A personal and ecclesial response to crimes perpetrated by consecrated members of the Church

WHY THIS NAME?

Mother and Shepherdess, this is how Pope Francis dreams of the Church. This page could also have been called "Field Hospital after the Battle"... If the Pope has the art of the image, it is necessary not to remain with the images and to get involved, as he asks in his Letter to the People of God, written following the testimony of victims of sexual abuse by priests or consecrated persons. "May the Holy Spirit give us the grace of conversion and inner anointing to be able to express, in the face of these crimes of abuse, our compassion and our decision to fight with courage. " (End of the letter to the People of God).

WHY THIS SUBTITLE?

"The children's square" because, on the one hand, it is essentially little Therese who will lead us and, on the other hand, because the concrete proposal made there is addressed to the children who do not have the power to make decisions, but who have the power to change the course of events through prayer and daily conversion.

And now, what should we do?

In the face of all the revelations that fall in cascade, we touch here and there summits of turpitude, of ignominy that can legitimately make the faith of the little ones stagger, even make them flee and leave the Church, make us sick, make us deeply sad. And it is good to let our hearts be touched by these atrocities. This is the beginning of compassion and not an unhealthy pathos.

In the closing speech of this summit, the Pope said:

"Brothers and sisters, today we are faced with a blatant, aggressive and destructive manifestation of evil. Behind and inside all this is the spirit of evil which, in its pride and arrogance, feels like the master of the world and thinks it has overcome... Behind it is Satan. And just as we must take all the practical measures that common sense, science and society offer us, so we must not lose sight of this reality and take the spiritual measures that the Lord himself teaches us: humiliation, accusation of ourselves, prayer, penance. It is the only way to defeat the spirit of evil. That's how Jesus defeated him."

And now, what should we do?

"Prayer and penance" says Francis. Mary did not say anything else to Lourdes. Pray for whom? Asking ourselves the question may put us in a dead end. We pray for the victims, the children, the religious victims of an unnamed perversity, and we are happy to do so. We can pray for those who leave the Church, helpless, lost. Praying for criminals and their "cold" accomplices is more difficult, as the abjection is so frightening. Yet this is what the Gospel asks of us.....

A few years ago two letters were circulated on the Internet. Two mothers in great pain. The first described her harassing daily life with her visits to the prison where her son was serving a heavy sentence after committing a murder, and she asked, in vain, that he be transferred to a prison closer to his home. Wasn't his suffering understandable? From being a "mother", she had become a "mother of a criminal". Yet this one remained his son, the son of his womb. A mother replied, describing her daily life, just as painful and the terrible and definitive absence of her son, killed... by the son of this first mother. Although the literary process was questionable, the fact remains that two mothers suffered martyrdom.

In organic thought and love, let us not "choose". It is also urgent to participate in the rescue of all, for all are children of God and children of the Church. It may even be more effective to pray for the conversion of the executioners (which will not protect them from the "shelter" of justice which is absolutely necessary), because it kills two birds with one stone. Let's first listen to Therese.

Therese and Pranzini

Those who know Therese know that Pranzini, a great criminal, sentenced to death by beheading, had become "his first child". It is good to review this text, which is the basis of the proposal.

Who was Pranzini? He is described as an adventurer, a thief, probably a pimp, and finally the author of a triple crime, a woman and her maid and her daughter. The first two are slit, the girl is beheaded. The motive for this triple murder, it seems, is jewelry theft. This man would therefore seem to have nothing to envy to priests who perpetuate ignominious acts in the Church with impunity... except that he was not a priest. That said, Therese calls her "her first child". She takes on a maternity that participates in that of the Church, Mother and Shepherdess, against all odds and despite the excessive culpable failure of some of her members.

Pranzini refused any help from the Church. He was locked in his crimes, hope was dead. It was just unbearable for Theresa who knew (already!) God's infinite Mercy, the eternal destiny of man saved by Jesus Christ and, by contrast, the horror of God's eternal deprivation, hell. To get Pranzini's conversion, what did she do?

It's quite simple: "to the little souls, you don't need complicated means". Because she "felt that she could do nothing on her own" - which is our case –

• ·         she offered the infinite merits of Jesus.

• ·         She also offered the treasures of the Church

• ·         She offered masses

• ·         Celine has partnered with her.

• ·         One last thing that is not in this text: she did not refuse anything to the good Lord.   

A simple and fruitful proposal

when the little ones take the big steps...

