BOSTON (MA)
Catholic Online
By Christine Williams
5/15/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
BOSTON, Mass. – Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley is inviting Boston Catholics to join him in a novena and "pilgrimage of repentance and hope" that will take him to parishes throughout the Boston Archdiocese that have experienced "an especially painful history" of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
The novena to the Holy Spirit is designed to promote healing and renewal of the archdiocese in the wake of the clergy abuse crisis, which burgeoned into a national scandal following a January 2002 expose in Boston of decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors.
"Publicly acknowledging the church's faults and failures is an important element of asking forgiveness of those who have been harmed by the church," said Cardinal O'Malley in a statement announcing the parish visits.
"The sexual abuse crisis has caused intense suffering for survivors and their families and has been a source of shame and sorrow for our entire church community," he added. "Our hope is that these services will bring together survivors, their families and friends, as well as clergy, parishioners and members of the broader community."