Children are escorted to the Cayuga Center, which provides foster care and other services to immigrant children separated from their families, in New York City, July 10, 2018. In the U.S. there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system. (OSV news photo/Brendan McDermid, Reuters)

“What we’re trying to do,” said Kimberley Henkel, a Ph.D. who is executive director of Springs of Love — a ministry that “encourages, equips and educates Catholics to discern and live out the call to foster and adopt,” according to its website — “is to help create a culture of fostering and adoption in the Catholic Church. And we see fostering and adoption, clearly, as a very significant pro-life issue.”

Henkel – who has four adopted children – added that “Jesus commands us to care for widows and orphans in their distress, and the children in foster care are our modern-day orphans. We are coming up upon the one-year anniversary of the end of Roe,” she said, “and we’re seeing a rise in adoption as some states are no longer allowing abortion, and we are seeing a need for encouragement and education for Catholics to learn how important this issue is. … As we work to end abortion, we need to be recognizing that we need to take care of the mothers and the children after they’re born.”

Protestant communities, Henkel has found, are much more active in foster care ministries and outreach than are Catholic churches. When she and her husband began fostering, this quickly became apparent. “We were looking around and we were saying, ‘Where are the Catholics?'”

In the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, where she lives, Henkel has identified only two Catholic foster families. There must be more, she said – but these two Catholic foster families are so isolated that they “feel like islands.”

To support foster families, Henkel encourages “wraparound care” – care communities at the parish level that assists with basics like meals, supplies, respite care and more. Statistics show, Henkel said, that without such care, 50% of foster families will quit after one year. With accompaniment, however, 90% stay.

“I saw so many beautiful Protestants bringing children to their home and just loving them,” Henkel recalled, “and just pouring out the love of Jesus on these children. And that’s what I want to see in the Catholic community.”

“If we were talking more in the church about the children in our care and seeing them as God’s children – these are God’s kids, and they need a family – I don’t see how we can turn away,” said Henkel. “This is our responsibility. These children are our responsibility.”

“My soapbox from a foster care perspective is helping our church open their eyes and see this as a fuller reflection of what it means to be whole life,” said Lisa Wheeler, who – with her husband, Timothy – has adopted five children ages 7 to 14, and fostered 15 others.

Wheeler — the Texas-based president and founder of Carmel Communications, a Catholic public relations agency — urges an outlook that is “not just pro-life, but truly whole life, reflecting both babies in the womb and families that have already chosen life but are still in need of support and resources in order to keep their families intact.”

For the first 15 years of their almost 26-year marriage, the Wheelers were childless. A parish adoption and foster care information session led to training and approval as potential adoptive parents. They planned to add just one child to their family – but journeying with their now-eldest daughter for two years prior to adoption changed that.

“We really were exposed to what a crisis we face here in our country as it relates to children,” Wheeler shared. “We have a modern day orphan crisis within the foster care system — and we knew pretty quickly that we weren’t going to be able to walk away, if we had a successful adoption. Because we just were seeing too much — and knew that there was a great need for people like us to stand in the gap for these kids.”

The traditional orphanage — the terrifying source material of many a rags-to-riches literary tale — no longer exists in America. But awareness of the modern adoption and foster care system and its issues is, Wheeler said, typically lacking at the parish level. She recalled the “deafening silence” from her own church community, which made no particular effort at accompaniment.

Given her personal experience, “I felt a real call on my heart over the last few years that we weren’t educating in our churches enough about the crisis that exists in our country with foster care,” Wheeler explained. “And now of course with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the very real possibility that more children will end up in the foster care system without the adequate supports in place to help families in crisis.”

Wheeler’s adoption and foster care ministry wish list, like Henkel’s, also includes parish care communities. Priests and leadership could also acknowledge that “within their church community, there are foster families in those pews, there are families who have adopted out of foster care — and are facing real challenges parenting in that way, because of the uniqueness of that call,” said Wheeler.

She also is exploring specialized retreats. “Parents that are parenting these children that come from trauma suffer a secondary type of post-traumatic stress because of the unique daily challenges we face in helping these kids get through some of the difficulties that came from their early life,” Wheeler said.

“You can assume that foster kids have had a rocky history,” said Ray Guarendi, clinical psychologist, author and host of EWTN’s Living Right with Dr. Ray.

