A LETTER FROM OUR PASTOR: 

February 13, 2019

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

   Pope Francis will be gathering representatives of national Catholic Bishops’ councils from around the world in Rome over February 21—24, to firmly address the abuse crisis under his leadership and, as we pray, with the courage and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a ”Spirit of Truth and Consolation, of Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Right Judgement, Courage, Holiness, and Fear of the Lord’s Judgements.”

   Last August, Pope Francis insisted that “Today we are challenged as the People of God to take on the pain of our brothers and sisters wounded in their flesh and in their spirit. If, in the past, the response was one of omission, today we want solidarity, in the deepest and most challenging sense, to become our way of forging present and future history.”  Our road to solitary as the community of St. John in Columbia as well as a universal church, will be foremost a journey of recovering trust, and seeking justice.   Locally, you should know that since last August and the publication of the Grand Jury Report we have begun our pilgrimage along this path and continue to do so.

   You can find a history of our movements to this point on our website.  http://www.stjohnscolumbiamd.org/our-parish-response/  We have committed to send a letter to Archbishop Lori expressing the concerns of our community. (You will find that on this webpage.)

   This weekend, during our prayers of the faithful, we will petition the Lord for the needs of ourselves, our world, and our universal Church.  During that time, we invite you to join in moments of silent prayer for healing for all victims of sexual abuse and for the leaders of our Church to address rightly and with justice this crime.

   Finally, I encourage us all to not allow our short-term anticipations to overwhelm our very high long-term hopes.  This is a worldwide Church and it seems as if the Pope’s first task is to inform the world’s bishops of the challenges related to abuse that only some of our national church leaders are addressing or have even developed proper protocols.  Also, know that our Holy Father and Bishops will engage in penitential practices and prayer during their brief time together.

   On the Last Sunday of January, we were reminded of St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians that “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26).   This is a church problem, one which we must address together. This is also a human problem.  It is also very much one which cries out for Justice, and this we must do together, as a People of God, exercising our Prophetic Voice given to each of us at our Baptism. That task seems overwhelming and difficult, but we are a people who believe that with God’s assistance, all is possible.

   Please pray for myself and the priests who serve our community as we do for you.

Sincerely,

Rev. Gerry Bowen