Easter Vigil

This is a night plenty of light and plenty of joy because we are celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and the baptism of Rudy an Priscilla and the reception of our other brothers and sisters into full communion, however as your pastor, your priest, your friend and your brother in Christ, allow me to talk very briefly about something that makes me feel worried since the last weeks.

Everybody knows the wave of headlines about abuse of minors by some priests. Ireland, Germany, Rome even. It is a real and sad situation. Last Thursday, during the washing of the feet in silence, I was asking for forgiveness to all those whom has been hurt for member of the church, however what deepens the sadness now is the unrelénting insinuations against the Holy Father himself, as certain sources seem frantic to implicate the man who, perhaps more than anyone else has been the leader in purification, reform, and renewal that the Church so needs. SO it is the time for Catholics to pray for Benedict our Pope, to support our Holy Father, our BELOVED holy father.

No one has been more vígorous in cleansing the Church of the effects of this sickening sin than the man we now call Benedict XVI. In my personal opinion as a priest and a foreign person, the dramatic progress made by the Church in the United States could never have happened without the insistence and support of the very man now being daily crowned with thorns by groundless innuendo.

Does the Church and her pastor, Pope Benedict XVI, need intense scrutiny and just criticism for tragic horrors long past? Yes! He himself has asked for it, encouraging complete honesty, at the same time expressing contrition, and urging a thorough cleansing. All we ask is that it be fair, and that the Catholic Church not be singled-out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency, and family in the world.

Tonight, the Easter Vigil, we share both joys and sorrows, the power and light and grace of Jesus the risen Lord and the weakness of our human nature.

In fewer words: the Eucharist is the meal of the spiritual family we call the Church. The father of our family, Benedict XVI, needs our love, support, and prayers. Let us pray for him and let us give him all our love, confidence and support as sons and daughters of God in the Holy Catholic Church ■