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	Repenting for the Sins of the Church By Kristian Foden-Vencil OPB News February 25, 2009 http://news.opb.org/article/4354-repenting-sins-church/ Today is ‘Ash Wednesday’ – the start of Lent. For those a little hazy on their Sunday School lessons, Lent is when Christians repent of their sins. Now, an Oregon couple has taken the idea of repentance one step further. They want to apologize for the sins of the Catholic Church -- their church -- as well. In particular for all the priests who abused children. To show their penance, the couple has taken to wearing a brown patch of sackcloth. And, as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, they handed-out so many ‘penance patches’ last Lent that they’ve had to assemble another batch for this year. Quenton and Ann Czuba live in an immaculate old-Portland style cottage in the well-to-do Irvington neighborhood. Both have white hair and talk fondly of their 49 years of marriage and 15 grandchildren. Their other love is the Catholic Church. And they were devastated to hear of the clergy abuse scandals. Ann Czuba: “I started praying about it, wondering if there was anything I could do. Because I love my church so much.” Ann and Quenton felt so strongly, they started attending meetings with abuse survivors. Quenton Czuba: “They’ll come and they won’t talk, maybe the first time, maybe not the second time. Maybe they’ll say a few words the third time and they start to open up a little bit and my goodness. If I was in their position, I don’t think I would talk either.” Quenton and Ann continued praying for answers – for a way to let survivors know that their congregations care for them, and that their stories of abuse are believed. Then one day Jonah popped into Ann’s head – the guy who was swallowed by a whale. The Bible says that after Jonah was regurgitated, God sent him to tell the people of Ninevah to repent of their sins. Ann Czuba: “And the king listened to him and immediately had his whole kingdom wear sack cloth and ashes. And I got thinking, whatever happened to sack cloth and ashes? Are we ever asked now to do something like that to repent? And so, we came up with a little group that we pray with a little patch out of what we call sack cloth, to wear during Lent.” Last year, Ann and Quenton handed out about 500 ‘sack cloth penance patches’ at St. Mary Magdeleine in Northeast Portland. Another 200 were handed out at Ascension Catholic Church on Mt. Tabor. This year both congregations will take part again and other parishes down the Willamette Valley will also join in. Armando Lopez: “I’m going to promote it here the parish.” Father Armando Lopez is the pastor of Ascension Parish. Armando Lopez: “That’s my desire. That every member of the community will accept it. But I’m finding in some people a little reluctant. A little hesitant to use it. Like you know some of them say, 'why are you focusing on that? it happened already so let it go.' But I think it’s not gone. It’s with us. And we are called to change our hearts.” But how about survivors of priest sexual abuse? How do they feel? Steve Fearing was abused as a young boy in the 1960’s by Reverend Mel Bucher of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Tigard. Steve Fearing: “I can imagine that they feel somewhat helpless about what do we do? How do we approach this? And I think it’s a good approach? After years of drug and alcohol abuse, therapy and lawsuits, Fearing says he can now put what happened to him in perspective. He thinks the penance patch is a good idea. But he says, it’s only one step in the right direction. Steve Fearing: “Is it enough? Are the right people doing it. "Is it enough, no, it’s not enough? Are the right people doing it? Um...if that’s going to really be effective, it really needs to be throughout the church. I don’t think this thing about church, priest abuse, whether it’s still going on or not, is going to be changed until the congregants and the priests themselves make change.” For example he says, how about allowing priests to get married? So they’d have a sexual outlet -- and perhaps a better understanding for some of the issues about which they preach -- like family life. He’d also like amnesty for priests who admit to abuse, and a fund -- to pay for the counseling of victims. Back at the home of Ann and Quenton Czuba, they’re not focused on changing the way priests function in the church. They’re just hoping their little brown patch will turn people away from sin. Quenton Czuba: “This should also help the root problem. Get to what causes this. Why are people led this way? Well, I’m sure they’re tempted to do this. And they go a little further and there are many avenues out there to lead people astray.” Word of the sack cloth penance patch is spreading, with congregations in Chicago and Boston asking questions. The Czubas have sewn-up an extra 800 for this Lent, and they hope next year they’ll need more. Meanwhile, a symposium on healing the wounds left by sexual abuse will be held March 28th at the Ascension Catholic church on Mt. Tabor.
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