Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
August 7, 2002
Reconciliation is theme for final day of catechesis at WYD
Archbishop Chaput tells youth heart needs change before one can change the world
TORONTO (CNS) — In order to experience forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation, Catholics must first be reconciled with those around them, bishops said on the third day of World Youth Day catechetical sessions held throughout the Toronto area July 26.
Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican, called on young people to take full responsibility for their sins and not to blame them on "the weather, my mother or my companions."
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver said the Church insists that "we need to change the human heart before we can truly change the world, and in preaching that, she's been systemically despised and rejected for what her critics call a `lack of realism.'"
Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia reminded the World Youth Day participants that "Jesus calls us to love and forgive and show mercy to everyone — everyone — even our family members, even our close friends, even our neighbors and classmates, even our co-workers, even those who speak differently than we, even those who look differently than we, even those we've never met, even those we find it difficult to like."
The three were among more than 500 bishops, archbishops and cardinals who gave catechesis lessons to World Youth Day pilgrims at 129 churches around Ontario and seven exhibition halls in Toronto July 24-26, with a different theme each day.
The theme for July 26 was "Be reconciled to God," from chapter 5, verse 20 of the Second Letter to the Corinthians.
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles called on young Catholics to be healers and reconcilers of conflict.
"The more generous you and I are in extending forgiveness to one another, the more peace and joy you'll have," he said at St. Anne Church in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.
One of the great graces of World Youth Day, said Cardinal Mahony, is when young people return home to their families, churches, schools and friends and take steps to be reconciled with people with whom they've been struggling.
"Find that one person with whom you need to be reconciled and make it happen," he said.
Cardinal Arinze said it is not enough to regret sins; Catholics also need to resolve not to commit them again.
To illustrate his point, he said that if someone stole his bicycle, they could say they were sorry in any language, but "if you are serious, you return the bicycle!"
The cardinal said a true relationship with God "must lead to and include love of neighbor," adding that "my neighbor is my way to God."
He urged the youths not to solve their differences with fighting, just as on a broader scale he said that "violence and terrorism are not the way to resolve differences."
Bishop J. Faber MacDonald of Saint John, New Brunswick, linked the reconciliation theme to "the new phenomena of bullying, and youth killing youth."
"Youth have always been considered a barometer of the deeper issues affecting society as a whole," he added. "They are more vulnerable, because they have not had time to develop the protective skills most adults possess."
Calling on each of the young people to "recognize our own sins and ask Christ for forgiveness through the Church," Bishop MacDonald said. "To forgive everyone, both friends and enemies, is a characteristic of Christianity, and it should be seen in attitudes and actions that favor reconciliation, unity and peace.
"Only a reconciled and reconciling church can contribute to building peace, which is very much needed in today's world," he added.
Archbishop Chaput noted that forgiveness goes beyond merely understanding the other person.
"If someone punches you in the nose and then explains to you that he has a muscular disorder that prevents him from controlling his movements, you may not seek revenge, not because you forgive, but because you understand," he said. "Forgiveness is different," the Denver archbishop said. "Forgiveness renounces revenge and responds with love even when we know the other person really wanted to do us evil." Archbishop Chaput said he is often surprised "by the fact that so many people take Communion at Mass that we need extraordinary ministers to handle the crowds" but there is no such need for extraordinary ministers of reconciliation "and our confessionals are often quite empty." "Either Catholics today are all saints, or they've lost their sense of the critical importance of this sacrament," he said. Cardinal Bevilacqua called the sacrament of reconciliation "the greatest vehicle by which we are given the great gifts of God's mercy and love and forgiveness and are given the motivation to share these gifts with others." "We don't necessarily need reminders of what the sins are for which the world and we as individuals need to be reconciled," he said. "We need to be reminded of our constant need for God's love and mercy and forgiveness, gifts which God so strongly wants us to have and to share with our sisters and brothers." Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans referred in his talk to the clergy sex-abuse scandal and criticized as "modern-day Judases" those who had "worked havoc in the lives of some children." "Satan is now trying to capitalize on this through a media frenzy which seeks to destroy the credibility of the Catholic Church," he added. But the archbishop said the process which leads an individual to reconciliation can also help the Church work through the sex-abuse scandal. "In these days of such great sorrow and shame in the Church in the face of the scandal of clergy sexual abuse, it has been important for the Church to enter into these same steps," he said. "We have examined our records of how past offenses have been handled. We have publicly confessed our failings. We have apologized to the victims. We have tried to take responsibility for our failings and to offer healing to victims and their families. We have set a new course for the future." Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England, assured the young people that although God may not always seem to be in the forefront these days, he is always near. To illustrate the love and mercy of God, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor spoke of a custom in East European monasteries where, at the end of the day, the abbot kisses each monk on the top of the head to symbolize God's willingness to forgive as well as his eternal love for us. "God is on our side, is near us," he said. "Our God is a God of forgiveness and mercy." Contributing to this story were Ellie Hidalgo, Carol Zimmermann, James Wielgosz and Michalina Ratajczak in Toronto and Nancy O'Brien in Washington.
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