“By their very nature they have been custodially taken from a birth parent or two,” Guarendi noted. “There’s been a lot of neglect — not only abuse — in their histories. They have learning problems; they have social problems; they have emotional struggles.”

Often, Guarendi said, “these are kids who have been exposed to drug and alcohol in the womb. And because of that, their brain doesn’t quite develop as smoothly as it would if they had a healthy womb environment, and a healthy first couple of years.”

Affection alone also is unlikely to resolve a complicated family history.

“The attitude of, ‘Well, I’ll just give them love and stability, and everything will smooth out.’ That typically doesn’t happen,” Guarendi cautioned. “Your goal is to give this child or children a stable, loving period of time. And perhaps you may be able to adopt. If you can’t, you at least bought seven months, or a year-and-a-half, or maybe even two years of giving them a stability they’ve not known.”

The state of California has more children in the foster care system than anywhere else in the country, said Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference. While now keenly aware of adoption and foster issues, Domingo — who previously worked in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — admits this wasn’t always so. As a founder of the archdiocese’s annual pro-life event, OneLife LA, she remembers an onstage shout-out from evangelist Nick Vujicic that changed everything.

“He really challenged the pro-life community in Los Angeles to say, ‘If you’re truly pro-life, what are you doing for the tens of thousands of children languishing in the child welfare system in California?'” Domingo recalled. “And I was standing next to (Los Angeles) Archbishop (José ) Gomez. He turned to me and said, ‘Kathleen, what are we doing to help foster youth in LA?’ And I said, ‘Archbishop, I don’t know — but I’m going to find out.'”

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles worked to become “foster friendly,” through foster fairs at parishes, Catholic school tuition assistance, and other offerings. The desperate need for such programs cannot be overstated; on May 2, The Sacramento Bee revealed Sacramento County illegally housed foster kids in the cells of a former juvenile detention center, while in 2021, Fresno County’s Social Services Department lodged foster children in abandoned offices, forcing them to sleep on conference room tables.

“It really is incumbent upon Catholics to step in and say, ‘We have space in our home and in our heart to help some of these children,'” said Domingo. “God is calling some of you — not all of you, but some of you — to be foster families.”

SCRANTON – Mothers of all types were celebrated on Sunday, May 14, 2023, as the faithful came together for a special Mother’s Day Adoption Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

During the Mass, the faithful prayed in an intentional way for all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, foster mothers and all those who “mother” throughout their lives.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist.

As he reflected on the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Bishop Bambera said our mothers and grandmothers give us a great example of how to love each other as Jesus loved.

“We exist to love, to forgive and to work for peace,” Bishop Bambera said. “Is it a tall order? Yes! Is it an expectation beyond our ability? Not at all! Just look at the women whose lives we honor this day and for whom we give thanks: our mothers and grandmothers and all those who have so nurtured and cared for life – loving selflessly, without expectation or receiving love in return – in the spirit of the merciful and selfless love of Jesus.”

Several families who have adopted children with the help of Saint Joseph’s Center attended the Mass.

During the liturgy, those in attendance prayed that society would accept adoption as a viable means to provide abused, neglected and abandoned children with a safe home as well as for women who have had the courage to place their babies up for adoption.

On the same day at the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed his appreciation for women who have given birth to children and entrusted them to the protection of Our Lady.

“Let us recall with gratitude and affection all mothers, those who are still with us and those who have gone to Heaven,” Pope Francis said. “Let us entrust them to Mary, the mother of Jesus.”

SCRANTON – William A. Asinari, a native of Honesdale, will be ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Scranton by the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton. The ordination Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m.

The public is invited to attend the Ordination Mass, which is a very important event in the life of the Diocese. The Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website and across Diocesan social media platforms.

Asinari will be ordained for service as a transitional deacon, the ordination serving as the last major step before ordination to the priesthood, which typically occurs a year later after additional pastoral, liturgical and educational preparation.

Once ordained as a deacon, Asinari will assist the bishop and his priests in ministries of the Word, Liturgy and Charity. This includes proclaiming the Gospel, leading intercessions, preaching, preparing the altar, celebrating baptisms, leading the faithful in prayer, distributing holy communion, witnessing marriages and conducting wake and funeral services. Deacons also identify the needs of poor and underserved, and shepherd the Church’s resources to meet those needs.

Asinari, 24, is the son of Robert and Cathleen Asinari and is a parishioner of Saint John the Evangelist Parish, Honesdale.

