Over the past several weeks, I have been feeling a bit sick to my stomach -- and it has nothing to do with the surgery that I recently had.  No, what has had me feeling sick is the ongoing story of sexual misconduct by Cardinal McCarrick.

I don’t think I really need to explain what I am talking about.  It has been all over the news; on TV, in the papers, and of course all over the Internet.  Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor back in the 1970s.  Since that initial report, other reports of misconduct has also surfaced -- both with minors, and with seminarians.  The misconduct was widespread and went on for decades. Many people are correctly asking not only how could such sexual misconduct have continued for so long, but how was it possible for him to rise through the ranks; becoming the Bishop of Metuchen, then the Archbishop of Newark, and then the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, DC.

I have no answers for these questions, but I believe that the USCCB’s are going to have to take a long, honest look at this case.  Hopefully, they will hire an independent investigator to look into the matter, and then have the courage to effect the necessary changes to see to it that such a think will not happy again.

The clergy sexual abuse scandal has been another dark cloud overshadowing my entire priesthood.  The first reports came out of Boston just a few months before I was ordained. I will admit, it gave me serious pause about becoming a priest.  Recently Bishop O’Connell wrote to the priests of the Diocese. He acknowledged that all of us -- including himself -- are hurting from these discouraging revelations.  Yet, from his prayer, he also reminded us of words of encouragement from the Scriptures:

I consider the sufferings of the present time as nothing compared to the glory of God to be revealed for and in us ... If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own son but handed him over for us all, how will he not give us everything else along with him? ... What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will anguish or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or the sword? ... I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor present things nor future things nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord (Romans 8: 18-39).

What can we do in this time of discouragement, hurt, and righteous anger?  While the hierarchy of the Church has more concrete things to do, for us in the pews the best thing we can do is pray.  And I am going to encourage us to pray something specific: the Miraculous 54-Day Rosary Novena.

I do not have the space to fully explain the history of the 54-Day Rosary Novena; for that visit this website: https://www.romancatholicman.com/the-miraculous-54-day-rosary-novena-2/

Essentially, a novena is 9-days of prayers, and Our Lady visited a young girl, Fortuna Agrelli, who was sick with three different incurable diseases.  Our Lady told Fortuna to pray three novenas of the Rosary with a petition (27 days of petition), followed by three novenas of the Rosary in thanksgiving (27 days of thanksgiving), whether or not the petition has been granted.  Since that time, many miracles have been granted to those who have devoutly prayed the 54-Day Rosary Novena.

Starting on August 15, thousands of people across the United States are going to begin the 54-Day Rosary Novena, praying for the moral healing of our nation, and our Church.  This will end on October 7, when our parish will be participating with parishes throughout the country in the “Coast to Coast Rosary” (more details about that later, but it will be at 4 PM at St. Casimir Church).  I hope that many of you will join me in praying this powerful 54-Day Rosary Novena.