Madam, – In the light of the Ryan report and the forthcoming Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report we would like to propose that a Day of Repentance be organised by our church leaders as an expression of sorrow to God for the abuse of children by clergy and religious.
We are asking for a Day of Repentance rather than a day of atonement/reparation, which of course is also necessary to make up for the awful suffering that was imposed on the victims.
We as Catholics have failed to be salt and light in our society.
We have failed to be the church He called us to be. Peter’s words in Acts 3:19 are surely very relevant to us Irish Catholics today: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Has not God promised that if his people will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways that He will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14)? Jesus, though he knew no sin, identified with us sinful people. The prophet Nehemiah was a righteous man yet he identified with the sins of his people.
So in the same way we, his followers, need to identify with our fellow Catholics who have sinned against children. We would love to see a special gathering where we could, as a church, repent before the Lord as Nehemiah did, acknowledging that he and his forebears had sinned.
The archdiocese is about to launch a Year of Evangelisation at the end of this month. This is a wonderful initiative, which we fully support. It will focus on the gospel of St Luke. Pope John Paul II stated that evangelisation is not about getting more people to attend Mass but to first bring them into a personal relationship with Jesus. He said: “New evangelisation demands that you present, with fresh enthusiasm and new methods the . . . Christian faith . . . It is not a matter of merely passing on a doctrine, but rather of a personal and profound meeting with the Saviour.”
For this evangelisation initiative to be successful we surely need to come in humble repentance before the Lord. The Augustinian Priest, Fr Michael Mernagh, courageously walked from Cobh to Dublin after Christmas as a personal initiative in repentance for clerical child abuse. Often we hear our bishops express deep sorrow and shame for how they have mishandled the abuse issue, but a more fundamental issue as a whole church is to repent before the Lord.
Here in Dublin the day could take the form of a Liturgy of Repentance, say in the Pro Cathedral with a walk to the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park and followed later perhaps by a pilgrimage to Glendalough. We hope it would be an encouragement to the abuse victims to see that the Catholic Church in Dublin is taking the scandal seriously. Our prayer is that it would release healing grace for the victims. – Yours, etc,