Please plan to attend the Ordination Mass, to pray with Bishop Bambera, who will administer the Sacrament of Holy Orders in a rite that will be witnessed by friends, family, fellow seminarians, as well as many consecrated religious, deacons and priests.

SCRANTON – Nearly 40 years after Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen opened its doors in its current location, the facility is getting a “once in a generation renovation” to ensure its mission continues for decades to come.

The work, which is already underway, will be completed over a ten-week period. It should be finished by the end of July.

Exterior work is underway at Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen in Scranton for its “once in a generation renovation.” In addition to a new entrance and walkways, the interior of the Kitchen will also be upgraded. (Photo/Eric Deabill)

“This renovation will not only allow us to serve our brothers and sisters in need in a dignified way for another generation but will prepare us for future expansion,” Rob Williams, Executive Director of Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen, said. “This organization is primed and ready to serve God and His people in ways that we cannot yet imagine. We were founded by and through God’s inspiration and we will continue to serve Him and His beloved people in every way possible.”

The Kitchen currently serves ten meals to the community each week and that service will continue uninterrupted – but the meals will be prepared and served in different locations while renovations are underway.

IMPACT ON MEAL SERVICE

Starting May 19, all weekday meals (11 a.m. midday meal on weekdays and 5 p.m. dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) will be served at ‘The Space at Olive’ at 541 Wyoming Avenue in Scranton. ‘The Space at Olive’ is only one block away from Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen’s current location.

“Part of what we provide for the community is the ability for our brothers and sisters to sit around the table together and enjoy comradery with one another,” Williams explained. “We want to keep that sense of community as much as we can through this renovation process and the dining room at ‘The Space at Olive’ will allow us to do that.”

The 11 a.m. midday meal on Saturday and Sunday will be served in ‘grab and go’ containers from Saint Francis food pantry at 504 Penn Avenue in Scranton.

During the renovation project, all of the Kitchen’s meals will be prepared at Lackawanna College.

“Lackawanna College is gifting us with the use of its commercial kitchen for the ten weeks. They have been amazing to us. They are also letting us put two Road Scholar trucks on campus for dry storage and freezer space,” Williams added.

While unexpected challenges may arise during this process, Williams has been working to ensure a smooth transition of services for the last several months.

“The idea is to keep everything as close to normal as possible,” Williams said. “Since 1978, we have only missed four meals and we won’t miss a meal because of this project. There will be ten meals a week straight through.”

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

When Williams took over as Executive Director of Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen in August 2019, he quickly realized renovations were needed after fixing leaks in the facility’s roof several times.

In June 2022, the roof was completely fixed and new vents and rain gutters added, paving the way to the rest of the renovation work to begin both inside and outside the Kitchen.

Visible signs of the renovation work are always underway – front walkways are already being fixed and a glass enclosure in the front of the building has been taken down.

“There was a glass enclosure in the front that was always damp and musty. We will have a new entrance but the roof will hang over another eight feet. It will have a stucco-look like the rest of the building with stone accents,” Williams said. “The façade is going to be really beautiful.”

Inside the Kitchen is where most of the changes will be taking place.

Throughout the building there will be new ceilings, LED lighting and paint and all of the appliances in the Kitchen will either be replaced or rebuilt. All of the Kitchen’s public bathrooms will become handicap accessible, a new distinct laundry room will be created and the Kitchen will get new refrigeration and freezer spaces.

“There are times when people offer us 850 boxes of meat and we either have to say no to that donation or we have to borrow space in Pittston. Increasing the freezer space in this building will gear us up for another generation of service,” Williams explained.

While the Kitchen is being renovated, a local artist will also restore a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi, which has a broken hand and several cracks, as well as a statue of Saint Anthony.

Monsignor Constantine V. Siconolfi founded Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen in 1978. Its current building was dedicated in 1986.

Williams, who refers to himself simply as the “current keeper of the vision” of Saint Francis of Assisi Kitchen, says the renovation project is an exciting opportunity. He said it would not be possible without community support.

“I am deeply grateful to our board members, our benefactors, our staff members and volunteers, who partnering with us are animating this extraordinary mission that we share,” Williams explained.

 

BRODHEADSVILLE – Eight years after grabbing headlines around the world for building a model Vatican out of 500,000 Lego bricks, Father Bob Simon is back at it.

