As I write this, I am well aware that there are people who may have suffered at the hands of individuals or groups within the Church. I am not asking you to lie to yourself about these past events. Nothing worthwhile can be built upon a lie.
When we tell ourselves the whole truth about past events, we can respond in a way more likely to encourage the peace and freedom that God has always wanted us to enjoy as people made in the divine image. We cannot change things that happened to us in the past, but we do have some freedom about how we respond to them now and in the future. Our choices today can reaffirm the most unjust things we have experienced, or they can motivate us to create a more just present for ourselves and other people who have suffered similar or worse injustices. The choice is ours.
—Friar Pat McCloskey, “Ask a Franciscan”
St. Anthony Messenger, June/July 2022 issue
//Franciscan Media//