Pope Leaves Mozambique Urging Reconciliation, Care for One Another

Pope leaves Mozambique urging reconciliation, care for one another

MAPUTO, Mozambique (CNS) — When Jesus told his disciples to love one another and pray for their enemies, he meant it — even disciples in a nation like Mozambique, where political tensions have led to violence, war and death, Pope Francis said.

The pope ended his visit to Mozambique Sept. 6 with a visit to a health center founded to care for people living with HIV/AIDS and with a Mass nearby in Maputo’s Zimpeto Stadium, where a late winter rain fell intermittently.

Bernadete Silva Fungalane came to the Mass from the Diocese of Pemba, in the northern Cabo Delgado province, where outbreaks of violent killings and pillaging have terrorized the population for the past few years.

Wearing a headwrap and a skirt made of blue fabric with the pope’s image, she told Catholic News Service that the pope “can help stop the violence, first of all because he unites people. His words about reconciliation are very important for our people.”

Before the recitation of the rosary began 90 minutes before the pope’s arrival, Silva Fungalane said, she knew in her heart that she would receive a blessing being at Mass and “all Mozambique will be blessed.”

In his homily, Pope Francis insisted Jesus’ message about love and turning the other cheek was not simply a lovely platitude, but a call to courage and strength and trust in God alone.

Jesus “is talking about specific enemies, real enemies, the kind he described” in the beatitudes: “those who hate us, exclude us, revile us and defame us,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said he knows people are frightened of renewed violence, and he made special mention of Cabo Delgado.

A true and long-lasting peace, he said, can be achieved only through reconciliation, which requires meeting with, speaking to, trying to understand and praying for those who had been enemies.

“Jesus wants to end forever that common practice of being Christians yet living under the law of retaliation,” the pope said. “We cannot look to the future, or build a nation, an equitable society, on the basis of violence. I cannot follow Jesus if I live my life by the rule of ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for tooth.'”

Pope Francis also used the occasion to condemn corruption, especially because it has kept so many Mozambicans in absolute poverty, despite the country’s natural resources. The pope did not mention specifics, but Mozambicans are still paying the price for a massive loan and bribery scheme that was revealed in 2016 and led to the suspension of international development funding.

With general elections scheduled for Oct. 15, the pope told people to look for those who show “concern for others, acknowledging and appreciating them as our brothers and sisters, even to the point of identifying with their lives and their pain.”

Before arriving at the stadium, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Zimpeto DREAM Center, a medical clinic sponsored by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio, but now fully staffed by Mozambican doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians. Sant’Egidio, a lay movement, helped mediate the Mozambique peace talks in the early 1990s and, when the AIDS pandemic began, the community mobilized to help.

Some 20 percent of Mozambican adults are HIV positive and, in 2002 when the first DREAM Center opened, mother-to-baby transmission of the virus was commonplace. Sant’Egidio decided to start there, giving the women antiretroviral drugs at no cost, as well as providing them and their families with food assistance. The program boasts of more than 100,000 babies being born virus free.

Pope Francis met several of those newborns, offering a big smile to the proud mothers and gently stroking the chubby cheeks of the babies.

In a brief speech, the pope praised the program for listening to the needs of those suffering before designing the program and for always treating the patients with dignity. It was essential, he said, that someone hear “the silent, almost inaudible, cry of countless women, so many of them living in shame, marginalized and judged by all.”

Now those same women have formed an association where they support one another and go into their communities to educate other women about HIV/AIDS and accompany those being tested for the virus.

After the Mass, Pope Francis traveled to Madagascar, the second stop on his three- nation Africa visit. He also was scheduled to visit Mauritius before returning to the Vatican Sept. 10.

St. Philip Neri parishioners continue to support outreach begun in their basement

GLEN BURNIE – Under the guidance of Leo Zerhusen, HOPE (He Opens Paths to Everyone) For All has turned empty houses into furnished homes and outfitted children for school.

Now the ecumenical Christian ministry is preparing for a transition. While Zerhusen will step down as executive director of a program he began in 2004, he’ll continue to be involved – no surprise for someone who’s been giving back since the 1960s.

“We could never replace his value. said Connie Cooper, president of the HOPE for All board. “We’ll hold on to him as long as we can.”

Zerhusen and his wife, Diane, are parishioners of St. Philip Neri in Linthicum Heights. They met in 1968, when she was teaching at Our Lady of Victory School and he was a Loyola College student who came to share about his faith with her class.

He also went into teaching, first at Holy Trinity School in Glen Burnie, where, he said, “We celebrated our engagement at the convent with the sisters who were teaching there.” The Zerhusens will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary in November.

Both are retired teachers, his last post being at St. Philip Neri School.

What began in the Zerhusens’ basement now occupies four locations, including a 14,000-square-foot warehouse, and fields referrals from 23 agencies in Anne Arundel County.

