The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse is offering a ‘Mass of Forgiveness’ at all churches this weekend as an attempt to heal wounds from child sex abuse cases. Local cases first became public from 2002 to 2006.
Chancellor and spokesperson of the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, Danielle Cummings says the church recognizes this as a horrific chapter in its history both locally and nationally.
“It acknowledges the sins of the role of the Catholic Church, its hierarchy and other members, and mishandling it, misunderstanding it, and also praying on ‘can we move forward?’”, Cummings said. “Can the Holy Spirit move the Church forward, move people forward to healing, to reconciliation, and to a deeper faith?”
Cummings describes child sex abuse in the Church as a secret act that was shrouded in the past, common practice in an extinct culture.
“Shrouded and a feeling of, ‘I won’t be believed. Perhaps I was responsible for this.’ all of which is not true”, Cummings said. “I think what Bishop Cunningham and other leaders of the Church are saying is ‘this is not your fault, and we did not have a good understanding of this.’”
Even though there are no new allegations, Cummings wants to reassure the public that the diocese will continue to take steps to help victims of past abuse. Cummings says that an independent board has been set-up in order to assess claims of abuse and take the proper steps in addressing them.
“We ‘A’: give all the allegations to our local district attorneys. ‘B’: we have an independent body that once the DA says ‘we can’t do anything, look at this allegation’”, Cummings said. “This independent board looks at those allegations to say ‘OK this was abuse.’, and it’s a credible allegation.”
Bishop Robert Cunningham has requested that all churches in the seven counties of the Diocese of Syracuse hold the ‘Mass of Forgiveness’ this weekend and offer prayers for all those affected. The Bishop himself will celebrate mass Saturday at 11:00 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Vestal. For specific mass times, call your local parish.