to: all of my friends
from: Father Bill Muench
“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad”
“The Lord is Risen, He is truly risen”
Easter is about life – new life – new life in the Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead – we believe very firmly that Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, who truly died on the cross – who accepted the violence of the cross to demonstrate God’s loving forgiveness for all time – rose to new life – to destroy death for us all – and invite us to be an Easter people – who now can share this new life with the Lord – more than believing in the Resurrection, we are a Resurrection people.
Even now we are invited by Our Savior to share in the new life that he won by his life, death and resurrection. We live in that new life by living out our faith boldly and faithfully – knowing that God loves us unconditionally. Living in that love – we are unafraid to live in the joy and happiness of being one – united with the Lord. So we join together on this Easter Sunday at Mass – at the Eucharist – to be united to the Lord – and live in his life – new life.
Can you get more life than you have? With Jesus, we can – we will – we must – when we are aware of the great love that God has for us – our life is full - whenever I think of this I think of that wonderful song in “The Man of LaMancha” – truly with the new life of the Lord – we can “Dream the Impossible Dream” –
“To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star”
Now – I have a request – I need your prayers – on this Easter Sunday, at the Sunday Masses here in my parish, I want to say something about all that is being written and said in the media and such about what is being called this scandal about sex abuse – and priests and Bishops. I remember well saying something about all of this several years ago – and here we go again – this year.
I will admit that some abusive and unhappy and violent things have happened – that there have been priests who have done wrong – I will also admit that some Bishops have failed by not dealing well with these situations – solving some things by simply transferring a priest. Every time a priest is transferred, there have been some questions – although now each diocese has a Director of Personnel and a committee that works with the Bishop considering assignments of priests.
I believe that in many ways every diocese and every Bishop is dealing well with the question of priests who may be unfit to serve – especially, in regard to abusive situations – each diocese has a lay board that considers each question – and the proper way to deal with it. I do remember well that a few years ago – at a meeting of the Bishops of the United States in Dallas – that a decision was made that any priest who was accused credibly would be removed from the priesthood. And I remember that when our Bishop came back from that meeting that five priests from this diocese were removed.
Now as for the Pope and the Bishops who critics say did not administer a situation properly – I guess I would have to admit that mistakes were made – however, often they were working together with police and other civil authorities and still mistakes were made.
As you might expect – this kind of publicity shakes off on all priests – and unhappily I know that many will reject every priest because they have heard of one who is accused and indicted. I know that there are many situations where I have changed my behavior – because of all of this.
And, finally, this touches all Catholics – there are some Catholics who have rejected the Church completely – and refuse to be part of their parish and the Catholic Church – this saddens and disappoints me – but it has happened. And there are many Catholics who find it difficult to be recognized as a Catholic because of all of this. Again, I am saddened – and I know that our Church needs good people who are unafraid to speak up about their Catholic faith and Church. And I hope to talk about good priests – at times like this we hear so much about priests who have failed – and not enough about good priests. Tell the world about the good priests who have touched your life, your family – and made your parish a great place to be.
LET US PRAY
Almighty God, my Father – I rejoice today – I rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus – I am filled with Easter joy – I thank you God for new life – may I live out that life – may I truly be alive in your Spirit. This is my prayer. Amen.
Please join me as we say together the Lord’s Prayer
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