Statement of Bishop Paul Sirba:
I know the answer is Jesus Christ. Hope is found in the dying and rising of Jesus. The day of restoration and renewal will happen through the mercy of Jesus and our full cooperation in the work of the Redemption of Jesus Christ. I can also hear Jesus saying, “I’ve got this.”
For the past five years, in a more intense way — the first revelations go back to the 1980s and 1990s — Catholics in the state of Minnesota have been exposed to the sins of the Church’s priests and bishops. Now the Church in Pennsylvania and across the nation has had to look at the horrendous sin of sexual abuse of minors and the failures of the Church in protecting the people of God, yet again.
We need to name the shame, anger, and sadness. The sexual abuse of minors, episcopal failures, cover-ups and enabling behaviors, homosexual subcultures in the priesthood, and sins against celibacy must be confessed, rooted out, and repaired. To quote Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, “We are faced with a spiritual crisis that requires not only spiritual conversion, but practical changes to avoid repeating the sins and failures of the past that are so evident in the recent report.”
When it comes the crime of the abuse of minors, our hearts break open as sordid details call for independent investigations and the work of very trusted lay faithful to assist the bishops within the Church to remedy the problems. In the tumult, we must never lose our focus of providing healing for the victims and help for those who have been hurt and preventing this sin in the future.
Our experience of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Diocese of Duluth is unique to us in some ways, but the underlying sinful human condition is universal and will be brought to light across our nation and our world. While we have been living with the crisis most recently through our bankruptcy, we have to be spiritually prepared for whatever new revelations may come to light in other parts of the Body of Christ, as well. This purification, although excruciatingly painful, is necessary for healing. The light of Christ scatters the darkness of sin and evil.
The Scriptures that come to mind for me are: “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin” (Luke 17:2), the parable of the weeds among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30), the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-8). These and other sacred texts provide ample reflection for my personal conversion and institutional change.
I have said that the protection of our youth and providing the safest environment for our young people is the work of our lifetime. I know our efforts in the Diocese of Duluth have made a difference. As a diocese we will continue to offer prayers for healing and reparation. I ask the clergy, religious, and lay faithful to pray and fast so as to lead the Church to enact canonical changes that hold bishops accountable, protect men discerning a call to the priesthood, and lead to new mechanisms of holding bishops accountable that have never been in place before to safeguard our children and restore trust.
I apologize and humbly ask your forgiveness for what I and my fellow bishops have done or failed to do. I am sorry for anyone who has been hurt and the scandal caused in the Body of Christ.
Bishop Paul D. Sirba is the ninth bishop of Duluth.
“I’ve got this.” -Jesus.
Amen.
He has it. It may not bring us the answers or soultions we want at this moment in time, but nonetheless Jesus has this. I like that. Moving forward with new policies. No homosexual priests is a start. For the sake of the young…no more!
Philip, it isn’t just the homosexuals. The latest allegation is against a priest in the Allentown Diocese for improper behavior (showing a nude picture of himself, etc.) to a teenage girl. Most likely the homosexuals are too large majority, but it’s also heterosexual sin and pedophilia against young girls that enters into it.
Thank you Mr. Kurland.
I do realize that heterosexual predators exist however the larger problem, greatest numbers, is with the homosexual priesthood.
God help us, his Church.
Giving consent to a mortal sin excommunicates the sinner before he enacts his crime. There are no sex abusers in the Catholic Church as they have all excommunicated themselves. Those committing crimes and not removing themselves must be removed forcibly, defrocked, laicised and excommunicated permanently. Allowing a pervert to reside in a monastery enjoying his perversion or a murderer to enjoy his first degree homicide crime in prison is a crime, a crime against Justice, God’s perfect Justice. These criminals have FREELY chosen to be an abomination.
Stop wringing the hands and start cleansing the temple. Only the truly repentant deserve compassion and mercy. The rest have chosen hell and are enjoying the trip. God does not revoke free will.
“Philip, it isn’t just the homosexuals.”
In reading various bishops’ statements, along with the pope’s, a person would be led to believe it isn’t about homosexuals AT ALL. Why are they afraid to say the word? Why don’t they ever quote the sections of Sacred Scripture which condemn homosexuality? We all know the answers to those questions.
DJR.
Why indeed?
Is the lavender mafia that entrenched into the Church?
Are they afraid of loosing parishioners if they speak the truth?