HOPE has two main programs. Turning Houses into Homes provides housewares, furniture and linens for an average of 25 families a month as they escape homelessness. Head to Toe provides students with clothing and school supplies. HOPE also offers help in Terra Alta and Bruceton Mills, W.Va.

“The need is astronomical. We put 76 families into homes in May and June,” said Zerhusen, who estimates HOPE has helped 28,000 families. It is an effort fueled by volunteers.

“I’ve always thought you had to give back,” said Zerhusen, who has never drawn a salary from HOPE.

Its logistics manager has seen Zerhusen open his wallet for strangers.

“The man is the most humble person I’ve ever met,” Roger Potter said. “Leo will be the first person to say, ‘this didn’t come from me – it came from God.’ ”

Students from Catholic high schools, such as Archbishop Curley, Archbishop Spalding and Mount St. Joseph, were part of the 14,000 hours clocked last year by volunteers, who include 100 regulars.

“Until I started doing this, I had no idea the level of poverty that existed locally,” said Brock Hutton, one of the regulars. “A lot of us are not young, but we dedicate our lives to God and the community. They (the Zerhusens) are the most caring people you can imagine. They are two of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever met.”

Service begins with getting to know clients.

“They will tell you their story,” Zerhusen said. “It’s often not a good story.”

After a divorce, Loretta Hall and her 10-year-old daughter lost their home and lived out of her car for two years. Their new residence was furnished by HOPE, including new beds.

“It means a lot,” Hall said. “We had a hard time finding housing. We lost everything in storage that we had, so it’s a blessing.”

While Zerhusen will step down at some point, he intends to remain involved.

“It’s part of me,” he said. “I’ve always told the Lord that as long as he gives me the health, I will continue to do it.”

Pope: Proclaim God’s love through care for needy

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While listening to and obeying God’s word brings healing and comfort to those in need, it also can attract disdain and even hatred from others, Pope Francis said.

Christians are called to proclaim the love of God through their care for the sick and the needy, like St. Peter and the other disciples who went to various cities bringing spiritual and physical healing to many, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Aug. 28. While Peter’s healing of the sick also “aroused the hatred of the Sadducees,” the pope said, his response to them to “obey God instead of men” is the “key to Christian life.”

“Let us also ask the Holy Spirit for the strength to not be frightened in the face of those who command us to be silent, who slander us and even threaten our lives,” he said. “Let us ask him to strengthen us inwardly to be certain of the loving and comforting presence of the Lord at our side.”

The pope continued his series of talks on the Acts of the Apostles and reflected on St. Peter’s role in leading the early church’s mission of proclaiming Christ’s love and of healing the sick and the suffering.

Today, like in St. Peter’s day, he said, “the sick are the privileged recipients of the joyous proclamation of the kingdom, they are brothers and sisters in whom Christ is present in a special way so that they may be sought out and found by all of us.”

“The sick are the privileged ones for the church, for the priestly heart, for all the faithful. They are not to be discarded; on the contrary, they are to be cured, to be cared for: they are the object of Christian concern,” the pope said.

Despite their good works, Christ’s early followers were subject to persecution by those who saw the miracles performed “not by magic but in the name of Jesus” and did not want to accept them.

“Their hearts were so hardened that they did not want to believe what they saw,” the pope explained.

Nevertheless, Pope Francis said, Peter’s response to obey God is a reminder for Christians today to listen to God “without reservation, without delay, without calculation” so that they may be united with him and with their neighbor, especially the poor and the sick.

“In the wounds of the sick, in the sicknesses that are impediments to moving forward in life, there is always the presence of Jesus,” he said. “There is Jesus who calls each of us to look after them, to support them, to heal them.”

Installation for Bishop Brennan focuses on light and service

WHEELING, W.Va. – Bishop Mark E. Brennan was welcomed Aug. 22 at St. Joseph Cathedral here as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which encompasses the state of West Virginia, in a ceremony filled with song and applause.

After processing into the cathedral, the bishop, who until now was auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, listened as Monsignor Walter Erbi, chargé d’affaires at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., read the papal bull of his appointment. Bishop Brennan held up the official document to the congregation “for those with good long-range vision,” he said to laughter and sustained applause.

Asked by Monsignor Erbi if he accepted the responsibility for which Pope Francis chose him, the bishop said, “With faith in Jesus Christ and with the help of God, I do accept the pastoral care of the people of God of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. I resolve to serve faithfully the spiritual needs of the local church.”

Monsignor Erbi represented Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the Unites States, who could not attend due to a meeting in Rome.

Then Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, who has been apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston since last September, led Bishop Brennan to the cathedra, the bishop’s chair, and handed him his new crozier, a wooden pastoral staff – taller than the bishop himself, – with a large curve at the top. Archbishop Lori noted that he has known Bishop Brennan since their days in the seminary.

“He is the strong, loving and wise shepherd we have been praying for,” Archbishop Lori said.

