SCRANTON – During a Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse on April 9, 2026, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, reflected on the enduring pain carried by survivors, the importance of listening to their stories, and the Church’s responsibility to foster healing and accountability.
Celebrated annually during Child Abuse Prevention Month, and this year within the Octave of Easter, the liturgy offered prayers for healing and hope rooted in the Risen Christ.
Bishop Bambera’s homily is printed in full below as it was prepared for delivery:
Brothers and sisters, this is the eighth time in my tenure as Bishop that I’ve gathered with you in our cathedral to celebrate Mass during the month of April, a time dedicated to Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Prevention. We pray during this hour 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 or enabled such abuse.
It is significant that our prayer today takes place in the heart of the Octave of Easter – eight days that remind us that the cross of Jesus, despite its overwhelming pain, was not the end of Jesus’ story but, through the power of God, gave way to the fullness of life, meaning and peace for Jesus – and for each of us through faith.
Earlier this year, in speaking to the cardinals of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV addressed what he called “the scandal of closed doors.” The Holy Father stressed that while “abuse itself causes a deep wound which may last a lifetime, often the scandal in the Church is that the door was closed and victims were not welcomed or accompanied” by the Church. He went on to share the testimony of a victim with whom he had spoken: “She told me that the most painful part for her was that no bishop wanted to listen.” There, Pope Leo said, “listening is profoundly important.”
Brothers and sisters, while we have celebrated this Mass in a very public way for many years, it continues to be vital that we pray for survivors of abuse. Why? Because there is still pain. And the Church needs to listen to the stories of survivors, to their pain and to the movements of their hearts.
Most of us will ever know the depth of the pain that survivors endure. Yet, in courageously sharing their pain, so many of them with whom I’ve spoken over the years have taught me a great lesson. 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. 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.
Friends, today’s Scripture passages remind us of another cross. They remind us of the pain and suffering so unfairly inflicted upon Jesus. They also remind us that sin and death did not have the final word in Jesus’ experience. Nor do we journey through life alone as we carry our crosses. God walks with us – as Jesus walked with the burdened disciples on the road to Emmaus – and as he appeared to others in Jerusalem huddled for fear for their very lives. And we who gather in prayer this day are “witnesses” to the saving, healing presence of God in our world and in our lives as well.
Yet, for many of us, and especially for survivors of abuse, despite the hope that is proclaimed through the faith that we embrace as followers of the risen Jesus, it is still difficult at times to come to terms with such suffering and pain. Time doesn’t always heal.
And the world in which we find ourselves – fraught with wars, hatred and discrimination, and, yes, the constant news stories questioning and chronicling the rampant sexual abuse of minors by individuals of notoriety and fame – has sadly only served to open wounds of so many who have suffered for so long.
It is, however, miraculously in moments of such pain and despair that our faith can help us come to understand how God works best works within our lives.
When we have nowhere else to turn, when we’re no longer capable of fixing the things that have gone awry in our lives, God is finally given room to step into our lives and to carry us when we can no longer walk on our own. In his letter to the Church at Corinth, Saint Paul confronts the reality of his own suffering amid the broken world in which he finds himself, “I willingly boast of my weakness that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
If we can see ourselves in Jesus’ suffering and death, our faith tells us that we have nothing to fear. St. Paul once again says that “if we have died with Christ” – not just at the time of our passing from this world but also and especially through the crosses that we carry in life – “we shall also live with him,” not only in eternity but in this moment of our journey of faith.
Brothers and sisters, this is Easter!
That is what we celebrate this day in our prayer during this Eastertide … God, in Christ, embraces our suffering – all of it, as unfair and as painful as it may be – and gives us hope to move forward in our journey of life and faith.
As Bishop of this local Church, I again 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 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 and schools safe for our children and for all our people to worship, to pray, to learn and to grow in their faith.
May the risen Jesus heal us of our pain, fill us with his love and strengthen us to walk together in faith and so reflect his life and love to a world so desperately in need of it.