A smaller church was prophesied by Pope Emeritus years ago; https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/pope-benedicts-church-prediction
The snake must be very large and it’s head will be crushed. We can bank on it!
@Mary de Voe — Do you even know what “excommunication” means? It seems not. Someone who is excommunicated cannot be absolved of his sins until the excommunication is lifted, unless there is an immediate danger of death. And no, your parish priest does not have the authority to lift most excommunications. If you were right when you said, “Giving consent to a mortal sin excommunicates the sinner before he enacts his crime,” the sacrament of Confession would be basically useless. Oh, and you are sailing pretty close to the heresy of Donatism.
Have you ever noticed that Romans 1:18-32 never comes up in the Daily or Sunday Mass readings?
“Jesus, got this” ????
What use are Bishops then?
Two options:
1. If you were part of this resign.
2. If you were not part of this, call on others who were to resign.
)Oh the human shame? We can’t do that!)
Hey better now, than eternity.
You do believe in eternity, right?
“Jesus got this.”
We should beware saying that for indeed He does have this. His mercy on the innocent may mean His punishment for the guilty. Further, He may be getting sick and tired of all this crap and release His protecting hand. One little burp from the Yellowstone Super Volcano, one little corona mass ejection from our sun, one little asteroid impact, and all that wonderful technoligy we have goes bye bye. He’ll leave a remnant. He did with Israel. But beware saying “He’s got this,” because He might show us just how much He does have this.
I’m tired of Bishops passing the buck, sharing the responsibility for this (everyone fast) and not actually doing anything.
Of course Jesus has things in hand. The question is, are Bishops taking responsibility and acting in assistance, or are they just saying “You got this -to Jesus.”
Bishop Paul Sirba stated; “I can also hear Jesus saying;” ” I’ve got this.”
My take is not a flee from responsibility. On the contrary, imo, it is an acknowledgement that the Bishop needs to trust that the Almighty God isn’t going to sit this one out. Rolling human dice at the galatic craps table isn’t His play either. This is the trust that we will see his hand in cleansing the Temple.
It won’t be a lightning strike on top of St. Peters Basilica but my guess is that it will be divinely appointment persons who will help as His instruments.
The Saints of old attest to this by their very lives.
Jesus has our back on this one. Prayers and fasting IS the very best thing you can do right now. Don’t believe me? Than curse the darkness and reap your reward. Prayers and fasting from us, the laity, is an unseen power that can be proven by the witness of a religious sister from Ohio who trusted God and launched a Catholic Media Icon called EWTN. Fishing lures, prayers and fasting.
Please don’t underestimate the power of prayer and fasting.
Now we must help sweep the Temple clean. Our Father -who art in heaven- hollowed be they name….
“About fifty years ago, Goffman published an article called, “On Cooling the Mark Out: Some Aspects of Adaptation to Failure.”…
“Goffman observed that the con men had a further strategy to deal with the mark who was not willing to keep quiet about the whole embarrassing affair and “squawked” or “beefed” to the police. When the con men were confronted with such an angry mark, an additional step called “cooling the mark out” was added to the game: “one of the operators stays with the mark and makes an effort to keep the anger of the mark within manageable and sensible proportions … and exercises upon the mark the art of consolation.” This “cooler” tries to define the situation for the mark “in a way that makes it easy for him to accept the inevitable and quietly go home. The mark is given instruction in the philosophy of taking a loss.””
https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2002/10/31/cooling-the-mark-out/
For your discernment.
Fr. Scanlan’s “Word of Knowledge” is worth the read.
The following is interesting in that evil is being unmasked and choices are being made by all to follow their leader.
Archives: The Prophetic Pulse: Metaphors?
April 16, 2018 by sd
We have long seen how all the prophecies, locutions, and endless visions — literally, thousands of them — have foreseen a time of tremendous storms, war, earthquakes splitting our continent in two, and assorted other cataclysms. We speak about this at retreats, among other topics. We have ones planned for Connecticut/NYC and Ohio.
A question can be how many of these supposed precognitions are to be taken literally or whether at least some of them, the legitimate ones, are metaphors.
If metaphors, they have largely begun to materialize.