Bringing light to the darkness and service to the people were key themes of the liturgy, including musical selections such as “Christ Be Our Light” and “The Hand of the Lord,” as well as the bishop’s homily.

Quoting from the first reading from the prophet Isaiah, Bishop Brennan began his homily saying, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of gloom, a light has shone.”

That is an apt description of how Catholics in the U.S. and especially West Virginia have been dealing with anger, frustration and distrust of church leaders, he said, alluding to the former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield without mentioning him by name.

Bishop Bransfield resigned in September 2018 amid allegations of sexual harassment and financial mismanagement. Four days before Bishop Brennan was named as the new bishop, Pope Francis announced disciplinary actions for Bishop Bransfield, prohibiting him from living in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and from presiding or participating anywhere in any public celebration of the liturgy.

“The scandals we have learned about have caused painful disappointment, confusion, anger and distrust of church leaders. We have to face that situation with open eyes and determined spirits to bring about true and lasting change,” Bishop Brennan said.

But Isaiah’s message to the oppressed people does not end in darkness. “Listen to it again: ‘Upon those who lived in a land of gloom, a light has shone,’” the bishop said. “My friends, it takes no humility on my part to admit that I am not the light,” he said to some laughter from the congregation.

“The light is a child born to us. The light is Mary’s child, Jesus, who calls himself the Light of the World.” He said he hopes that by trusting in the Lord and the people’s prayers for him, he could bring some of that light to people, “as the moon reflects the sun.”

He said dealing with the consequences of past bad behavior is one of his responsibilities as the new bishop, and he promised to address it. But the church has to look forward with the strength to do better and to live the faith with integrity so as to reflect the Lord’s enduring light.

He noted that some people have stopped attending Mass in light of the scandals in the church and that others may have been tempted to stop.

“Unity with one another and with God is what God wants from us,” Bishop Brennan said.

He recounted the story of a man who told him he stopped going to Mass because of the scandals. But then he asked himself, “Who am I helping by staying away from church?” and he answered himself, “No one.” And who was he hurting by staying away? Only himself.

He has returned to Mass, although he remains eager to see the church address its failings and work toward reform.

“Walking away doesn’t help,” the bishop said.

His many years as a parish priest and two and a half years as a bishop have taught him that “the work of healing and renewal is the work of us all. Every one of us must find ways to reveal that light that overcomes all darkness.”

Story continues beneath livestream recording of the installation Mass below.

The concerns involve not just the misdeeds of the former bishop, the revelations of clergy sexual abuse or the irresponsibility of some bishops. There are also great obstacles in the path of human development, including the opioid epidemic in the state “that is robbing us of our relatives and friends”; poverty that envelops towns where the factories have closed and areas that have never known prosperity; the need for educational opportunities, which Catholic schools in the diocese can help address; and the hopelessness of many people that leads them to depression and to consider suicide.

“In the face of all these social evils and many others, we dare in this church to offer something better: good news. Good news in the midst of very bad news – news too good to keep to ourselves,” the bishop said.

“That experience of Christ as savior and lord, in his church, is something we must share with others.”

His voice rising to a crescendo as he concluded his homily, he urged the packed cathedral and an overflow crowd watching at the nearby WesBanco Arena to “let God fulfill his purpose in us and not let the darkness cover the earth.”

“We can right the wrongs of the past and move on to make Christ known. We can help our neighbor in need and remain united in faith and love.

“West Virginia Catholics, cherish your faith and the holy church,” Bishop Brennan said. “Make Mary’s ‘yes’ your own and work with me and your brothers and sisters to let the light of Christ be a light brightly visible in the mountains and valleys, the cities, streets and country roads of this beautiful part of God’s creation, West Virginia.”

The congregation erupted in applause.

At the end of the Mass, Bishop Brennan thanked Archbishop Lori for 40 years of friendship, for mentoring him as a bishop and for serving for nearly a year as apostolic administrator of the diocese.

He thanked fellow bishops, clergy, religious and lay people present, including interfaith representatives of the community, and members of the diocesan staff who worked under difficult circumstances since last fall.

“Most of all, I thank God for all his unceasing kindness over the years. I have let him down, but he has never let me down,” the bishop said. “From him all blessings flow.”

After the Mass, Bishop Brennan emerged on a small balcony on the corner of the cathedral, about 20 feet above the ground, to bless the people gathered and all of Wheeling.

Later, still in his liturgical vestments, he crossed the street to greet some of the residents of the Formosa Apartments directly facing the cathedral. Yvette Smith and Zyanne Hamlin, who live in the building, said they got “good vibes” from the bishop, and Smith said she might consider attending church when he is there.

“For him to come across the street personally and shake my hand, it stunned me,” Hamlin said.

Email Christopher Gunty at [email protected].

