Catholics urged to ‘reach out’
By JOHN THAVIS
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON -- Celebrating Mass in Washington, Pope Benedict XVI urged U.S. Catholics to renew their missionary energy at a time when American society is at a moral crossroads.
The Pope warned of “signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society” and said people need the Church’s message of hope and fidelity to the demands of the Gospel.
He also confronted the question of clerical sexual abuse of minors, acknowledging the damage done to the church and asking all Catholics to help assist those who have been hurt.
The prayer of the faithful, read in English and five other languages, included petitions for Pope Benedict and all bishops, for peace in the world, for the safety of those who seek to achieve peace, for children everywhere, for those who suffer, for those who are ill, and for all who have died.
The enthusiastic crowd of about 45,000 cheered the 81-year-old Pope as he rode through the stadium in his Popemobile and smiled, waved and looked delighted at the panorama of faces and fluttering yellow flags, as the choirs sang English and German versions of “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.”
In his homily, the Pope said he had come to encourage the church in America to build on its accomplishments and respond to new challenges through an “unceasing missionary outreach.”
He invoked a new chapter of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, saying U.S. Catholics need to give their contemporaries “a convincing account of the hope which inspires them.”
“The world needs this witness,” he said. “Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the church in America but also for society as a whole?”
The Pope said that it was a positive thing that global connections were drawing people together today.
“Yet at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social relations; and a growing forgetfulness of God,” he said.
This crossroads is also reflected inside the Church, he said. He cited the vitality of movements and parish life and increased interest in prayer and Catholic education.
Yet the Church faces the “troubling realization” that many of its members, “rather than acting as a spiritual leaven in the world, are inclined to embrace attitudes contrary to the truth of the Gospel.”
Today’s challenges require sound instruction in the faith, especially among the young, he said. But they also call for “cultivating a mindset, an intellectual culture, which is genuinely Catholic” and can bring the Gospel to bear on the urgent issues American society faces, he said.
The Pope spoke about sexual abuse by priests for the third time in three days.
Most priests doing ‘outstanding work’
By JULIE ASHER
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON -- One of the “countersigns to the Gospel of life” in the United States is the sexual abuse of minors, a situation “that causes deep shame,” Pope Benedict XVI told about 300 U.S. bishops gathered on April 16 in the crypt church at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
He called it an “evil” and said the U.S. bishops have “rightly moved” to address it.
The programs they have put in place to discipline priests and other church personnel who are abusers, to create safe environments protecting young people, to foster healing and to “bind up the wounds” caused by “every breach of trust” are bearing fruit, he said.
The Pope said priests themselves “have experienced shame” over abuse carried out by fellow clergy and others and they need the bishops’ “guidance and closeness during this difficult time.” He also said people must remember the “overwhelming majority” of priests and religious in the U.S. do “outstanding work.”
The Pope also addressed the effect of secularism and materialism on how Catholics and others live out their beliefs in the day-to-day world, the state of the family within society, “a certain quiet attrition” of Catholics leaving the faith and the need for vocations.
His remarks on secularism, the issue of some Catholics leaving the faith and vocations were in response to prepared questions from the bishops.
“It falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life,” Pope Benedict said.
Regarding the sex abuse scandal, he said, “Many of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have suffered when clerics have betrayed their priestly obligations and duties by such gravely immoral behavior.” He said the bishops have rightly moved to show compassion and care for the victims, to foster healing and promote reconciliation in the aftermath of “every breach of trust.”
Saying the bishops have acknowledged that abuse cases have been “sometimes very badly handled,” measures to address the scandal at all levels “are bearing great fruit,” he said.
However, he said, if such policies are to achieve “their full purpose,” they must be placed “in a wider context” of sexual mores and children must grow up “with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships.”
Children “have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person” and must “be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today,” he said.
Pope Benedict praised Americans for having “a genuinely religious spirit” but said secularism and materialism can subtly influence the way people live out their faith. A sense of individualism can lead them to pick and choose what they believe, he said.
“We’ve seen this emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right to abortion,” he said.
He pointed to people ignoring or exploiting the poor, or promoting business practices, sexual behavior or positions on right-to-life issues that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching.
He also said that a healthy family life contributes to “peace in and within nations.” In the family home, he said, people learn about justice and love, the role of authority and concern for one another.
On vocations, he said: “Let us be quite frank: The ability to cultivate vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local church.”
He urged the faithful to pray for vocations and encouraged the bishops to create opportunities for young people who come forward to explore a vocation also to talk to their peers about the possibility, and to encourage all their priests to come together for dialogue and fraternal encounters.
He urged all priests to move beyond any disagreements and listen to one another.