AFN Mass Homily
My dear brothers and sisters, thank you so much for being here today and participating in our Eucharistic Celebration. I am grateful for the presence of the other bishops of Alaska and a number of the priests, deacons and religious of our diocese.
St. John in today's first reading from the Book of Revelation speaks of a new earth, a new beginning. When I read this passage, I am reminded of our Sacrament of Penance or as we might call it today the Sacrament of Reconciliation. When we go to confession and receive this sacrament, our sins are forgiven and God's power touches us so that we are not only forgiven, but healed, reconciled, restored and made new again.
We are sometimes a broken people. When we look at our communities, our state, our country, our Church and our world, we see the pain and the damage and even death we inflict on one another. When we as individuals fall into sinful and damaging behavior, we harm not only ourselves, but probably everyone around us. The Sacrament of Reconciliation enables us to turn away from inflicting all this pain, brokenness and sinfulness.
In the same way that the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps and heals us an individuals, I would like to talk today about how important aspects of this sacrament can help all of us in our present need for healing and reconciliation in light of the Church's sexual abuse of young people which we have all heard about or have personally experienced.
The first part of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is that we acknowledge our sins - admit them. This is perhaps the most difficult aspect of the sacrament. It means acknowledging that we were wrong. We may be tempted to justify our actions, deny them or blame others for them. But when we can honestly confront our sins, acknowledge them and take responsibility for them, we have taken a huge step back to God and toward reconciliation, healing and peace.
After we acknowledge our sins, we then ask for forgiveness from God and others. There is power in words to both harm and heal. When we speak our sins out loud to the priest in the confessional, we activate the wonderful healing power of God's grace. We take our regret and shame from the narrow confines of our own minds and hearts and make them concrete on our tongues and lips and then something powerful and life changing happens to us.
Following our expression of sorrow and seeking forgiveness, we then need to do penance for our sins. We say actions speak louder than words. We know this is true. Doing penance means that we are taking responsibility for our sins and are trying in some way to make up for them. We know that sin causes pain, but doing penance can also bring cleansing and healing.
The final part of this sacrament is changing our behavior. This too can be difficult because some of our human behaviors are driven by compulsions that are difficult to overcome. But with God all things are possible. I am sure you have experienced the peaceful walk you take as you leave the confessional. At that time, we know with more certainty that Jesus Christ is walking in our footsteps and even helping us carry the load of life.
Today I stand before you to say that what is true for us as individuals can be true for us as the people of God and part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Here I am not speaking about Jesus Christ's presence in our midst in and through the Church. I am talking about the institution of the Church which is made up of broken human beings.
In this diocese, we as Church failed badly our young brothers and sisters. Some of our priests, ministers, staff and volunteers harmed children, sexually abused them. I must acknowledge and admit these grave, evil and sinful acts. I stand here before you and I know the other bishops and priests here in this sanctuary do as well, to acknowledge to you that we are contrite and full of sorrow. As bishop, I express profound sadness and repentance on my behalf and on the behalf of this diocese and the Church for these terrible acts. I also want to apologize to anyone who has been emotionally, spiritually or physically harmed when your native culture was dismissed, ridiculed or suppressed by members of the Church. Today we recognize the wonderful spirituality and wisdom of our native cultures. Many of our liturgies, including today's, are richer because of your cultural contributions to our Church celebrations and activities.
In some way I and others are now in the process of doing penance for the Church's abuse. Through the healing services and listening sessions we are conducting around the diocese, I hope we are putting our words into action. I also realize that these actions are merely the first steps in a long process of healing, reconciliation and restoring trust. All of us need to contribute to the process of healing long into the future.
A key element of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is bringing about a change of direction. We call this conversion. I pledge my commitment to a change of direction in the Church's relationship with young people and vulnerable adults. I am speaking here about how we are making our diocese and the whole Church safer. We will continue to require background checks on volunteers, staff, teachers and ministers. We will continue to train our children and parents to spot danger and, if appropriate, notify the proper authorities. When allegations come to us, we will report them to law enforcement immediately. Our seminarians, who one day will be deacons and priests, are screened for maturity and readiness for ministry and they receive extensive instruction on proper boundaries and behaviors with others.
Acknowledgement, confession, penance and change. These are the right behaviors for us as individuals and they are the right behaviors for our Church which must witness to the power, presence and love of Jesus Christ for all of God's people.
Thank you again for your presence and prayer here today and thank you for being part of the Body of Christ, our Church.