BURLINGTON (VT)
Diocese of Burlington – Bishop’s Blog
September 4, 2018
By Bishop Christopher Coyne
My brothers and sisters in faith,
Over the last six weeks, new revelations of scandalous and even criminal activity by bishops and priests have deeply angered and shaken all of us. While this fresh moment of crisis calls us firstly to a spirit of prayer, it also demands action: both to work toward justice and healing for victims, and toward a broader commitment to renewal and change in how the Church’s leaders serve you, the People of God.
In that spirit, I wish to inform you about several initiatives that I have recently begun to undertake in the hope of responding adequately to the challenges of these days. These efforts are taking place on a number of levels:
Input from the priests: Starting this afternoon, I will be gathering with the priests who serve in the Diocese of Burlington for our annual Presbyteral Days. Normally, the discussions and presentations are planned months in advance, as they were for this year’s gathering. However, last week I met with the pastors and parish administrators for a regularly scheduled “business day.” While we did deal with all the necessary administrative matters that were on the agenda, the majority of time was spent discussing the recent scandals within the Church that have been made public over the last six weeks. As a result of last Tuesday’s discussion, we decided to set aside this week’s planned program at Presbyteral Days (9/4-9/6) and focus exclusively on how we as a Diocese should respond prayerfully, pastorally, and administratively to the scandals.
Input from the Laity: Following up on this, I will bring the deliberations and initial recommendations from the priests to the synod delegates at this Saturday’s (9/8) Synod Planning Session. As you may be aware, the delegates represent one lay person from every parish or parish cluster in the Diocese (about 75 lay men and women). A number of “at large” lay delegates as well as clergy will also be present. While we will continue the work of preparing for the upcoming Synod, we obviously must address the problems that have come to light in the recent scandals and how we move forward, together, as a Church.
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