This time, the pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Brodheadsville just completed a replica of the University of Notre Dame’s iconic Main Building and Golden Dome on April 26, 2023.

“To be invited by the University and by the Notre Dame family to do this is something that my heart is really all in on and was a delight to work on,” Father Simon said.

Father Bob Simon, pastor, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Brodheadsville, poses with the LEGO replica of the University of Notre Dame’s iconic Main Building and Golden Dome on April 21, 2023. (Photos/Eric Deabill)

Father Simon initially received the request from the University in January 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic curtailed his ability to get the project done quickly but still estimates spending roughly eight months working on it overall.

While Father Simon admits he didn’t keep an exact count, he estimates using around 300,000 Lego bricks this time.

“In the windows alone, the blinds and the windows and the glass in it, there are 60-some bricks in each of the 300-plus windows,” he explained. “There’s a total in the windows, just inside them, over 25,000 bricks for that and over 70,000 tan bricks around the exterior of the building.”

‘GOLDEN’ OPPORTUNITY TO HONOR MARY

As a Notre Dame alumnus, Father Simon immediately recognized the challenge of creating the iconic Golden Dome.

“That is the part I was afraid of,” Father Simon joked. “Unlike the dome I did for Saint Peter’s Basilica, it doesn’t have ribbing and I was very afraid of it because it is 1800s architecture that I’m not so familiar with but I’m really happy with the way it turned out.”

After being afraid of building the dome for a long time, Father Simon admits it came together in just a couple of days.

The University of Notre Dame also helped to ensure that Mary was honored properly in the display.

Father Bob Simon works on the LEGO replica in his parish rectory.

“Notre Dame created her statue on a 3D printer. It is an exact replica of the statue on the top. I gave them the size that I wanted and it fits perfectly right on top, because I gave them the scale,” Father Simon explained.

While many might assume creating the Golden Dome was the hardest part of the project, Father Simon says that is not the case.

“The math was definitely the problem, making sure everything was proportional,” he said. “In particular, what really gave me trouble was the roof. The roof is quite elaborate and trying to make sure the math was all right with the roof and the structure itself was probably the most difficult part.”

CAPTURING THE ‘ESSENCE’ OF THE BUILDING

While Father Simon is dwarfed by the size of his massive Lego creation, he smiles when admitting the building itself is not often what most people make comments about.

“As much as the structure is impressive, what people probably spend more time looking at are the human interest details,” he explained. “The people wearing Notre Dame attire which the university helped me out with some graphics. If students don’t tie their bicycle up, it gets placed in a tree, people delighted at seeing that.

In addition to the building itself, the LEGO replica also features many characters that depict life on campus.

The ‘ring at spring’ proposals happening on campus, I have one of those represented, and the squirrels and golf carts that are on campus. There are even little robots that deliver food from the cafeteria and the restaurants on campus now so I’m going to make sure there is one of those in the scene as well, just to be very current.”

While Father Simon’s love of Lego sets started around the age of five, as a priest, he believes there is a deep connection between the playful and prayerful parts of this project.

“I’ve realized that building something like this with Lego is a real invitation to contemplation, to mediation, to prayer, it is sort of like the Rosary,” Father Simon explained. “While your hands are busy, your mind and your heart can be elsewhere… I realized the building is in the shape of a Cross with the longest arm of any Cross I’ve ever seen, which seems to represent Father (Edward) Sorin’s vision for the university.”

The Poconos pastor continued, “Just like when praying the Rosary, one contemplates the mysteries and there is really the beauty of the architecture and the vision of the founder that comes alive and is something to really mediate on.”

UNIVERSITY TO SHOWCASE MASTERPIECE

While much of the Lego construction took place in the living room of Father Simon’s rectory, the final construction took place on the University of Notre Dame campus in conjunction with ‘Notre Dame Day’ on April 26, 2023. On that day, the campus community comes together to celebrate the University and raise money by telling stories of students, professors and alumni.

Father Simon was featured in seven live broadcasts as the Lego creation came to completion.

“I feel great about the fact that it is finished, I feel great about the fact that it will be here at the University of Notre Dame,” Father Simon said in his final television segment.

The Lego creation will be permanently located in McKenna Hall, which hosts conferences and special events and is used to welcome prospective students and visitors.

“I’m grateful for the University and the impact it has made in my life,” Father Simon ended by saying.

