Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: February 24, 2019
Last week I started my column in The Carpenter with some thanks, and this week it’s no different. Last Sunday saw over 120 parishioners enjoy some Cathedral food after Mass. Our Knights of Columbus provided a pancake-and-sausage breakfast for everyone who came over to the Parish Hall after the 8:30 am Mass. Then, after the 10:30 am Mass, our Development Committee served an Italian lunch of lasagna, salad and a wonderful Italian cream cheese cake for dessert.
So three huge “thank yous” have to go out: to Grand Knight Tom Acosta and his fellow Knights, to Development Chair Bobbie Carey and everyone in her wonderful group, and especially to all parishioners who came and enjoyed the time together. As Bobbie is fond of saying, “Food brings people together! Especially good food!”
If you’re wondering what’s next on the parish’s “fun list,” well, that’s easy: Tuesday, March 19, is the Feast of St. Joseph, our patron saint, so that’s the day we host a St. Joseph’s Altar and feed everybody who comes after our 12 noon Mass that day! And on the next Saturday, March 23, our Development Committee is sponsoring another great bus trip, this time up to Natchez, Mississippi, and its many wonderful sights. (If you want to ride the bus that day, you’ll have to sign up early, though: there are only so many seats available!! So call the Parish Office right away if you’d like to come!)
Not all of the news these days is fun, though. I’m writing this just before a special meeting in Rome takes place: the head of each country’s bishop’s conference plus other Church leaders are getting together to listen to and pray with victims of sexual abuse, and to begin to work together in not just eliminating the scourge of clerical abuse of minors but take other necessary steps. I am sure that they will consider how better to reach out to victims, but also how best to discover and discipline priests and deacons who have abused, and those bishops and religious superiors who knowingly permitted this to happen.
I don’t know how the meeting will go. I predict that worldwide progress will be slow, still. Many countries don’t have developed justice systems or the cultural awareness needed to take quick action, yet in these places too the Church now has to take the lead. In our own nation and diocese we very much encourage victims and their families and concerned friends to come forward, not only to make sure that no abuser continues in ministry but also to offer the kinds of compassionate help that we can. Our policies prefer that you tell civil authorities first (in Louisiana just dial toll-free 855-452-5437), and then let our diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator know (her “hotline” number is 225-242-0250).
The Holy See did do a great service to the Church in our country by stripping Mr. Theodore McCarrick of the priesthood early last week. He used to be a bishop and even an archbishop and a cardinal, but since he was also an abuser of minors and even older seminarians he lived a monstrous lie. He’s probably too old to face criminal justice, but he will have to stand before God whom he pretended to serve. He shall certainly obtain from the Almighty divine mercy, but our Church also understands that he will know divine justice as he experiences the painful consequences of his sins in the purification of purgatory.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Paul D. Counce
