Pastoral Offerings Healing Our Church/Sanando Nuestra Iglesia Healing Our Church, RENEW International’s response to the crises of sexual abuse and coverup, had a dramatic impact in the dioceses and parishes where the program has been implemented so far. “It was very, very beneficial,” said Father Anthony Randazzo, pastor of the Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity in Westfield, New Jersey, a pilot parish in the Archdiocese of Newark. Father Randazzo told the archdiocesan newspaper, The Advocate, that parishioners “came to understand the issue better. They expressed their feelings openly and did not hesitate or feel deferential. They let people know how they felt about the horrendous things that have gone on.” The program was introduced in the Diocese of Allentown, where more than 3,000 men and women participated. It has also been implemented in the dioceses of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Newark and Charleston, South Carolina and many individual parishes, including the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC. RENEW created Healing Our Church to encourage the “people in the pews” to share their feelings about the troubling issues, embrace their role as members of Christ’s body, and discern and commit to actions they can take. An enculturated companion process, Sanando Nuestra Iglesia, has been Sister Ruth Bolarte, IHM, a RENEW pastoral consultant, conducts a workshop on Sanando implemented among SpanishNuestra Iglesia, for Spanish-speaking leaders in the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. speaking Catholics, and Healing Our Church has been translated into Portuguese. Father Paul Cannarato, pastor of the Church of the Assumption in Emerson, New Jersey, told The Advocate, “The program is a wonderful instrument to begin the process of healing. One of the realizations (participants) came to is that each one of them has to be a minister of healing. … And I think it contributed to the individual healing of the people who attended it. It gave them a way forward. As a group, they came to the realization that they are called as Christ’s disciples to do whatever is necessary to help the victims, and that they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to hold the Church accountable.”
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, archbishop of Newark, speaks during one of the videos that accompanies Healing Our Church. Videos were also provided by Sister Donna Ciangio, OP, chancellor of the archdiocese, and, in Spanish, by Auxiliary Bishop Manuel Cruz.
Participants are surveyed before and after the process so that RENEW can assess how behavior, awareness, and attitudes may have changed, and the results have shown that for most participants the experience has been positive and constructive. RENEW is working with parishes whose participation in Healing Our Church was interrupted by the pandemic, to help them continue. IMPACT Report 2020
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