Also see:

West Virginians meet their new bishop as humble, holy man

Bishop Brennan pledges to be ‘good shepherd’ for West Virginia

Baltimore bids farewell to Bishop Brennan

Hypocrisy of ‘spiritual tourism’ destroys the church, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians who focus more on being superficially close to the church rather than care for their fellow brothers and sisters are like tourists who wander around aimlessly, Pope Francis said.

People “who are always passing by but never enter the church” in a fully communal way of sharing and caring engage in a sort of “spiritual tourism that makes them believe they are Christians but instead are only tourists of catacombs,” the pope said Aug. 21 during his weekly general audience. “A life based only on profiting and taking advantage of situations to the detriment of others inevitably causes inner death,” he said. “And how many people say they are close to the church, friends of priests and bishops yet only seek their own interests. These are the hypocrisies that destroy the church.”

During the audience, Clelia Manfellotti, a 10-year-old girl from Naples diagnosed with autism, walked up the steps to where the pope was sitting.

The pope told his security detail to “let her be. God speaks” through children, prompting the crowd to erupt in applause. While greeting the Italian-speaking pilgrims at the end of the audience, Pope Francis reflected on the young girl who is “a victim of an illness and doesn’t know what she is doing.”

“I ask one thing, but everyone should respond in their heart: ‘Did I pray for her; looking at her, did I pray so that the Lord would heal her, would protect her? Did I pray for her parents and for family?’ When we see any person suffering, we must always pray. This situation helps us to ask this question: ‘Did I pray for this person that I have seen, (this person) that is suffering?'” he asked.

In his catechesis, the pope continued his series of talks on the Acts of the Apostles, reflecting on the sharing of goods among the first Christian communities.

While sharing in prayer and the Eucharist united believers “in one heart and one soul,” the pope said that the sharing of goods helped the early Christians to care for one another and “kept away the scourge of poverty.”

“In this way, ‘koinonia,’ or communion, becomes the new way of relating between the disciples of the Lord. The bond with Christ establishes a bond between brothers and sisters that also converges and is expressed in the communion of material goods. Being members of the Body of Christ makes believers responsible for one another,” the pope explained.

However, the pope also recalled the example of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, two members of the early Christian church who suddenly died after it was revealed they withheld a part of the profit from the sale of their land from the apostles and the Christian community. Pope Francis explained that the doomed couple “lied to God because of an isolated conscience, a hypocritical conscience” that was based on a “partial and opportunistic belonging” to the church.

“Hypocrisy is the worst enemy of this Christian community, of this Christian love: that way of pretending to love one another but only seeking one’s own interest,” he said. “In fact, to fail in the sincerity of sharing or to fail in the sincerity of love means to cultivate hypocrisy, to distance oneself from the truth, to become selfish, to extinguish the fire of communion and to destine oneself to the chill of inner death.”

Before concluding his talk, the pope prayed that God would “pour out his spirit of tenderness and circulate that truth which nourishes Christian solidarity.”

The sharing of goods, Pope Francis said, is “far from being an activity of social assistance” but rather “the indispensable expression of the nature of the church, the tender mother of all, especially the poorest.”

VIDEO: We are Baltimore!

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is proud to call the city home since 1789! Check out the video below. #WeAreBaltimore

Bishops’ actions at spring meeting called a ‘work in progress’

BALTIMORE — The gathering of U.S. bishops June 11-13 in Baltimore was anything but business as usual.

“The spring meetings are usually more pastoral, and the November meeting has a heavier agenda,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, who said this meeting had a “sense of urgency” and momentum to it, both in the smaller group gatherings and when the bishops were all together.

“We were here for specific task … and by God’s grace we will move forward,” he said during a June 12 news conference.

The bishops typically meet twice a year as a body. The spring meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is usually in June at different locations each year, and sometimes it is a retreat. The fall meeting in recent years has always been in Baltimore. This year’s spring meeting was switched somewhat last minute to the Baltimore location where the bishops were not the only ones in the hotel space but were adjacent to other conference gatherings.

The other time a spring bishops’ meeting was almost entirely devoted to the church crisis was the 2002 meeting in Dallas, just months after the church was reeling from a clergy sexual abuse crisis that made headlines in The Boston Globe.

But where that meeting focused on misconduct by priests, this year’s meeting looked at responding to the misconduct of some bishops and the failure of some bishops to properly address abuse.

Since their two general assemblies last year, the bishops have been confronted with an overwhelming need to prove to U.S. Catholics that abuse within their own ranks won’t be tolerated. They were hit with allegations last summer that one of their own, former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, had committed abuses over decades. Then just a week before the spring meeting, details emerged from the Vatican-ordered investigation of retired Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, highlighting financial and sexual improprieties.

Names of both bishops came up during the assembly at different points, when the bishops spoke about protocols to put in place to make sure these incidents wouldn’t happen again.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, opened the meeting June 11 by saying: “We begin the sacred work this week of purging the evil of sexual abuse from our church.”

But just the week before, he had faced his own accusation, which he strongly denied, of having mishandled an accusation of sexual misconduct case against his former vicar general.

