President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference: The victims will not lack the support of the Church community
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We want to emphasize that the wronged have the right to count on the fact that on the long and difficult path of recovery they will not lack the support of the entire Church community – emphasized Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, in connection with the Day of prayer and penance for sexual abuse of minors on the first Friday of Lent.
The President of the Episcopate emphasized that the Polish Bishops’ Conference undertook this pastoral initiative in response to the appeal of Pope Francis contained in the “Letter to the People of God”. He recalled that this year’s Day of Prayer and Penance for sexual abuse of minors is celebrated under the motto: “Community with the wounded”.
The President of the Episcopate added that through this initiative, in which the clergy of religious congregations and parish communities throughout Poland are also involved, solidarity with the victims is once again expressed.
The Church, as a community of believers, wishes to offer the wounded the gift of her prayer and penance. She wants to spiritually embrace those who suffer the wrongs inflicted on them. She wants to be a benevolent environment for them where they can get the support they need so much on the long and difficult path of recovery. We all need community with the wounded as a space of spiritual unity, as experience of exchanging gifts that we can offer each other – said the General Secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Artur G. Miziński, at the beginning of the Mass celebrated in the chapel of the Secretariat of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the intention of sexually abused minors.
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Bishop Miziński recalled that the faithful of the Catholic Church in Poland, responding to the appeal of Pope Francis, every year, on the first Friday of Lent, pray during the Day of Prayer and Penance for sexual abuse of minors, for the intention of these people.
“This day of prayer shows us that the Church tries not only to provide help in the psychological, preventive or formation dimension, by organizing various meetings, workshops and training sessions for delegates in dioceses or in religious congregations. The Church – remembering minors who are victims of adult abuse – wants the wronged to feel part of her community, where in the spiritual dimension, prayer and penance are gifts that we can offer each other” – emphasized Bishop Miziński.
The General Secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference noted that he celebrated a Holy Mass for all sexually wronged minors, “asking God to grant them grace, first of all to feel free from the sense of guilt, because they were hurt, then the grace to rebuild their lives and believe in pure and noble love, and above all in God’s love which is changeless and especially includes the little ones”.
“Let prayer, therefore, flow from this place, which is the living heart of the Church in Poland, let it be a help to all minors, abused by adults, now or in the past. May the Lord strengthen and guide them, and may he sustain us in prayer and penance, so that not only this day, but our whole life, may be a continual return to the Father’s House, converting our hearts to their profound transformation” – said Bishop Artur G. Miziński, General Secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.
translation: Office for Foreign Communication of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
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