I’ve read Cardinal Wuerl’s August 30th letter to Priests of Washington, DC.
And so, here’s my take away regarding what the Cardinal is asking of his Priests.
His Eminence states:
This Sunday in our churches all across this great archdiocese, I ask you please to let your people – the men, women and children – we love and minister to and hold in our pastoral care know that I do recognize and share their pain. Let them know I wish I could wipe it away even though that is simply not possible. I would give anything, as would all of us, to turn the clock around and have the Church do everything right. But I do join them in sorrow for all that has happened. I plead for their prayerful support as I with you and them try to do whatever I can to help move this Church closer to the pathway that leads us from this darkness.
Toward the end of the letter, Cardinal Wuerl writes:
Would you please let the faithful you serve know of my love, my commitment to do whatever is necessary to right what is wrong, and my sincere solidarity with you and them.
So, if I got this right -- and help me if I didn’t -- Cardinal Wuerl is asking the Pastors and Priests of the Archdiocese to go out there this weekend and, from the pulpits all around town, to fight the good fight by running interference between himself and the People of God he was appointed to serve as their Chief Shepherd.
That’s it, isn’t it?
Hey guys, go out there tell the folks how sorry I am, suffer the slings and arrows of their frustration and anger, listen to their laments and complaints...I’m right there BEHIND you!
Never mind that since the story broke and since a meager appearance on carefully selected news outlets defending my reputation, I have said little in the way of apology to people of the Archdiocese...
Never mind that I retained an elite and ridiculously expensive law firm to set up a failed website highlighting whatever positive steps I took in Pittsburgh but never directly responding to the most egregious allegations of cover up and complicity...
Never mind that I canceled a highly-publicized presentation I was scheduled to give at the World Meeting Families in Ireland...
Never mind that I have been all but invisible for the past 10 days and have said nothing about Archbishop Vigano’s letter or the shameful dismissive response of Pope Francis to its allegations about him personally and the Holy See...
Never mind all that... just go out there and tell the folks how contrite I am and ask them to forgive me.
It's kind of an apology............by proxy!
Wow!
If I could only have done the same when I was a Pastor.
Just asked the Associate Pastor, the Secretary, the Bookkeeper, even the Janitor to go to Confession and tell the Priest there how sorry I was for my sins and ask for my forgiveness!
Why didn’t I ever think of that?
Gee, Cardinal Wuerl, thanks for the idea and the marvelous example of personal responsibility.
I am retired from active ministry now. But maybe, just maybe, the fellow who tends to my landscaping monthly (who I hired for a very modest fee) will go to the local parish church around the corner and tell the Confessor my sins and carry back words of reconciliation.
Whaddayathink?
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