May 28th

Dear Friends, 

This weekend we conclude our Easter Season with the feast of Pentecost. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, His disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Church was born. What a momentous event it was, catapulting the timid and fearful followers of Jesus into powerful missionaries, many of whom paid for their convictions and proclamation with their lives. Just imagine how monumental their experience of the Risen Lord must have been, propelling them into their new roles and sustaining them in the face of brutal opposition, mockery and even martyrdom. 
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 In December 2018, the former Attorney General of Illinois released a preliminary report on her investigation of the Illinois Catholic dioceses’ responses to the child sex abuse crisis. The present attorney general continued the investigation upon taking office, and you likely heard that he shared his report this past week. This release will likely cause hurt, pain and anger for all the People of God, including for us priests. At the same time, this can serve to unite us in solidarity as we work to support victims and strengthen our resolve to weed this out from within our own ranks and from our society as a whole. While it can be distressing to be reminded of stories of past abuse, stringent processes were developed in response to this and have been in place for over 20 years (more like 30 years in Chicago). Thank God, the occurrence of new crimes seems to have subsided. 
 As you may have seen, the Chicago Tribune recently published an article that discussed the issue of false accusations against clergy- something that seems to have increased in recent years. This under-reported reality is additional fallout resulting from the true crimes that took place. 
 Please pray for the five men ordained priests last weekend at Holy Name Cathedral, who will serve the Catholics of our Archdiocese. It takes a lot of trust, as well as determination and grit, to enter the priesthood when so much negativity around this vocation is swirling around. 
 May your week reflect the encounter with Christ 
we experienced at Mass today!