Scottish Catholic Observer

The Holy Father has assured victims of clerical abuse that they are present in a particular way in his prayers for those who are suffering. Coupled with his call for the Church to act decisively with regard to cases of sexual abuse by promoting measures for the protection of minors; in offering assistance to those who have suffered abuse and in carrying out due proceedings against the guilty, Pope Francis has set a firm line early in his Papacy on an issue that has blighted the Church globally in recent years.

While many, rightly or wrongly, predict Pope Francis will be a ‘great reformer,’ on the issue of abuse by clergy he is continuing along the lines set by his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Pope Francis sees that anything less than zero tolerance and immediate action on clerical abuse would be far from ‘for the good of the Church.’

However, while society focuses so intently on problems and challenges facing the Church—such as abuse overseas and recent misconduct reports domestically—it is all too easy to miss the ‘good news.’ Yet, as Niall O Coinleáin, president of the Edinburgh Catholic Student Union, tells SCO readers this week in Faith in Action, so much good is being done through Catholic Faith, and in particular Faith among young Catholics.

Columnist Kevin McKenna takes this a stage further this week when he focuses on his recently departed teacher Nan McCafferty, and on how her Faith impacted on everything she did, touching the lives of those in her charge long after they had grown up.

On a wider scale, there are many shining examples of the good work of the Church and its members throughout history and in the modern world. This month marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Society of St Vincent de Paul founder Frédéric Ozanam, whose bid to serve the poor remains with us, and relevant, today. However, many others remain unsung heroes: the Catholic charity worker; the widow raising her young family alone in the Faith, the Church organist, passkeeper and cleaner; the community volunteer… Just as these people are not faceless, nor are the clergy and religious who work tirelessly to keep the Church and the Faith alive for us all no matter the shadows and clouds that hang over us.

A recent letter in the SCO called on the lay Faithful to pray for the shepherds, for, if we sometimes struggle, so must they. The SCO therefore asks Catholics—parishes and groups, schools and individuals—to take part in a prayer campaign for priests and the Church during the remainder of the Year of Faith using this prayer from the late Cardinal John O’Connor (for priests), the Rosary and any other suitable material.

Lord Jesus,

We your people pray to You for our priests. You have given them to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.

We know that You have made them priests in the likeness of your own priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, anointed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to preach, to minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with Your Body and Blood.

Yet we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses. We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we, needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as do we. Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from among us, so that they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives, our faith.

We ask that You give them this day the gift You gave Your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in their souls, Your joy in their spirits. And let them see You face to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.

We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for Your priests and for ours. Amen.