Lord, Have Mercy!

UNITED STATES
LinkedIn

November 14, 2018

By John Seng

Time to Reform The Catholic Church

People who attend Catholic Masses with any regularity will recognize the following ritual, as explained by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

At the very beginning of the Mass, the faithful recall their sins and place their trust in God’s abiding mercy. The Penitential Act includes the Kyrie Eleison, a Greek phrase meaning, “Lord, have mercy.” This litany recalls God’s merciful actions throughout history.

At Sunday worship in recent months, it’s dawned on me that in this year’s new light of horrifying revelations of abuse by clergy over many years worldwide, maybe it’s time to turn the tables. Aren’t Catholics in the pews the ones who should expect their Catholic Church celebrants to, perhaps for the next 50 years, initiate each Mass by recalling the sins of priests, bishops and cardinals themselves, apologizing at every assembly and begging the Lord’s mercy?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.