In Ireland, the Candle of Atonement Reminds Victims of Abuse

By Scout Mitchell
Swords Today
February 17, 2021

https://swordstoday.ie/in-ireland-the-candle-of-atonement-reminds-victims-of-abuse/

Since 2017, the Catholic Church in Ireland has dedicated a day of prayer for victims of sexual abuse. “I am convinced that prayer and relationships with survivors of abuse are a modern creation of physical and spiritual compassion,” said Bishop Emon Martin, President of the Episcopal Conference in Ireland.

Vatican News

The first Friday of Lent, February 19, is celebrated in Ireland as a day of prayer for survivors and victims of sexual abuse.

Lent has been celebrated in Ireland every year since 2017, at the behest of Pope Francis, at the behest of some of the survivors. During the day, read a prayer and light candles of atonement in the cathedrals and in all the parishes of the country, “As a church apologize for the suffering caused by the abuse.”

“When we light these candles, we will remember our brothers and sisters and their families who marked their lives by the abuse they suffered,” explains Bishop Emon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and President of the Episcopal Conference in Ireland. “His faith was severely betrayed, and those responsible for the abuse within the church brutally tested his faith.”

The Irish Catholic Primate recalls the honor of meeting the abused, survivors and their families several times in the four provinces of Ireland: “Many have told me about the importance of prayer and the need for the Church to be open to justice and atonement, never to forget them. I was humbled by his courage and I moved by his courage ”.

In this sense, Dom Martin renewed his invitation to the Irish dioceses and parishes to participate in the liturgy and to illuminate the “candle of atonement” in the cathedrals and churches across the country this year: .

At the conclusion of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin on August 26, 2018 in Phoenix Park, the High Priest commemorated the strong emotional impact of the Penitential Ritual presided over by Pope Francis, in which Pontif asked God for mercy and the death penalty. Therefore, Don Martin wants the “candle of atonement” and the accompanying prayer to be given “to symbolize the need for atonement and to symbolize repentance and light and hope in the dark.”

On the Episcopal Conference (ICBC) website, the Irish bishops provided liturgical texts for the blessing of the “candle of atonement” and the accompanying “Religious Lessons of Prayer for the Survivors and the Episcopal Conference in Ireland.” As.