The bishops also had the weight of unfinished business upon them in this spring’s gathering: policies and procedures in response to the abuse crisis that they had put aside at last year’s fall general assembly at the Vatican’s request. They also had a new, but related, item: their plan to implement Pope Francis’ norms issued May 9 to help the church safeguard its members from abuse and hold its leaders accountable.

Although the bishops passed all the abuse measures before them, none of them said these actions would hit the reset button for the church. In closing remarks, Cardinal DiNardo acknowledged that the steps they had taken were a “work in progress.”

They voted to implement the norms contained in the pope’s “motu proprio” on responding to sexual abuse in the church and they also approved all of their own measures including a promise to hold themselves accountable to the commitments of their “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” including a zero- tolerance policy for abuse.

“We, the bishops of the U.S., have heard the anger expressed by so many within and outside the church over these failures,” that document said, adding: “The anger is justified; it has humbled us, prompting us into self-examination, repentance and a desire to do better, much better. We will continue to listen.”

In other votes, the bishops approved actions they can take when a retired bishop resigns or is removed “due to sexual misconduct with adults or grave negligence of office, or where subsequent to his resignation he was found to have so acted or failed to act.” They also approved the implementation of an independent third-party system that would allow people to make confidential reports of abuse complaints against bishops through a toll-free number and online.

“It’s right we give attention to this,” Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said at the closing news conference. He said the collateral damage from the church abuse scandal is how it is “costing people their faith.”

He also stressed that the possibility of “proceeding with what we passed today” without laypeople would be impossible and “highly irresponsible.”

Bishop Robert P. Deeley of Portland, Maine, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, which oversaw the all of the abuse documents the bishops voted on, except for the third-party system, told reporters at the close of the meeting that bishops are already collaborating with the laity. We are not in a church where the laypeople are here, and the bishops are there, he said, gesturing a gap.

Although some bishops had voiced hope on the floor June 13 that there be mandatory lay participation in church abuse monitoring, Bishop Deeley said the bishops couldn’t “go beyond what the Holy Father has given” in the norms he issued, but that doesn’t mean laity are or will be excluded, he said.

That was precisely the point Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, hoped to bring home near the meeting’s close when he emphasized the need to involve laypeople because “it’s the Catholic thing to do.”

He said when bishops go home from this meeting, they should be able to tell people they did everything they were able to do to respond to this crisis.

He told Catholic News Service during a break in the meeting June 13 that the church needs to get back to its origins and the Second Vatican Council’s vision of lay collaboration with clergy, adding: “Perhaps God is utilizing this crisis in a way to get us back on track again.” For ongoing coverage of the bishops’ meeting, click here.

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Bishops approve third-party reporting system; to be in place by May 31

BALTIMORE — A nationwide third-party system for receiving confidential reports of “certain complaints” against bishops took a step closer to being implemented during the spring general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In a series of three votes June 12, the bishops voted overwhelmingly to authorize the implementation of a system that would allow people to make reports through a toll- free telephone number as well as online.

The system, which would be operated by an outside vendor contracted by the USCCB, would be in place no later than May 31, 2020, under the proposal accepted by the bishops.

The plan met with widespread support during a 35-minute discussion on the second day of the spring assembly. The full body of bishops voted on three separate measures governing the implementation of the system.

Anthony Picarello, USCCB associate general secretary, presented the proposal to the assembly at the request of Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, conference president.

Picarello said the reporting system would fall in line with the requirements of Pope Francis’ “motu proprio” “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), issued in May. Among its mandates, the document requires dioceses and eparchies worldwide to establish “one or more public, stable and easily accessible systems for submission of reports.” It set June 1, 2020, as a deadline.

All reports would be funneled through a central receiving hub, which would then be responsible for sending allegations to the appropriate metropolitan, or archbishop, responsible for each diocese in a province and to the papal nunciature in Washington, Picarello explained. The U.S. has 32 metropolitans.

The metropolitans will be responsible for reporting any allegation to local law enforcement authorities as the first step toward investigating a claim.

In response to a question from a bishop, Picarello said reports of alleged abuse or complaints about how cases are handled by a bishop will continue to be taken by individual dioceses and eparchies.

Some dioceses already have reporting systems in place. The May 31 deadline was set to allow those systems and each metropolitan to align procedures to be able to accept the reports from the nationwide hotline, Picarello said.

Although the deadline for implementation is nearly one year away, Picarello added, the USCCB hopes the full system can be in place sooner.

“I can assure the Executive Committee along with the Administrative Committee, we want this thing done as quickly as possible,” Cardinal DiNardo told the assembly. “But we want to make sure the metropolitans are in on this, and we can only go as fast as the metropolitans can go on this.”

The Archdiocese of Baltimore already has a third-party reporting system in place.

In an interview with the Catholic Review, Archbishop William E. Lori noted that after the November bishops’ meeting when the conference was asked by the Vatican to hold off on voting on such measures until after a global bishops’ summit in February, he went home and asked what he and his auxiliary bishops in Baltimore could do within the current standards.

