Archbishop Charles Chaput says his first two years in Philadelphia
witnessed “tough news,” but he encouraged his flock to continue renewal
and to “shape the future with the message of Jesus Christ.”
“The future depends on what we do right now, and right now we need to be
willing to continue the hard work of personal conversion and
institutional reform that we’ve already begun,” the Philadelphia
archbishop said in his Sept. 6 column for CatholicPhilly.com.
“There’s no other path to a vigorous and fruitful Catholic presence in Philadelphia in the decades ahead.”
Archbishop Chaput became head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Sept. 8, 2011, shortly before his 67th birthday.
His latest column reflected on the challenges faced by the archdiocese in recent years.
Philadelphia Catholics have witnessed the “suffering of abuse victims
and their families” as well as two grand jury reports about sexually
abusive clergy and the removal of priests from ministry. Church
attendance has declined over the past decade and the archdiocese
suffered the ill effects of both “well-intentioned but poor financial
management” and “outright embezzlement.”
The archbishop said these problems had been compounded by “complacency,
inertia and too little transparency and accountability at almost every
level of Church life.”
These things are “painful to say and difficult to hear,” Archbishop
Chaput said. However, they are worth remembering because “we’re on a
different course now, a better one; and we’ve come a long way in a short
time.”
“The past two years have seen difficult times. More challenges will
surely come. But the people of this extraordinary Church … have been,
and are, and will always be, the greatest gift from God in my life as a
pastor.”
The archbishop urged “prudence and clear thinking” for renewing the
archdiocese, warning of its “real and severe” financial needs.
“The future depends on our willingness to learn the right lessons from
our history and apply them honestly to the new realities we face, here
and now,” he added.
Archbishop Chaput said the 205-year-old Philadelphia archdiocese has
“roots that go to the heart of the American Catholic experience and to
the core of our nation’s best ideals.”
“And if God can use poor instruments like you and me to rekindle the
fire of the Gospel in the churches of Philadelphia, then he can work
that miracle anywhere. I want my life as a Christian to be part of that
story; and again and again over the past two years, I’ve met good people
in parishes across the archdiocese who want exactly the same.”
“Generations of Philadelphia Catholics proved their faith by their
suffering, generosity and hard work. We need to recover that same kind
of vigorous faith in our own lives – a zeal to renew the Church in the
present, and to shape the future with the message of Jesus Christ.”