HAZLETON – The 60th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations was marked in grand style this year with a special Mass celebrated by the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, at Queen of Heaven Parish.

Young people from parishes around the Diocese of Scranton attended the Mass and served in various liturgical roles.

“It was a special day because it was the first time I got to lector,” Joseph Tranguch of Hazleton said. “I was a little bit nervous but I did pretty good because the Holy Spirit led me!”

Matthew Sanchez, a youth group member from Saint Matthew Parish in East Stroudsburg, called the celebration “beautiful.”

The song, “Que Te Puedo Dar” played during the Presentation of the Gifts at the World Day of Prayer for Vocations Mass at Queen of Heaven Parish in Hazleton on April 29, 2023.

“I like how the choir was bilingual, both English and Spanish, and there were a lot of priests,” Sanchez explained. “Father Alex’s homily was really nice.”

Father Alex J. Roche, Diocesan Director of Vocations and Seminarians, served as homilist for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations Mass.

“Every vocation is important and vital in the life of the Church but sometimes we need to spend a little bit more time on explaining what the vocations to religious life, to the priesthood, to the diaconate are,” Father Roche said. “Explaining that they’re good and holy things and they will lead to fulfillment and happiness and like Saint Catherine of Siena says, ‘setting the world on fire.’”

The purpose of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord’s instruction to, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2). As a climax to a prayer that is continually offered throughout the Church, it affirms the primacy of faith and grace in all that concerns vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life.

“I think God is calling me personally to serve the Church in multiple ways. I think it’s being a leader in my hometown, being a leader at my local college and even being a leader in the church community that I’m a parishioner of,” Matthew Kelly, a parishioner of Saint Gregory Parish in Clarks Green, said. “He calls us, so importantly, to be disciples of the faith, to teach it to everybody around us and to bring people into the church because the whole mission of the church is to evangelize.”

In addition to the Mass in Hazleton, parishes around the Diocese of Scranton were asked to highlight the need for vocations and share vocation stories from pastors, religious education teachers, deacons and married couples.

“It is a day when, in every parish, we want people really reflecting on where God is calling them to be,” Father Roche said.

Jesus said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!”

That “fire” is the fire of the Holy Spirit, the love of God poured into our hearts, enabling us to be healed and transformed and to be used by the Lord.

This year, the Catholic Women’s Conference, “With the Holy Spirit,” will delve into the gift we receive when we open our hearts and souls to the Holy Spirit and the transformative power of healing and spirituality the Holy Spirit brings to us.

Featured speakers Johnette Benkovic Williams and Kathleen McCarthy will share their journey from devastating loss to spiritual rebirth after accepting the healing gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Johnette Benkovic Williams was having difficulty sleeping in the early hours of the morning of March 20, 2004, when she heard a knock at the door.

Being already awake, she opened the door to find two Florida State Highway Patrolmen on her doorstep. She invited them in and woke her husband, knowing in her mother’s heart that this was not good news.

Her son Simon had been killed in an automobile crash, an irony not lost on Johnette as Simon had served in Korea and Afghanistan and was a decorated Army veteran. She left her husband and the patrolmen in her family room and went to her bedroom, prostrating herself on the floor in grief.

Suddenly, in the midst of her heartbreak, she saw and felt the loss that Mary, the Blessed Mother, would have suffered at the foot of the cross while her Son suffered and ultimately died. She felt the pain of that loss as acutely as her own, embracing her pain and her loss.

She felt God’s word in her heart, telling her that she had labored to bring her son into this world, and her pain and suffering were her labor to give Simon spiritual life. Pain was grace, there was merit in suffering, and that suffering was union with Christ.

One year later, at the Christening of their first grandchild, her husband suffered a Grand Mal seizure, ultimately leading to his diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. Johnnette survived another terrible loss and was strengthened by her faith, family, friends, and the prayers of the supporters of the organizations she founded, Living His Life Abundantly and Women of Grace.

Johnnette is a popular conference speaker, published author, retreat director, and seminar presenter. She will lead the rosary in the morning and in the afternoon, she will give a talk on the gifts of the Holy Spirit with heartfelt and inspiring stories.

Featured speaker Kathleen McCarthy was a mother of twelve when her husband died of cancer. It was through divine intervention that Kathleen discovered and accepted the presence of the Holy Spirit in her life and began her ministry to share the gift of the Holy Spirit with others.