It is important to grasp the spirit before embarking on the letter (or throwing it in the garbage). The letter without the spirit will lead to nothing. The spirit without the letter will remain a sterile nebula. It may of course be legitimate to find another "letter". This one, i. e. concrete proposals, has the merit of existing and avoiding spending time finding another one. The concrete will be written in blue.

• Simple and fruitful, this proposal therefore takes up the five theresian elements, starting with "Celine's help" which is in a way a fundamental preliminary. To step over it would be to take the risk of remaining in a disembodied spiritual blur. This first element, in a concern for a precise embodiment, consists of two stages:

•  Find a "Celine" to form an "apostolic tandem". Jesus always sent his disciples two by two and, moreover, he solemnly announced: Amen, I tell you, if two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, they will get it from my Father in heaven. (Mt 18:19). It is interesting to note that Therese was afraid that Celine would make fun of her. However, Celine is deeply involved in this "rescue". So let us not be afraid to ask this or that person who is probably waiting for this. 

·         With faith and trust, ask Teresa together to assign us a "child", a criminal priest or accomplice. You can ask him his name, or you can give him a nickname yourself, because to name is to make him exist, even if the face remains unknown.

THEN :

1. To offer the merits of Jesus: the infinite merits of Jesus: He is the only Savior. His redemptive death gave us to be saved, no matter how serious our sin may be. "God wants all men to be saved." It is a question of calling Mercy on our child by virtue of this redemption that Jesus has acquired for us. Pray with the rosary of divine mercy - or in some other form - as often as possible for "our child".

2. Offering the Church's Treasury: Here we plunge into the mystery of the Communion of the Saints, in which we say we believe when we say the Creed every Sunday. Pope Pius XII in his encyclical "Mystici Corpori Christi" dedicated to the Mystical Body of Christ, calls this mystery "tremendous", because it makes us in solidarity with each other, because Jesus first made himself in solidarity with our sinful nature. In addition to the infinite merits of Christ, offer those of Mary and all the saints. It is a question of uniting with the Church in heaven, of bringing our brothers and sisters who have already arrived into the fold, of drawing from this treasure and offering it to God in all simplicity, just as a child receives a gift from his mother to offer it to his Father. Be as simple as possible.

3. Offering masses, the Eucharist is the place where redemption is sacramentally actualized. To offer a Mass is to say our faith in the power of Christ's sacrifice and in the prayer of the Church. This offering is normally concrete (currently 17 euros) and participates in the life of the Church's ministers. Depending on everyone's budget, one per quarter, one per month or one per week for the conversion of "our child".

4. Do not refuse anything to God. Simplest: God refuses nothing to anyone who does not refuse him anything. Do not refuse anything to God. This is probably the most expensive, at least apparently. Because it's actually very relaxing.

This concrete proposal is ONE proposal. And it is a PROPOSAL. Full of spirit, she will be fertile, that's obvious. God infinitely desires these conversions, and if all this filth comes out today, it is because He wants this purification positively. But this is not a one-way street. When a caregiver puts ointment on a suffering limb, the ointment also enters the caregiver's hand.

The little number 4, which looks like nothing, engages us and it may be good to be accompanied spiritually. Pope Francis asks us for this prayer that commits us. To refuse nothing to God is both the price of the conversion of "our child" and the path of our own conversion.

Because everything must be seen in an organic whole. There are no good guys on one side and bad guys on the other. We are a Body with more or less healthy, more or less fragile, more or less sinful limbs... and, we have taken note of this, with members in advanced rot. However, the healthier the Body is, the more resources it will have to reduce rot. The capacity of regeneration of the physical body is extraordinary, that of the Mystical Body is infinite. While committing ourselves generously and truly to the "rescue" of our child, it is nothing more or less than a torrent of holiness that will swallow up the torrent of dirt, as and because Christ's Resurrection swallowed up death.

Pope Francis in the closing speech of the summit on sexual abuse highlighted this immense grip of the devil. Any initiative necessarily finds it on its way. Obviously, if the tandems multiply, he will take umbrage and risk putting obstacles in the way, the first being to describe these lines and this proposal as pure reverie. Which they are not. We could therefore add the rosary, to be supported and defended by the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, whose two mothers mentioned above are together the image.

If a person does not find a "Celine", they can contact us and we will put two "Isolated Therese" in contact.

If finally other ideas arise to improve the proposal (without overloading it), do not hesitate, make your suggestions.

Mère et Bergère

 2019 

Ce projet est porté par des catholiques, laïcs et consacrés