Pastoral

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 13, 2003

The homepage for the Diocese of Phoenix posts a letter by Bishop O'Brien read (pre-hit-and-run) at all parish masses on June 6-7. My favorite lines:

Although I am a Bishop, with a calling from the Church, I am still a human being with emotions like anyone else.

Although? There's a lot to be learned about his conduct of office from O'Brien's choice of this word. Is that the way you'd begin the same sentence?

When I became your Bishop, I had never heard the word pedophilia. I, like others, didn't understand it was an incurable sickness. I learned -- just as law enforcement and health professionals -- in the worst way by having to face the reality that our learning curve may have come at the expense of innocent children.

May have come. Beautiful.

Wherever I have failed or misjudged, though unintentionally, I must acknowledge my mistake and I must carry the wounds of those who were harmed. I ask God, victims of sexual abuse and you, faithful Catholics, to forgive my imperfections.

How do you forgive an imperfection (or mistake, or unintentional misjudgment)? C.S. Lewis wrote that we (all of us) often pretend to ask for forgiveness when in reality we're asking to be excused. He points out that forgiveness and excuse are almost opposites. When I ask to be excused I direct the attention of the person I injured to the extenuating circumstances -- my ignorance or hastiness or confusion -- so as to suggest that there was no malice in my harm. When I ask for forgiveness I admit the evil I intended to commit, repent of the harm caused, and ask the injured person to let go of his just claim against me. A valuable distinction.

I promise you that I will never forget the past, for it will remain my driving force toward the future.

Right.