Kathleen went on to become a published author, Catholic radio broadcaster and a Catholic lay evangelist for more than 40 years.

Her message of the Father’s merciful love, the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist and the power of the Holy Spirit will inspire others to embrace the healing power and love of the Holy Spirit.

The conference will feature a celebration of Mass with the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, the divinely inspired music of Maria Salamida, and the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The day will conclude with a Eucharistic Healing Service, led by Kathleen McCarthy where women will experience tremendous healing from the awesome touch of the Heavenly Father. Participants will also enjoy a continental breakfast, buffet lunch and the opportunity for shopping in the Catholic Vendor Marketplace.

The cost to attend the conference is $55. Student tickets are $20, and women religious are welcome free of charge.

For more information or to register for conference tickets online, please visit cwcnepa.com.

SCRANTON – Just two days after the funeral Mass of Bishop Emeritus James C. Timlin, the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, confronted the pain and grief felt by many survivors of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Bambera presided at an April 20 Mass for survivors of abuse suffered at the hands of Church officials, and he again apologized for the pain they and their family members have suffered.

The Diocese of Scranton held its sixth annual Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse on April 20, 2023. (Photo/Eric Deabill)

“It is not insignificant that our prayer today takes place at the conclusion of a week that in so many respects opened up a wound that has burdened so many of our brothers and sisters,” Bishop Bambera said. “Two days ago, we buried Bishop Timlin, the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Scranton … While Bishop Timlin never abused a child, it must be acknowledged that the consequences of imperfect judgments and decision on his part led to the suffering of some of the most vulnerable among us.”

Bishop Bambera was the principal celebrant of the Mass – sponsored by the Diocese of Scranton’s Office of Child Protection & Safe Environment – that was offered at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and the Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse has now been celebrated for six years.

“The painful recollection of such realities for survivors of sexual abuse – even five years out from the release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report investigating child sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the Catholic Church and its cover-up by some Church leaders – is a stark reminder to us all of the grief and suffering that so many innocents have endured,” Bishop Bambera added.

Bishop Bambera acknowledged he has learned many things from courageous survivors who have spoken with him over the years – the most important of which is that we “must never forget or allow time to numb us to the pain that was so willfully inflicted on innocent lives.”

“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,” Bishop Bambera noted.

Erin McGrady, LPC, who serves as Safe Environment Coordinator for the Diocese of Scranton, said the Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse is an important moment of prayer for many people.

“We remember the history of the Church and remember each and every survivor so we can pray and support them however we can on their journey to healing and recovery,” McGrady said. “It also reminds us how important it is to continue doing the things we have in place to protect all those in our diocese and promote the safest environments possible to allow for everyone to grow in their faith.”

McGrady said the Diocese of Scranton has a zero tolerance policy for anyone who abuses a child.

“Five years post Grand Jury Report being released and it is still so important to highlight the work that our Safe Environment Office does daily to make sure this issue is in the front of everyone’s minds,” McGrady added. “As Safe Environment Coordinator, I assist and oversee Local Safe Environment Administrators at every location to ensure that compliance on USCCB guidelines and Pennsylvania state laws are met. We provide Safe Environment training for children and adults throughout the diocese, require that background checks are completed and renewed on time for clergy, employees and volunteers and provide support and assistance to any questions, concerns or situations that arise.”

SCRANTON – Prior to announcing funeral arrangments for the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, the Diocese of Scranton acknowledged the “sensitive circumstances” of planning the funeral, which needed to balance Bishop Timlin’s full life of service to the Church with a clear understanding of imperfect judgements related to clergy sexual abuse.

Just prior to the funeral Mass beginning on April 18, 2023, Bishop Bambera released a video on Catholic Television as well as on Diocesan social media platforms.

In his message, Bishop Bambera prayed for all sexual abuse survivors and said he hopes they find healing and peace.

Bishop Bambera’s full comments are included below:

My friends,

In just a few moments, we will begin the celebration of a Mass of Christian Burial for Bishop James Timlin – who willingly gave more than 70 years of his life in service to our local Church as a priest and bishop.

I have heard from many of you over the last few days since the bishop passed in his sleep in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday.

Many of you have shared recollections of the bishop’s kindness, visiting sick family members in hospitals and hospice units, consoling those grieving at the loss of loved ones and expressing his deep faith and conviction in the mercy of God – a blessing that was nurtured right here in Scranton where the bishop spent his entire life which spanned close to 96 years.

