The Voice of Reconciliation
A shepherd’s voice is being raised in Canada. Archbishop Marc Ouellet a senior Roman Catholic clergyman in Canada, seeking to get rid of church baggage and turn over a new leaf, asked forgiveness on Wednesday for sexual abuse and discrimination committed by Catholics in the past.
This is a wonderful attempt at building on pain with the balm of reconciliation. The Rainbow Sash Movement is impressed with the sincere language the Archbishop has used. This is certainly what Jesus would of done. We have been critical of the Archbishop in the past this will not however stop us from supporting his recent efforts at reconciliation.
"It is time to take stock and make a fresh start," Ouellet wrote. "Mistakes have been made which have tarnished the image of the Church and for which I humbly ask forgiveness."
The Archbishops primary concern was compassion, reconciliation, and not concern for the teaching authority of the Church. Ouellet also sought forgiveness for certain "narrow attitudes" before the 1960s, when what is known as the Quiet Revolution ended the pervasive Catholic grip on Quebec society. He said some Catholics tended towards anti-Semitism, racism and indifference to natives, and discrimination against women and homosexuals. He spoke of the abuse of youth by priests, "causing them serious and traumatic damage that shattered their lives."
It is my prayer that the Archbishop continues on this path of reconciliation; he is a beacon in the darkness of hierarchal deceit. Many Bishops in the US Church could learn from this voice of Christ, if they were willing to listen. The U.S. Catholic Church has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle abuse claims, starting with a scandal that had its epi-center in Boston in 2002.
