Archbishop Cordileone

Now, at this “acceptable time,” Lent begins. We are called again to stop the ordinary routine, evaluate the areas where we have strayed from the ideals of Christian life, and make a deliberate turning back to God. In these days we only have to turn on the news to see vivid evidence of just how far our culture is from Christian ideals: The passing of horrific laws that permit the killing of full-term infants; family separation resulting from oppressive social and economic forces, affecting especially vulnerable immigrant families; an epidemic of homelessness; revelations of abuse of power even within the hierarchy of the Church; the list goes on and on.

As I write this message to you, I am in Baltimore, Maryland, for the plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I can tell you I came prepared to work with my fellow bishops to move aggressively forward in dealing with the abuse issues that are confronting our Church right now, and will continue to do so.

In my letter to you of August 17, 2018, I explained that I would consult the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese and my Cabinet in order to determine how I would designate an act of reparation be conducted in the Archdiocese for the horrendous crimes of clerical sexual abuse. Since then, revelations have continued to unfold – especially with the publication of stories from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report – which speak to the depth of the evil that occurred.