“We were able to put in a third-party reporting system that applies to myself and my auxiliary bishops, a reporting system that goes to two of the lay members of our review board who are retired judges, to the nuncio (the pope’s representative in the U.S.) and to law enforcement,” he said.

The first vote at the June 12 bishops meeting concerned putting a nationwide reporting system in place; it passed 205-16, with three abstentions.

In the second vote, the bishops agreed that the USCCB executive and administrative committees would develop a more detailed proposal regarding how the system would operate. It passed 200-21, with two abstentions.

Details and cost estimates would be reviewed in September by the bishops’ Administrative Committee, which includes the officers and the chairmen of the various conference committees.

The same committee in November — prior to the bishops’ fall general assembly — would then review scripts and other relevant details after the selection of a vendor. The Executive Committee would continue to oversee implementation of the program.

The final vote — passing 220-4 with 1 abstention — committed the bishops to having the reporting system operational by May 31.

The proposal also calls for the online segment to contain a link that could be posted on any diocesan or eparchial website as well as the USCCB website.

Bishop Robert D. Conlon of Joliet, Illinois, said publicizing the phone and online reporting system will be key. “The last thing we want is to be accused of not being transparent of a system we are setting up,” he said.

Cardinal DiNardo said the reporting system as well as follow-up on how well it is working will be subject to review in three years, as called for under “Vos estis lux mundi.” Pope Francis’ document is a new universal church law that safeguards members from abuse and holds its leaders accountable. It governs complaints against clergy or church leaders regarding the sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable persons.

The Executive Committee presented a proposal for a third-party reporting system to receive complaints against bishops to the Administrative Committee in September. After being accepted, the plan was initially among a series of steps to respond to the ongoing sexual abuse crisis that was to be voted on during the USCCB’s general assembly last fall.

However, those votes were postponed at the request of the Vatican until after Pope Francis convened a meeting of the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world to discuss a unified response to the crisis.

For ongoing coverage of the bishops’ meeting, click here.

Cardinal DiNardo calls bishops to be trustworthy like Barnabas

BALTIMORE — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo focused on the feast of St. Barnabas in his homily June 11 during a Mass at the end of the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring meeting.

The archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the USCCB, Cardinal DiNardo noted that the Acts of the Apostles tells about the life of the first Christian community, in which early followers witnessed to the Resurrection and shared their gifts in common. “The church lives in glorious beauty and freedom for one chapter — until they start fighting in chapter six over the distribution” of the goods in the community.

He said that Barnabas and Paul were often linked in Scripture because Barnabas first introduced Paul to the Apostles. “The newly converted Paul is coming to Jerusalem, but the disciples are afraid of Paul. They stand aside. Who’s the one person who goes and gets Paul? It’s Barnabas.”

Later, the pair come down Jerusalem for the Council of Jerusalem, where the community wants Barnabas. “They listen to Paul, but it’s Barnabas they trust,” the cardinal said.

As Paul increases in prominence in the life of the early church, Barnabas becomes a kind of footnote of history. “We still remember him,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “That’s something to keep in mind this week” as the bishops discussed ministries and the urgent action they must take regarding episcopal accountability in the abuse crisis.

“We have to do it and make sure that our credibility comes to be like Barnabas’, that we are respected,” he continued. “And that sometimes comes by being assertive and really showing ourselves and sometimes comes by being like Barnabas,” taking a back seat to Paul.

“I know in my local church, there are many people who want to be Pauls. And every now and then, I really appreciate someone who just wants to be a Barnabas. And maybe you’ve discovered that, too,” the cardinal told the nearly 300 bishops gathered for the meeting.

“Today we honor Barnabas in our desire to do God’s will and to do it carefully and with discretion but also with what the Holy Father calls boldness — apostolic boldness,” he said.

The Holy Spirit is anointing the bishops’ flocks. “He has appointed us. Ours is hard work to do this week. He anoints our people to be witnesses to Jesus Christ like Barnabas,” who believed in his resurrection and shared his gifts with the poor. “That became almost a recipe, and for it, he was trusted. That’s my son of consolation. May we be sons of consolation, too,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

For ongoing coverage of the bishops’ meeting, click here.

Bishops to consider 10-point plan to acknowledge ‘episcopal commitments’

BALTIMORE — The U.S. bishops are set to vote on a 10-point statement, “Affirming Our Episcopal Commitments,” in which the bishops hope to regain “the trust of the people of God.”

The vote on the document is expected June 13, the final day of the U.S. bishops’ June 11-13 spring general assembly in Baltimore. They received a preliminary presentation on it June 11.

The bishops were scheduled to discuss the statement at last November’s general meeting, but a vote was put on hold after the Vatican asked the bishops to not pass any proposals regarding clerical sexual abuse until it had had sufficient time to review those proposals.

