[american colleen]

Looks like the hierarchy missed the bolded part!

Hope you don't mind if I post the following Novena. I got it at Mass tonight.

A Novena to the Holy Spirit
Ascention of the Lord to Pentecost

Almighty and merciful God,
by the power of the Holy Spirit
you raised Jesus Christ, your Son, from death
and filled him with a new and abundant life.

Then, in accordance with your loving plan,
you sent the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost,
that by His mighty gifts they might be joined
to the Risen Lord in His Body, the Church,
By a fresh outpouring of the Spirit's gifts
give new life to the Church in Boston this Pentecost.

We beg that the Spirit will bring healing
to the victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families.
We pray that the Spirit will warm the hearts
of those whose faith has been weakened by this scandal.
We ask that the Spirit will bestow mercy and
repentance on the abusers.
We earnestly desire that the Spirit will renew and reform
the whole Church in the likeness of Christ.
Fill every member of the Church with holiness so that,
working together as the Body of Christ, we might be
built up in faith, hope and love in order to proclaim
the Gospel with joy.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

This evil is a wound to all of us, victims and faithful, but it is "in our face" all day, everyday, here in Boston. It is impossible to get away from it unless you don't look at the newspapers, turn on the TV or radio and don't go to work (or, if you do, don't talk to anyone).

[Siobhan]

Thanks for posting that Novena. I'm printing it out to take with me back to the hospital, and I'm pasting it into e-mails to the folks in my address book. Excellent resource. God bless.

[Lady In Blue]

A lot of them sure did! I was surfing through EWTN's site last night and came across an interesting little tidbit,which made me search for a site that had the Book of Canon Law.

In a speech he delivered at the University of Milan last week-- reported in the Italian magazine Expresso-- Archbishop Julian Herranz said that the Church has the canonical structures in place to handle questions of priestly sexual misconduct. For example, the archbishop observed that the Code of Canon Law (#1395) already prescribes the penalty of laicization for priests who are guilty of pedophilia.

Archbishop Herranz, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, was one of the Vatican officials involved in the recent "summit meeting" with the leadership of the US bishops' conference.

Thanks for the Novena prayer.