But I have also heard from many of you who have been deeply wounded by the emergence of other realities over the last several years – imperfect judgments – regarding clergy sexual abuse.

While one person cannot be blamed in totality for what has transpired, the impact is clear. The Church of Scranton has been deeply wounded by the sins of some of her members – and those wounds are most deeply experienced by the victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

These failings have destroyed the lives of innocent children – eroded trust and good will – and, sadly, have led many to leave the faith.

A funeral is neither the time nor the place to delve further into the details of these revelations – but I would be remiss if I let this day pass without acknowledging the past wrongs and failures that have come to light.

For all that we remember this day, my friends, one thing is abundantly clear. None of us can save ourselves. We are all imperfect, broken souls in need of God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing grace.

During today’s Mass – in the Universal Prayer – we will be praying in an intentional way for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, acknowledging their suffering and seeking their continued healing and peace.

These are not hollow words. We cannot – and will not – forget their pain.

As we begin this funeral liturgy – we give thanks and praise to God for the blessing of Easter and Jesus’ victory over sin and death – and we commend Bishop Timlin to God’s tender mercy and compassion, won for us all through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.

 

SCRANTON – Hundreds of people gathered to mourn the death of the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, eighth Bishop of Scranton, at a Mass of Christian Burial, which was held on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, tenth Bishop of Scranton, served as the principal celebrant. In addition to priests from the Diocese of Scranton and resident religious priests, three other bishops concelebrated the Mass.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, uses incense at the casket of the Most Reverend James C. Timlin, Bishop Emeritus of Scranton, during a Mass of Christian Burial at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton on April 18, 2023. (Photos/Mike Melisky)

During his introductory remarks at the beginning of the 2 p.m. liturgy, Bishop Bambera acknowledged the sensitive nature of planning the funeral Mass.

“Many of us grieve the loss of a kind and compassionate leader who worked tirelessly for others well into his nineties and some grieve the consequences of imperfect judgments and decisions that led to the suffering of some who were most vulnerable,” Bishop Bambera said. “But one thing is absolutely clear from what we do this day, at this Mass of Christian Burial, the reality that we are all desperately in need of a Savior. Saint John Paul II put it best a few years before he passed, ‘Apart from the mercy of God, there is no hope for mankind.’”

In releasing the Report of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in August 2018, then- Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro publicly criticized Bishop Timlin for his handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests of the Diocese of Scranton. That same month, Bishop Timlin was barred from representing the Diocese in the wake of the Grand Jury Report’s release.

During the Universal Prayer at the funeral Mass, mourners prayed intentionally for victims of sexual abuse.

“Many people live with the painful memories of sexual abuse by clergy,” Deacon Peter G. Smith said. “Give them healing for their pain, freedom from their fear, and hope for their future, and may all members of the Church commit themselves to protect children and the most vulnerable in our society.”

Bishop Timlin died on Easter Sunday morning, April 9, 2023, at the age of 95.

REMEMBERING A MENTOR AND FRIEND

“We come together in this great Cathedral of ours to reflect upon his life, to remember the fullness of Bishop Timlin’s remarkable 95 year pilgrimage homeward, and lastly, we’re here this day to pray for his eternal peace,” Monsignor Joseph G. Quinn, V.F., pastor, Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Clarks Summit, said at the beginning of his homily.

For more than 40 years, Msgr. Quinn said that Bishop Timlin had “been a faithful mentor, friend and inspiration in my own life.”

Msgr. Quinn extended his sympathies to the extended family of Bishop Timlin, saying the late prelate had a special ability to remember every detail of his loved one’s lives.

“I think we have all marveled at his consistent thoughtfulness throughout his life, his ever humble and kind ways. To the very end, he was always handwriting notes, always notes of thanks, most of them forever expressing his gratitude for the thoughtfulness and kindness of others,” Msgr. Quinn said. “You might have received a note simply because you remembered his birthday, an anniversary or a special event along the way but it was amazing how many notes he sent out in any day.”

Msgr. Quinn explained how he was privileged to witness Bishop Timlin’s great depth of faith and his hope to share and live the peace and joy of the Risen Christ.

“He understood well the truthfulness of the words of Scripture today as in the First Reading where it was said, God’s dwelling is with the human race and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There shall be no more weeping or pain for the old order has passed away,” Msgr. Quinn said.

