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From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,
Happy Labor Day.  Rest up.  Celebrate the end of summer and the easing back into the ‘normal’ schedule for the year.      Parents are rejoicing, and children are mourning as school bells are ringing once again.  Remember that when you work and study, you are using the gifts that God has given you.  He doesn’t give gifts without a purpose.  Work has inherent dignity, that is often lost on modern man.  We store up for ourselves the fruit of our labor in order to be able to provide for the future and live in a dignified manner.  Moreover, work finds it ultimate reference when directed to God and we participate in the mystery of building up civilization in love and peace.  Work took on an even greater dignity in the incarnation: God himself labored and earned His food by the sweat of his brow.  I pray that you find great peace in your labors, that you not be enslaved by the demands of the workweek, and that work always be prioritized behind your faith and family.  Our worth is not determined by our job titles, but by our love.     May Saint Joseph the Worker intercede for us.  Have a happy and restful Labor Day.

Prayers of reparation for Sins of the Clergy: 
Monday September 3rd, Labor day:
6:00 pm Holy Hour of Adoration  followed by 
7:00 pm Mass to pray for the victims of abuse and in reparation.  

And what is Reparation?
An online Catholic dictionary says, “it means making up with greater love for the failure in love through sin; it means restoring what was unjustly taken and compensating with generosity for the selfishness that caused the injury.
Consider the words of two popes (emphasis is mine):
“Whereas the primary object of consecration [to the Sacred Heart] is that the creature should repay the love of the Creator by loving him in return, yet from this another naturally follows — that is, to make amends for the insults offered to the Divine Love by oblivion and neglect, and by the sins and offenses of mankind. This duty is commonly called by the name of “reparation.”  Pius XI.
Pope St. John Paul 2: “In no passage of the Gospel message does forgiveness… mean indulgence towards evil, towards scandals, towards injury or insult. In any case, reparation for evil and scandal, compensation for injury, and satisfaction for insult are conditions for forgiveness.“
 Note that Pope Pius and JP2 both put reparation and making amends as a necessity of justice.  By living, praying, and sacrificing with greater generosity, we seek to make amends for the injury done to our very brothers and sisters by the horrifically selfish and evil acts of clergy.
Join us tomorrow if you wish to join this essential work.
pax,
fr mosimann
Prayers of Reparation for Sins of the Clergy

Prayers of Reparation for Sins of the Clergy

Last week we published the Bishop’s letter, where he asked for priests to offer Mass, penance, and prayers of reparation for the Sins of the Clergy. Many of you have expressed your support and desire to share in these prayers. To that end, the most immediate opening on the calendar is Labor day. Thus:

Monday September 3rd, Labor day:
6:00 pm Holy Hour of Adoration followed by
7:00 pm Mass to pray for the victims of abuse and in reparation.

 

Please join the Priests of St Mary for this Holy Hour and Mass.

Letter from Fr. Mosimann to the Parents of the Parish

Letter from Fr. Mosimann to the Parents of the Parish

Dear Parents,

I have just come from the opening Mass of our parish school as we begin the school year. What a joy to see the energy and enthusiasm of the students on this day of new beginnings. Today is also the Feast of St. Monica, which reminds us of the extraordinarily powerful prayers of a mother! In order to be certain that all parents receive this letter, it will be sent both electronically and by physical mail.

The current circumstances in which we find ourselves as a Church make it more urgent than ever that we renew for you our commitment to ensure that in our schools and religious education programs we are doing everything we can to create a safe environment for your children. Once again, I reiterate that:

  1. Our diocese immediately reports all allegations of any kind of abuse or neglect of children to appropriate legal authorities.
  2. No priest or deacon against whom a substantiated claim of abuse has been made is currently serving in active ministry in our diocese.
  3. Since 2002, every allegation of sexual abuse on the part of clergy has been investigated by our Diocesan Review Board, which from its very beginning has always been comprised of a majority of laymen and laywomen.

Further, a revamped landing page on our diocesan website (www.ArlingtonDiocese.org/Child- Protection ) provides information and links to:

  • Diocesan policies that have been in place since 2002 to insure the protection of children and that provide a process for handling allegations of sexual abuse on the part of clergy.
  • Bishop Burbidge’s public statements and podcasts in which he has addressed these sensitive issues.

On behalf of all of the priests serving here at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, I assure you of the personal commitment of each one of us to strive daily to be faithful to the commitments we have made never to harm and only to protect and care for the safety and security of the children and young people of our parish and Church.

Let us together continue to pray for the safety and security of our children, for the healing of victims of abuse, and that we might do all that we can to ensure that the wrong-doing and the evil of the past are never repeated in the future.

Sincerely in Christ

Reverend John Mosimann, Pastor