| U.S. News

In the wake of the church sex abuse scandal, Father Murray encountered a young man who had been abused by four priests.

“How do you know what to say to this young man?” he said. “I didn’t know where to begin.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Father Murray has seen the devastation caused when a fellow priest was falsely accused of abuse.

“He was just assumed guilty,” he said.

These experiences reinforced the need for reconciliation within the church in Father Murray’s mind, and that is one of the reasons he joined 15 other religious and lay people on the board of directors for the new Paulist Office for Reconciliation. The office was recently established by the Paulist Fathers at the North American Paulist Center here, where the first board meeting took place Jan. 23.

Reconciliation involves healing people’s wounds – whether it be caused by abuse, disagreement with the church’s stand on an issue or anything that led someone to feel alienated or rejected – and welcoming people back to the church. Reconciliation work is such an intrinsic part of the Paulist charism that the Paulists are devoting $1.2 million over the next five years to reconciliation awareness, training and programming, according to Father John E. Hurley, director of the reconciliation office.

“People’s lives depend on what we do as disciples of Jesus Christ,” Father Hurley said in his welcome address to the board members. “It begins with recognizing that those experiencing alienation and hurt in the church are our brothers and sisters. It begins with our baptism.”

“Can we remain complacent with the reality that some of our brothers and sisters are not at the [eucharistic] table and are starving to death spiritually,” he asked, noting that “the eucharistic table is a place for sinners, not recognition for a job well done.”

The goal of the Office for Reconciliation is to develop a wide pastoral process to address the need for dialogue and reconciliation in the church today by not only supporting Paulist reconciliation initiatives, but to, among other action, engage theologians on the social and personal dimensions behind reconciliation issues; provide a multi-media presentation and processes for dialogue/listening sessions between individuals within local parishes and dioceses; to dialogue with the U.S. and Canadian bishops conferences, laity and church leaders to implement reconciliation within the church.

Dr. Susan Timoney, who is on the faculty of Trinity University here and teaches Christian spirituality in the permanent deaconate of the Archdiocese of Washington, said reconciliation is a faith concept that rarely gets mentioned.

“Yet it is deeply rooted in the gospel,” she said. “We need to think creatively bring alive the good news.”

Bob Bowers, an ex-officio board member, has already seen the fruits of Paulist initiatives at the Paulist Center in Boston, the epicenter of the abuse scandal.

“There is now hope and healing where there was distrust and pain,” he said.

Father Hurley told that board members that what they were taking on was nothing less than a divine initiative.

“Are we willing to leave the 99 and seek out the one that is lost?” he asked.

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For more information on the work of the Paulist Office for Reconciliation, see its Web page at www.paulist.org/reconciliation.