Bishop Robert Barron has written a short and incisive letter in response to the sexual abuse crisis that has roiled the Catholic Church in recent decades.
The first letter of Archbishop Vigano, released a year ago (August 22, 2018), rocked the Church like an earthquake, with (then Cardinal) Theodore McCarrick as its epicenter. The aftershocks have reverberated daily, as scandal after scandal has been unveiled in dioceses around the globe.
The response by the institutional church over the past year has been—at best—lethargic. At worst, the response has been defensive, regressive, and surrounded by a culture of silence all the way up to the Pope:

“I read the statement this morning.  I read it and sincerely I must tell you, and all those who are interested: read it yourselves carefully and make your own judgment.  I will not say a single word on this.  I believe the memo speaks for itself, and you are capable enough as journalists to draw your own conclusions.  This is an act of trust: when some time has passed and you have drawn conclusions, perhaps I will speak.  But I ask that you use your professional maturity in doing this: it will do you good, really.”
Pope Francis, on the papal flight back to Rome from the World Meeting of Families, Sunday, 26 August 2018

It is within this context that Bishop Barron has written a Letter to a Suffering Church. It is divided into five short chapters:

Chapter One: The Devil’s Masterpiece
Chapter Two: Light from Scripture
Chapter Three: We Have Been Here Before
Chapter Four: Why Should We Stay?
Chapter Five: The Way Forward

I would love to see more pastoral letters from bishops written with such clarity, insight and economy of language.
I especially appreciated chapter two, as I found the discussion based on the Old Testament passages to be very apropos and insightful. And I was deeply moved and motivated by this passage in the last chapter, The Way Forward:

…Something new must come forth, something specifically fitted to our time and designed to respond to the particular corruption that currently besets us. Above all, we need saints, marked by holiness of course, but also by intelligence, an understanding of the culture, and the willingness to try something fresh. Somewhere in the Church right now is a new Benedict, a new Francis, a new Ignatius, a new Teresa of Kolkata, a new Dorothy Day. This is your time!

I hope every Catholic will take the time to read this book and review the related resources over at SufferingChurchBook.com. If possible, why not start a study group to discuss the book? While I recommend ordering the materials from the Word on Fire website, you can also purchase a Kindle version of the book for one dollar on Amazon.

Bishop Barron’s Prayer for a Suffering Church

Lord Jesus Christ, through your Incarnation you accepted a human nature and lived a real, human life. Setting aside the glory of your divinity, you met us face to face in the vulnerability of our humanity.

Though without sin, you accepted sinners, offering forgiveness and placing yourself before even the most unworthy as a servant and a friend. You became small and weak in the estimation of the powerful, so that you might elevate to glory the small and weak of the world.
Your descent into our nature was not without risk, as it exposed you to the assaults of the darkest and most terrifying of humanity’s fallen desires—our cruelty and narrowness, our deceptions and our denials. All this culminated in the cross, where your divine love was met with the full fury of our malice, our violence, and our estrangement from your grace.
You offered yourself to us with innocence and receptivity, and this was met with the abuse of your body, humiliation and mockery, betrayal and isolation, torture and death. All this—even the dereliction of feeling abandoned by God—you accepted. You became a victim, so that all those victimized since the beginning of the world would know you as their advocate. You went into the darkness, so that all those compelled into the dark by human wickedness would discover in you a radiant light.
Grant we pray, O Lord, healing for all victims of sexual abuse. Purify your Church of corruption. Bring justice to those who have been wronged. Grant consolation to all who are afflicted. Cast your light to banish the shadows of deception. Manifest to all your advocacy of those who have been so cruelly hurt, and your judgment upon those who, having perpetrated such crimes, remain unrepentant. Compel those in your Church whom you have entrusted to safeguard the innocent and act on behalf of the victims to be vigilant and zealous in their duties. Restore faith to those from whom it has been stolen, and hope to those who have despaired.
Christ the Victim, we call out to you!
Strengthen your faithful to accept the mission placed before us, a mission of holiness and truth. Inspire us to become advocates of those who have been harmed. Grant us strength to fight for justice. Impart to us courage so that we might forthrightly face the challenges to come. Raise up saints from your Church, and grant us the grace to become the saints you desire us to be. This we ask of you, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.