The community of Saint Patrick Parish is offering a Healing Mass of Mercy on Friday, March 11, 2016 at 7:00 P.M. This Mass is being held with the prayerful intention of sharing our community’s merciful solidarity with survivors of sexual abuse, their families and friends and any other people who have been hurt or suffering in any way as a result of sexual abuse by clergy members and religious brothers and sisters.
The Healing Mass of Mercy is an opportunity for us to come together as people of God who recognize our call to be there for one another in time of need.
During Lent We are Called to a Deeper Reflection
The Catholic Church has been going through a period of purification that includes this dark history of abuse and institutional blindness. Much like this, we are all called to a purification of our lives during this season of Lent.
Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment…. “Spare your people, LORD! Do not let your heritage become a disgrace, a byword among the nations! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”Joel 2:13-17
The Church reads Joel 2 on Ash Wednesday to invite the faithful to return to the Lord with all our hearts, with “fasting, weeping and mourning” for the duration of Lent (Joel 2:12).
Listen to the reading from Joel at the 4.5 minute mark.
The prophet foretells the terrible day of the Lord; exhorts sinners to a sincere conversion; and comforts God’s people with promises of future blessings under Christ. The book reveals God to be “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Joel 2:13) While he is concerned with sin and justice, he has mercy on those who repent. He vindicates those who belong to him.
The Scrutinies
On the middle three Sundays of Lent, the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays, special rites are celebrated. Theses rites are called Scrutinies. The Elect are those in our midst who are preparing for Baptism. Part of their journey to the font is that they have been received among us, the Rite of Acceptance, and they have been enrolled in the Book of the Elect in the Rite of Election.
A Spiritual Journey of Renewal
During the Scrunities, the Elect model for us what we, as the Church, are called to do— to scrutinize our lives during Lent. The Church as a whole has been doing this too. Reflecting upon the journey the Elect are making during Lent can be used as an inspiration and source of renewal for all of us in our spiritual journey.
The Faith Community is Part of the Journey
The first Scrutiny was celebrated at 8:30 A.M. Mass on February 28, 2016, the second Scrutiny as part of the 5:30 P.M. Mass on March 5, and the third Scrutiny at the 10:30 A.M. Mass on March 13. The Scrutinies are rotated through the three Masses to include all parishioners in the RCIA process. The faith community is invited to pray for the Elect who are growing ever closer to joining us at the table of the Lord.
The Faith Community Provides Strength
The Scrutinies are ancient rites and they may, at first, seem strange to us. But they are profoundly rooted in our human experience. We need to examine— scrutinize how we are, the areas of our lives where we are tempted, or seriously sin— in what we do and what we fail to do. We need healing and the strength that can come from the support of our sisters and brothers.
Listen to Father Tom Lamanna, S.J., as he reflects on The First Scrutiny, addresses sin and God’s infinite love for us in his homily on February 28, 2016. Father Tom talks about God’s healing love and invites all to the Healing Mass of Mercy.
Let’s Pray Together
Join us as we come together as a faith community to support our brothers and sisters in a Healing Mass of Mercy at Saint Patrick Catholic Church with Father John Fuchs, S.J. at 7 P.M. on March 11, 2016 in lieu of Reconciliation and Stations of the Cross.
The Purpose of The Healing Mass
Healing
To pray for the healing of those who have been sexually abused by clergy, men and woman religious and by anyone representing the institutional Church, and to pray for their families, friends and all those who have been affected by this abuse.
Mercy
To pray for God’s forgiveness and mercy on the clergy, men and women religious and anyone representing the institutional Church who have been guilty of the sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, and pray for forgiveness and mercy on any bishops or other Church leaders who have been guilty of hiding this abuse.
Strength from the Faith Community
To encourage survivors of sexual abuse by Church representatives to come forward and report it to the Church’s pastoral coordinator as part of their own healing process and the healing and atonement needed in the Church.
In preparation for the Healing Mass of Mercy, the subject of whether to remove the photo of Father Thomas Pitsch from the photographic display of pastors in the gathering space of Saint Patrick Catholic Church was raised. Father Pitsch served as Pastor from 1964-1971. His name was included in the recently released list of clergy and religious brothers and sisters for whom an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was admitted, established, or otherwise determined to be credible.
Based on comments from the Saint Patrick Catholic Church community, information from the Seattle Archdiocese and the Pierce Deanery; and in consultation with the parish staff, the Jesuit priests, and the Pastoral Council, Kevin Lovejoy, Pastoral Coordinator made the decision to remove Father Pitsch’s photo prior to the Healing Mass of Mercy. The small plaque listing his name and the dates he served at Saint Patrick parish will remain.
Removal of the photo is not intended to disparage the memory of Father Pitsch or to erase the fact that he served as pastor, but rather to serve as a sign of respect, empathy, love and support for all victims and friends and family members and any other members of our community affected by such abuse, as a sign of justice tempered with mercy and forgiveness for those who abused innocent children.
Unending Prayers for Love and Mercy
Thank you to all who attended the Healing Mass of Mercy for those who were survivors of sexual abuse, their families and friends and any other people who have been hurt or suffering in any way as a result of sexual abuse by clergy members and religious brothers and sisters.
The 162 people who attended heard songs and prayers that helped with the healing process and were touched in some way by the Grace that God in His merciful way extended.
We continue to pray for those most in need of God’s mercy and love.