For example, quakes: We have spoken to a number of people who say they were shown great rents in the earth in the Midwest and even formation of a large inland sea or lake. Might this symbolize the cultural, economic, and political division currently tearing asunder America? Image result for california break off ocean wiki
Might visions of California breaking off into the Pacific be a metaphor for the conflict that state now has with Washington over immigration — with the state refusing to obey mandates from the federal government and openly talking of secession (while internally, various factions speak of breaking the state into two or three smaller ones)?
Could prophecies of various invasions — from Russians, Chinese, or Islamists — be a metaphor for the cyber-attacks from those nations or the slipping across the border of terrorists?
Perhaps.
The view from here is that both may materialize: first the metaphoric rendition, with precursors in nature (these too we already see), then literal upheavals in the way of megalithic tremors.
Years ago, when I led a pilgrimage to Ireland with Father Michael Scanlan of Franciscan University, I asked this charismatic, Marian priest what he saw for the future and his reply was that we were approaching a some kind of “high-point event.” I thought that was a good way of putting it. We have seen many precursors, but not yet the kind of high-point event many anticipate (although 9/11 in some ways fit the bill).
Image result for father michael scanlanYears before — on January 13, 1980 — this astute priest (a graduate of Harvard law school, as well as one of the first to write a book about Medjugorje) presented his own “word of knowledge” pertaining to the future — one that met the general outline of apparitions that began in earnest a year later. It is a prophecy worth our note, as the times he foresaw materialize:
“The Lord God says ‘Hear My Word.’ The time that has been marked by My blessings and gifts is being replaced now by a period to be marked by my judgment and purification.
“What I have not accomplished by blessings and gifts, I will accomplish by judgment and purification. My people, My Church is desperately in need of this judgment. They have continued in an adulterous relationship with the spirit of this world. They are not only infected with sin, but they teach sin, pamper sin, embrace sin, dismiss sin… Leadership unable to handle it… fragmentation, confusion throughout the ranks. Satan goes where he will and infects who he will. He has free access throughout My people and I will not stand for this.
Image result for father michael scanlan“My people specially blessed in this renewal are more under the spirit of the world than they are under the Spirit of My baptism. They are more determined with fear for what others will think of them, fears of failure and rejection in the world, loss of respect by neighbors and superiors and those around them than they are by fear of me and fear of infidelity to My Word. Therefore your situation is very weak. Your power is so limited. You cannot be considered at this point in the center of the battle and the conflict that is going on.
“So this time is now come upon all of you – a time of judgment and of purification. Sin will be called sin. Satan will be unmasked. Fidelity will be held up for what it is and should be.
“My faithful servants will be seen and will come together. They will not be many in number. It will be a difficult and a necessary time. There will be collapse, difficulties throughout the world, but – more to the issue – there will be Image result for father michael scanlanpurification and persecution among My people. You will have to stand for that which you believe. You will have to choose between the world and me. You will have to choose what word you will follow and who you will respect. And in that choice what has not been accomplished by the time of blessing and gifts will be accomplished.
“What has not been accomplished in the baptism and the flooding of gifts of My Spirit will be accomplished in a baptism of fire.
“The fire will move among you individually, corporately, in groups and around the world. I will not tolerate the situation that is going on. I will not tolerate the mixture and the adulterous treating of gifts and graces and blessings with infidelity, sin, and prostitution.
“My time is now among you. What you need to do is to come before me in total submission to my word, in total submission to My plan.
“In the total submission of this hour, what you need to do is to drop the things that are your own, the things of the past. What you need to do is to see yourselves and those whom you have responsibility for in the light of this hour of judgment and purification. You need to see them in that way and do for them what will best help them to stand strong and be among My faithful servants.
“For there will be casualties. It will not be easy, but it is necessary. It is necessary that My people be in fact My people, that My Church be in fact My Church, and that My Spirit in fact bring forth the purity of life, purity, and fidelity to the Gospel.”
–MHB
I hear you Philip! “Jesus I trust in You”
I know He does want our “real and active participation” in fighting this spiritual warfare…which of course is to worship and praise Him. ( best in the Mass when we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus accepting and offering Him (through our fiat) to the Father. Worship and reverence are our first tools in the warfare.
At a church meeting the committee was trying to find just the right video to show the adults of the parish, to teach them the holiness of the mass. No video will teach them that.
They have been going to mass for 40 or 50 years and they do not sense the reverence, the fear of God. The Mass is a friendly service around a table of pretty-much equals, shored up by moral admonition and fellowship music.
God has us all in His Hands and Hearts and our response to that is to love and worship Him in Truth.