May 16, 2019 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Colorful past St. Paul woman rediscovers her passion for painting, turns to project depicting 50 modern saints. — Pages 10-11
Venerating a saint The heart of St. John Vianney will visit Holy Family in St. Louis Park and the Cathedral of St. Paul. — Page 5
One wall at a time Catholics help build homes and meet other needs of an increasing number of homeless. — Pages 6-7
Faith in school A college graduate shares her faith journey; seniors in Catholic high schools reflect on last four years. — Pages 12-14
Natural burial Archbishop Hebda to bless Resurrection Cemetery site set aside for interments with less environmental impact. — Page 16
We’re taking a spring break! Look for our next issue June 6.
Archbishop Hebda: Pope’s legislation on abuse includes ‘groundbreaking provisions’
Santa Maria
By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
A
rchbishop Bernard Hebda praised Pope Francis’ May 9 legislation on clergy sex abuse, saying the pope’s actions “reflect the urgent need to take concrete steps and provide clear direction for reporting and investigating allegations of sexual abuse of minors and adults by all clergy, including bishops.” “This scourge of abusive acts — and the lack of clear procedures to respond effectively to them — as well as the failure of some bishops and other Church leaders to respond appropriately to reports of abuse, has profoundly harmed far too many,” Archbishop Hebda said in a May 9 statement. “Inadequate responses in the past, moreover, have also weakened the credibility of the Church as she strives to give witness to the good news of Jesus.” Pope Francis released the legislation, known in canon law as a “motu proprio,” to address clergy sexual abuse in the Church worldwide. The document, titled “Vos estis lux mundi,” or “You Are the Light of the World,” followed an international meeting of bishops in Rome in February to address clergy sexual abuse. Although the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began to address clergy sexual abuse in the 1980s, it enacted the first binding national policies on it in 2002, following the Boston Globe’s investigation of the issue in the Archdiocese of Boston. That year, the U.S. bishops released “The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” and the corresponding “Essential Norms,” often together referred to as the Dallas Charter, which established procedures for preventing and reporting sexual abuse in U.S. Catholic dioceses. Last summer, the issue was again brought to the fore with allegations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, whom the pope has since laicized, and the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed clergy sexual abuse and cover-up that occurred over seven decades in six of that state’s dioceses. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently faced its own sexual abuse scandal, with about 450 people filing sexual abuse claims against clergy and other Church leaders during a threeyear lifting of the statute of limitations on such cases from 2013 to 2016. The archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 PLEASE TURN TO ABUSE ON PAGE 9
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
From left, Daniel Degollado and Jesus Cuate of the St. Francis de Sales Knights of Columbus Council 16198 in St. Paul prepare to carry a statue of Mary from the State Capitol to the Cathedral of St. Paul May 5 during the annual Family Rosary Procession in St. Paul. Rosary prayers and meditations were done in both Spanish and English, with the Knights of the St. Francis de Sales council carrying the statue the entire half-mile. They brought the statue inside the Cathedral and placed it in the sanctuary, where Archbishop Bernard Hebda gave remarks after a Gospel reading. The event also included exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
POPE ISSUES NEW NORMS ON ABUSE REPORTING Pope Francis has revised and clarified norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable in protecting minors as well as in protecting members of religious orders and seminarians from abuse. The new juridical instrument is meant to help bishops and religious leaders around the world clearly understand their duties and Church law, underlining how they are ultimately responsible for proper governance and protecting those entrusted to their care. For this reason, the new document establishes a clearer set of universal procedures for reporting suspected abuse, carrying out initial investigations and protecting victims and whistleblowers. The new document, given “motu proprio,” on the pope’s own initiative, was titled “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the world”), based on a verse from the Gospel of St. Matthew (5:14). “The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful,” the pope said in the document, released by the Vatican May 9. The norms go into effect June 1. In order to stop all forms of abuse from ever happening again, not only is “a continuous and profound conversion of hearts” necessary, there must be “concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church,” he wrote. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said the new norms ascribe a new role to heads of dioceses by making them responsible for alerting the proper Vatican authorities of all forms of suspected
abuse, including the possession, distribution or creation of pornography involving a minor. He told Vatican News May 9 that the norms respond to Pope Francis’ continued insistence for concrete and effective measures to ensure bishops and religious superiors have a very clear understanding of what their obligations are and what they should and should not do when it comes to safeguarding the vulnerable. It also requires all priests and religious to report suspected abuse or cover-ups and encourages any lay person to report abuse through a nowmandated reporting “system” or office in each diocese. How the office or “system” works will be up to each diocese, but “the idea is that anyone who has suffered abuse can have recourse to the local Church, while being assured they will be well received, protected from retaliation, and that their reports will be treated with the utmost seriousness,” Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, told Vatican News. The new norms now stipulate: u Procedures for the investigation of bishops, cardinals, patriarchs, religious superiors and all those who lead — even temporarily — a diocese or particular Church, including personal prelatures and personal ordinariates. u Leaders will be held accountable not only with suspected cases of committing abuse
PLEASE TURN TO LEGISLATION ON PAGE 9