N.B. I’ve had second thoughts about some of the things, I’ve said in the following homily.  In early July I met a “prophetess” while praying at the Blessed Solanus Casey Center in Detroit.  She counseled that I should be cautious in use of my sharp tongue.  I don’t think I followed her sage advice very well in this homily:
 
I’d ask Mark Schroder to please come forward and present our Annual Parish Finance Report:
 
Thank you, Mark.  Today I want to build on Mark’s report and share a sense of direction for us as a Faith Community.  This week I attended the Assembly of the Priests and Bishops of the Province of Atlanta.  I always return from these workshops energized.  In the coming weeks in my homilies, in the bulletin, at our Town Hall Meeting on September 16 ^th, and the Day of Parish Renewal on October 20 ^th we’ll be talking about the different components of a vibrant faith community.
 
One of them, Financial Health, we just focused on.  I am so very grateful to Mark Schroder, the members of the Finance Committee, and Mary Chapin for the great oversight they give to our finances.  I am grateful that so many of you are such good stewards of the gifts that God has entrusted to you.  I am grateful that in your relationship to God, you understand the call to return a portion of your time, talent, and treasure to support God’s work on Earth.  I am blessed as your pastor that we are in good financial health so as to be able to focus more completely on our Mission as a Faith Community.  Thank You!!
 
Something extraordinary happened at the Assembly, this week.  We talked honestly about the elephant in the room.  Something that is rare at Church gatherings, but with recent revelations it would be immoral not to talk about the crisis in the Church at such a gathering.
Archbishop Gregory vowed to take whatever next steps “are necessary to ensure vigilance and accountability and to foster healing.”  He said that there have been enough words; it is time for action.
 
Before 120 priests, our Bishop and 5 other Bishops, I was the first to respond to Archbishop Wilton Gregory.  I spoke of my anger towards the Bishops.  Archbishop Gregory lead the Bishops in 2002 when they established the Dallas Charter.  In that Charter they called everyone to be responsible for protecting children from abuse, but they never held themselves accountable for covering up the abuse. 
 
I spoke of my sadness concerning the man, Msgr. Bill Lynn, who helped me leave the Church of Philadelphia.  In his misguided loyalty to Cardinal Bevilacqua, he covered up the crimes of pedophiles and is the only member of Church leadership that has done prison time for the cover-up.  But his co-conspirator, Joe Cistone, was made Bishop of Saginaw and was never held accountable.  Where is the justice in that? The whole process of electing Bishops is too secretive and needs to be broadened to include the laity.
 
I spoke of my brothers’ anger that Cardinal Wuerl’s resignation hasn’t been accepted by the Pope yet.  He was Bishop of Pittsburgh while some horrific abuse was being covered-up. To deflect from his own sins, Wuerl broke the news of Archbishop McCarrick’s sins just before the Pennsylvania Grand Jury’s Report was released.  That is pretty despicable.  The brother who is generally milder said that he should be called to the Vatican and jailed.
 
I spoke of the need to establish an Independent Lay-lead Board to hold the Bishops accountable for their cover-ups.  I suggested Gov. Frank Keating who Archbishop Gregory asked to lead the Board overseeing the Dallas Charter.  When Gov. Keating resigned in frustration, he compared some of the Bishops to the Mafia.  He said, ''To resist grand jury subpoenas, to suppress the names of offending clerics, to deny, to obfuscate, to explain away; that is the model of a criminal organization, not my church.''
 
Well, if I should suddenly disappear, you might have an idea as to why.  But I had a brief conversation with Archbishop Gregory at the end of the Assembly and I felt as though we left on good terms.  I ended my little diatribe with a pitch to my brother priests to join the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests.  We all need to be accountable for our lives and our ministry.  Sharing how God is acting in my life with my brothers in fraternity has be one of the great blessings of my priesthood.
 
Now it is your time to be a blessing to the Church that we love.  I am asking you and your household to serve the Lord by calling the Bishops to accountability.  For the next week, we will hold a writing campaign in the meeting room.  There will be 4 x 6 index cards so that you can write a short note to our Church leadership.  You can write a note to our Bishop or the Pope, but I thought the most effective might be Cardinal DiNardo as head of the USCCB.  Write to all three if you like or just one.  You can sign your name or not.  On Labor Day we will put all the notes in big envelopes and mail them.
 
I loved the word picture that Deacon Peter Lashima shared at the 8am Mass last Sunday.  He talked about the Rectory burning down at Saint Mary on the Hill.  It was where the parish began over a hundred years ago and was precious to the people.  Many parishioners where in the area that night and they didn’t run away from the fire.  Rather, because it was precious to them, they ran towards the Rectory to try to save it.
 
Because of the catastrophic moral failure of our leadership, many will turn away from the Church.  But the Church is both human and Divine.  God will always be present even in the midst of great sin.  So, the question in today’s Gospel is an important one as we are outraged by those sins and wrestle with the horrible news of still more innocent victims of abuse.  “Do you also want to leave.”  Hopefully, we will want to run towards the Church and try to save it.  Hopefully, we will find the faith to answer with Simon Peter, “Master to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.”  Amen!  Amen! 

Fr. Jerry Ragan