In 2002, the bishops approved a “Statement of Episcopal Commitment,” in which they declared that the provisions of the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” applied to them as well.

But a stronger response was called for after last summer’s revelations of the decades-long abuses committed by Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal who was laicized earlier this year, and the release in August of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on a months-long investigation into abuse claims against clergy and other church workers in six Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses over a 70-year period, beginning in 1947.

The week before the bishops’ meeting, details emerged from the Vatican-ordered investigation of former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, spelling out a multitude of financial and sexual improprieties. Bishop Bransfield resigned last September, shortly after fresh allegations of sexual misconduct involving adults were reported against him — the first allegations surfaced in 2012 and dated back to the 1970s, when he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, who was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese last September, restricted Bishop Bransfield’s ministry. Archbishop Lori also was charged with overseeing the investigation.

“Some bishops have failed in keeping to these promises (made at their episcopal ordination) by committing acts of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct themselves,” the text of the proposed new statement says. “Others have failed by not responding morally, pastorally and effectively to allegations of abuse or misconduct perpetrated by other bishops, priests and deacons. Because of these failures, the faithful are outraged, horrified and discouraged.”

The statement adds, “The anger is justified; it has humbled us, prompting us into self-examination, repentance and a desire to do better, much better. We will continue to listen.”

“In his personal letter to the U.S. bishops in January 2019, Pope Francis reminded us that the consequences of our failures cannot be fixed by being administrators of new programs or new committees. They can only be resolved by humility, listening, self-examination and conversion.”

The document, presented June 11 by Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, has been updated from a version mailed to bishops in May. The previous document, then titled “Acknowledging Our Episcopal Commitments,” had nine points. The current version has 10.

The newest point reads: “We are also committed … to include the counsel of lay men and women whose professional backgrounds are indispensable.”

Other points in the proposed document include:

— “We will continue to reach out to the victims/survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy and their families in support of their spiritual and emotional well-being” so they can “find the care and healing they need.”

— Pledging that the requirements of the 2002 charter “apply to bishops as well as to priests and deacons and commit to hold ourselves and, fraternally, hold our fellow bishops to comply fully with the charter’s ‘Statement of Episcopal Commitment.'”

— Promote and disseminate details on how abuse can be reported to an independent third-party entity. “While safeguarding confidentiality of all persons involved, every effort will be made toward transparency and keeping the reporter appraised of the status of the case.”

— Amend if necessary diocesan codes of conduct to state “unequivocally” that they also apply to bishops.

— “Make sure that these codes of conduct contain proper explanations as to what constitutes sexual misconduct with adults as well as what constitutes sexual harassment of adults.”

— “We will be always mindful that there can be no ‘double life,’ no ‘special circumstances,’ no ‘secret life’ in the practice of chastity.”

— Quoting from the 2004 Vatican directory for the pastoral ministry of bishops, “Apostolorum Successores,” and Pope Francis’ May “motu proprio,” titled “Vos Estis Lux Mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), “our first response will be to provide for the pastoral care of the person who is making the allegation, as well as follow the established church and civil procedures to investigation. This will be done in cooperation with lay experts and civil authorities.”

— Participate in gatherings “in regard to best practices in dealing with sexual abuse of minors, and sexual misconduct with or sexual harassment of adults.”

— When proposing names of potential future bishops, “we will offer candidates truly suitable for the episcopacy.”

Cardinal Tobin told his fellow bishops June 11 that it was “the expressed desire” of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “to include bishops in the requirements of the charter (‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” approved in 2002) in a way that didn’t require a change in the Essential Norms,” also passed in 2002 and are considered particular church law for the United States.

It represents, he said, “a pledge to hold ourselves and one another to complying fully to the ‘Statement of Episcopal Commitment,'” also approved in 2002. “We can’t immediately change the Essential Norms, but we have the possibility of taking what is said in the charter and applying it to ourselves.”

For ongoing coverage of the bishops’ meeting, click here.

Archbishop Lori addresses preliminary report on Bishop Michael Bransfield

In a June 7 video message, Archbishop William E. Lori addresses a preliminary report following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and financial improprieties against Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, former bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va.

Watch below:

Also see:

Q&A regarding Bishop Bransfield Report

Archbishop Lori adds details on Bishop Bransfield investigation

WBAL-TV: Archbishop Lori says he made the wrong call

Priestly martyrdom to uphold seal of confession not a new phenomenon

NEW YORK — A symbol of the historical commitment priests have to the seal of confession greets people as they cross the threshold of a Catholic church in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Above the door is a stone-carved image of St. John Nepomucene holding two fingers to his lips, signifying that priests must never reveal what is said to them in the confessional, even if that means paying the ultimate sacrifice of death.

This church is named for St. John Nepomucene — considered the patron saint for the seal of confession — and it’s adorned with artwork that tells the story of this 14th- century Bohemian priest who chose death rather than reveal what was said during the sacrament of penance.