In his 72 years as a priest, Msgr. Quinn said Bishop Timlin “joyfully counted each day” but did not do everything perfectly.

“With his genuine sense of humility he would be the first to tell you that he was far from perfect,” Msgr. Quinn explained. “He was always reminding all of us that we’re not called to be perfect, we’re called to be holy, so that we might be humble enough, human enough, and happy enough to live merciful lives rooted in Christ.”

As he concluded his homily, Msgr. Quinn said Bishop Timlin never lost sight of his primary role as a parish priest – “helping people come to know, love and serve God” – by always being available to console the grieving, visit the sick or care for the suffering.

“As we gather today to mourn Bishop Timlin’s death, to truly remember the fullness of his life and to pray for his eternal peace, let us remember all that he did throughout his 95 year journey homeward,” Msgr. Quinn stated. “All he did to come and know and live out God’s will in his life in humble and selfless fashion and let us pray for the same merciful graces we need to do the same in our own.”

PARISHIONERS MOURN LOSS

In the five hours leading up to the funeral Mass, the public was invited to pay their respects to the late Bishop Emeritus of Scranton.

“He was a good man,” former Scranton mayor Jimmy Connors said as he entered the Cathedral shortly after the public visitation began at 9 a.m. Connors worked with Bishop Timlin during his entire tenure as mayor which lasted from 1990 to 2002.

“He was very kind to me before I was mayor, while I was mayor and after I was mayor,” Connors explained. “He had a good heart, totally dedicated to God and the people. He loved every neighborhood here.”

William Nolan, who has been a member of the Cathedral parish since 1974, remembered the day Timlin was ordained a Bishop and thousands filled the streets.

“I thought the world of him,” Nolan said. “He was a very, very holy man. He loved people.”

Patrick Williams, President of Pennsylvanians for Human Life in Scranton, remembered Bishop Timlin as being unapologetically pro-life.

“We would always go to Bishop Timlin or Bishop Dougherty when we had issues that needed attention. Both of them were fantastic,” Williams explained.
While he didn’t know Bishop Timlin personally, Mike Stevens of Dallas, said it was clear that Bishop Timlin was humble.

“He cared deeply about the Church and deeply about the parishioners and I think that example of humility is terrific especially in this crazy world that we live in,” Stevens said.

OUR NEED FOR MERCY

With the funeral services taking place shortly after the Second Sunday of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, the theme of “mercy” played a significant role in the reflection of Monsignor Vincent Grimalia, who offered reflections during a private Vespers service on Monday, April 17, 2023, at Villa Saint Joseph in Dunmore.

At Bishop Timlin’s request, a private viewing for family members was held the day before his burial Mass.

“After celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday yesterday, during these 50 days of Easter, we have a context for our gathering, that reminds us of the loving mercy of God, that challenges each of us to live a life of mercy,” Monsignor Grimalia said.

Msgr. Grimalia said Bishop Timlin lived a “spirituality of mercy.”

“I think one of his favorite parables was the parable of the Good Samaritan,” Msgr. Grimalia related. “He regularly visited local hospitals and hospice units when able. He also would read the obituary column and visit funeral homes, to pray for the deceased and console their family and friends.”

During the private Vespers service, Msgr. Grimalia asked the crowd of roughly 50 to pray for Bishop Timlin and the good that he did.

“Let us also pray for all who touched his life and all the lives he touched,” Msgr. Grimalia ended.

Before being taken to his final resting place at Cathedral cemetery, Bishop Bambera echoed those same sentiments.

Bishop Bambera also reflected on a conversation he had with the late Bishop Emeritus of Scranton just hours before his passing.

“On Holy Saturday afternoon about 2 p.m., I visited with Bishop Timlin to wish him a Happy Easter. Although I have visited him regularly during his stay at Marywood Heights, I found him during this particular visit to be far more buoyant than he had been for quite some time. He told me that he had a plan to return toward his residence,” Bishop Bambera said. “He said, ‘I’m feeling pretty good right now, I think I can live to be 100,’ and he said, ‘But whatever God wants is what I’ll do.” A few hours later, in the early morning hours of Easter, God wanted him home so we give thanks for Bishop Timlin. We give thanks for the good that he did. We give thanks for the lives that touched him and the lives that he was able to touch and we pray that God’s mercy envelop him now and give him peace.”