By Michael Morton
Daily News Tribune
April 04, 2010
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/features/x905414118/On-Easter-seeking-salvation-amid-new-turmoil
MASSACHUSETTS -- When they step to the pulpit today, local priests plan to touch on standard themes for their Easter sermons: Redemption. Renewal. Salvation. Hope.
But their messages come amid more turmoil in the worldwide Catholic community, with new allegations of clerical sexual abuse emerging in several European countries and Pope Benedict facing accusations that he played a role years earlier in covering up a Wisconsin case involving young, deaf victims.
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| Lauren Small, Tim Beaudette (center) and Marcel Cote take part in the Stations of the Cross at St. Mary's Church in Uxbridge, Friday. Photo by John Thornton |
In a Good Friday statement, an archbishop in the pope's home country of Germany said the church failed to help victims there because it wanted to protect its reputation.
Catholic leaders came to the defense of the pope himself, however. European cardinals used their Holy Thursday sermons to defend their leader, with one saying he has helped remove the "dirt."
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| Chris Pirozzi of Framingham, 14, carries the cross at the start of the St. Bridget's Church Good Friday Walk. Next to him is Fr. Peter Shen, parochial vicar at St. Bridget's. The walk ended at the Fuller Middle School. Photo by Ken McGagh |
In America, the conference of bishops issued a statement expressing concern for abuse victims but also praising the pope's response.
"We know from our experience how Pope Benedict is deeply concerned for those who have been harmed by sexual abuse and how he has strengthened the church's response to victims and supported our efforts to deal with perpetrators," they said.
Locally, priests reported that parishioners had questioned them about the new allegations.
"Amazingly, a lot of dioceses in Europe were not very quick on the uptake," said the Rev. David Mullen of St. Brendan in Bellingham.
Although the abuse scandal initially broke in the Boston Archdiocese, Monsignor Francis Strahan of St. Bridget in Framingham said programs for victims and proper reporting procedures had become well established.
"Nobody has any doubt at all about how to approach it," he said.
While priests don't intend to reference sexual abuse during their sermons today Easter homilies are not necessarily an appropriate forum several mentioned plans to include victims during request for prayers, as they have done many times in the past.
"We're not ignoring it," Strahan said. "You can't ignore it."
Other prayer requests could go out for victims of earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, as well as other recent tragedies.
Among "the array of topics we pray for, it's certainly been a prominent one," said the Rev. George Evans of St. Julia in Weston, referring to the abuse.
For the first time, the Boston Archdiocese has offered special communion services on Wednesday evenings leading up to Easter for those taking a break from the church for various reasons. While some parishes already had reasonable attendance, others saw a new turnout.
"They want to reconnect with the church," Mullen said. "They want to come back."
At Ashland's St. Cecilia, the Rev. Richard Cornell said the church's recent tribulations could provide a continued opportunity for purification.
"Somehow God is working through this whole thing," he said. "Somehow or another we're going to come out stronger out of this whole thing."
Like his colleagues, Mullen expressed sympathy for victims and cited the strength of the church to endure.
"The church will survive this as well, just as it has done for 2,000 years," he said.
Contact: mmorton@cnc.com
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