Posted Thursday, July 31, 2003 at 10:45 a.m. CST

Victims served the church by exposing clergy sex abuse, new Boston archbishop says

By Catholic News Service
Boston

Boston's new archbishop thanked victims of clergy sex abuse for attending his July 30 installation and once again apologized for the harm done by priests and bishops.

Victims have done a service to the church in exposing the clergy sex abuse problem, said Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley at his installation Mass.

It is the job of all U.S. parishes, dioceses and schools "to avoid the mistakes of the past" and establish safeguards to protect children in the future, he said.

The white-bearded archbishop asked that the "bitter medicine we have had to take to remedy our mismanagement" of the crisis help the church and other sectors of U.S. society "in eradicating this evil from our midst."

The pain of victims "will not be in vain if our church and our nation become a safer place for our children," he said during his homily.

"I again ask forgiveness for all the harm done to young people by our clergy, religious or hierarchy," said O'Malley.

Much has been done to overcome the sex abuse problem but more work is needed, he said. And the new archbishop asked Catholics who have left because of the crisis to come back.

"To those who have stepped away, I invite you to return to help rebuild our church," he said. "How we ultimately deal with the present crisis in our church will do much to define us as Catholics of the future."

The archbishop's homily was interrupted by sustained applause when he said that at the Mass he was gathered with "so many good priests, struggling to make sense out of it all."

Despite the crisis, Christ remains with the church, he said. The crisis is a "sad chapter" in the U.S. church's history but it is "not the whole book," he said.

The archbishop cited the church's long history of providing educational, health and social services to poor and middle-class people.

The archbishop gave his homily mostly in English. He also spoke in Spanish, Portuguese and Creole, the French dialect spoken by Haitians.

The prayers of the faithful at the Mass also referred to the sex abuse crisis. One said, "For all people who have experienced the effects of abuse, for victims of sexual abuse by clergy, may God grant them the grace of renewal."

At the start of the Mass, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio, said that Archbishop O'Malley comes to Boston as a "new shepherd" sharing the compassion of Christ for all, "especially the most wounded of the fold."

Montalvo was interrupted by applause when he read the papal bull, the official document appointing Archbishop O'Malley to head the Boston Archdiocese.

National Catholic Reporter, July 31, 2003