His story demonstrates how seriously the Catholic Church takes the privilege between priest and penitent that a member of the clergy is willing to sacrifice his freedom, or even his life, to protect the seal of confession, said Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, a canon and civil lawyer who teaches at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.

It also shows that the current struggle for the church to have governments fully respect the sanctity of the seal of confession is not a new one, Father Pietrzyk told Catholic News Service in a May interview.

St. John Nepomucene was born sometime around 1340 and became a popular priest in what was then known as Bohemia. Ultimately, he was invited to be a confessor at the court of King Wenceslaus IV in Prague.

According to historical accounts, a jealous King Wenceslaus ordered John Nepomucene to tell him what his wife, Queen Johanna, revealed in the confessional and when he refused to break the seal of confession, the ruler made threats of torture and eventually had him bound and thrown off the Charles Bridge in Prague, where he drowned March 20, 1393.

Father John Nepomucene’s martyrdom for the seal of confession was accepted by the church and he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1729.

“St. John Nepomucene is a symbol of what all priests know and that is the seal of confession is absolute and the privilege between priest is penitent must be absolute,” said Father Richard D. Baker, pastor of St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in New York City. “What happens there never, never is repeated.”

Father Pietrzyk makes a point of sharing this chapter in church history with the seminarians he teaches in his penance class at St. Patrick’s Seminary to help them understand why priests are willing to be martyred to protect the sanctity of confession.

“To be a priest in the world today means to be a man of courage,” he said. “The sacredness of the sacrament is one thing they are committed to upholding and they do so with eyes open. They know the dangers and they are willing to undertake them because this is what God is calling them to do. This is what Christ is calling them to do.”

The Code of Canon Law states the penalty for a priest who violates the seal of confession is automatic excommunication, which can only be lifted by the pope himself.

The punishment is that severe because penitents must be able to confess their sins in specificity in order to be reconciled with God and trust that the priest will honor confidentiality of the confessional, said Father Thomas V. Berg, professor of moral theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York.

A bill going through the California Legislature would require a priest to report to civil authorities information concerning child sexual abuse learned in the confessional by another member of the clergy or a co-worker.

“I don’t think it would be a difficult decision for a priest to make when faced with this dilemma. Break the seal or go to jail? Absolutely, I would not break the seal of confession,” said Father Ryan P. Lewis of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Omaha, Nebraska. “I would go to jail.”

Though St. John Nepomucene is the most well-known martyr for the seal of confession, other priests throughout history were either jailed or condemned to death rather than reveal what was confessed in the sacrament of penance, including three in the 20th century.

St. Mateo Correa Magallanes, canonized by St. John Paul II in 2000, was shot to death in 1927 in Mexico after refusing the orders of Gen. Eulogio Ortiz to reveal the contents of the confessions of imprisoned members of an insurgency movement, the Cristeros.

He was joined by two Spanish priests — Blessed Felipe Ciscar Puig and Blessed Fernando Olmedo — both considered martyrs of the sacramental seal, executed in 1936 for refusing to reveal the contents of confessions of prisoners held during the Spanish Civil War.

Toward the end of the 20th century, Father Timothy J. Mockaitis of Eugene, Oregon, was engaged in his own battle against the state where he ministered to keep secret the contents of a 1996 confession he heard from a detention center inmate.

Father Mockaitis had been a chaplain at the Lane County Adult Detention Center at the time when he learned the confession he heard from an inmate and a suspect in a murder case had been secretly taped by jail officials and a state prosecutor was attempting to secure a legal way of listening to it.

The Archdiocese of Portland and Father Mockaitis objected to this use of a confession, demanded that the tape be destroyed and pursued the case through the legal system.

The 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals eventually ruled that the state of Oregon could not use the tape in a prosecution, but, it didn’t order the destruction of the recording.

“So, we only viewed this as a partial victory,” Father Mockaitis told CNS in a May interview. “As far as I know, that tape is still sitting in an evidence locker somewhere. That tape is a symbol of the state’s violation of a sacramental confession and a violation of religious freedom.

“It’s an affront to the separation of church and state and the fact that it still exists is a slap in the face to the church,” said Father Mockaitis, who wrote a 2008 book titled “The Seal: A Priest’s Story,” recounting the episode. “The fact is, in a country whose foundation is based on religious freedom, this tape never should have been made in the first place.”

History shows there have been attempts by governments to obtain information revealed in the confessional for centuries, an effort that continues today. In the past two years lawmakers in the U.S., Australia and Chile, have crafted legislation that would compel priests to violate the seal of confession, in one form or another, to address the global child sexual-abuse crisis, said Father Ronald T. Kunkel, theology professor at Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Illinois, near Chicago.

Father Kunkel has told seminarians at Mundelein to be prepared for the state to try and compel them, in some circumstances, to break the seal of confession.

“That threat is very real,” he said, “and that is something we simply cannot do.”