CANADA
Cape Breton Post
Sister Agnes Burrows (Diocesan Voices)
Do you remember the Garden song?
“Inch by inch, row by row – Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe… And a piece of fertile ground… Pull weeds and pick stones”
Seeds that were sown by the Diocesan Congress have to be nurtured in order to grow. The Diocesan Implementation Team is co-ordinating efforts to bring about an abundant harvest. What initiatives can we take at the parish level?
Two groups in the Glace Bay area are adding their efforts to the task: The Rebuilding Trust and Hope Group and the Joint Pastoral Parish Council of Holy Cross, St. Mary’s and St. Gregory’s
The Rebuilding Trust and Hope Group: As a recommendation of the Pastoral Plan of the Diocese of Antigonish 2013 -2018, parishioners throughout the Diocese were invited to participate in a process of reconciliation in their journey from brokenness to healing. In response to this invitation, Sister Martha Eileen and I invited parishioners from the Glace Bay area for a facilitated study of the book, “Healing the Church: Diagnosing and Treating the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis,” by Sister Nuala Kenny, MD. This was facilitated by David Nearing and Bryan MacDonald. We took time to discern factors contributing to the pain and brokenness, to seek ways to heal the wounds and to bring about constructive change. Through the breaking of the bread of our experience and the sharing in a caring community we were able to return to our lived reality with new learnings, a sense of hope for the future and for the healing of the legacy of unequal relationships.
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