PITTSBURGH (PA)
Trib Live
September 11, 2018
By Wes Venteicher
Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh clergy will undergo periodic fasting and prayer for a year “in light of the scandal of child sexual abuse,” Bishop David Zubik announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes a month after a grand jury detailed decades of allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up by clergy in six of the church’s dioceses in Pennsylvania. The report included allegations against 99 Pittsburgh priests.
Zubik has said the church didn’t cover up the abuse and that the church has instituted internal reforms to address abuse by clergy.
“Faced with the sinful actions of the members of our own ranks of the clergy, who are called to manifest the example of Christ, we feel both shame and sorrow, and are reminded of our own sinfulness and the need for mercy,” Zubik wrote in a letter to clergy, according to the announcement.
His announcement invited all Catholics to join in a “year of repentance,” which will include four three-day fasting periods over the year in which clergy will abstain from meat and dedicate a special hour of prayer each day.
Zubik will inaugurate the year Sunday, Sept. 23, and will lead a related prayer that afternoon.
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