HOMILY OF MOST REVEREND ALFRED A.

SCHLERT
Weekend of Aug 25 and 26, 2018

I thank your pastor for allowing me this time to come and pray with
you and speak with you this morning. I particularly wanted to come to
this parish because this community has tragically intersected with many
priests on our diocesan list of priest perpetrators of abuse, and parishioners
here have borne the brunt of criminal and perverse priests.

For weeks since reading the Statewide Grand Jury Report of clergy
abuse of minors in Pennsylvania, I have felt extreme sadness, regret, and
shame. The perverse manner in which the Sacrament of Holy Orders was
used to gain access to youth to steal their innocence by the very men who
were called to preserve it is crushing.

Now that the Report has been released, I am free to openly express
my thoughts on the horrible information it contains. As a Bishop, I am the
link to the Diocese’s past while shepherding it in the present and guiding it
into the future. It is my responsibility at this point in history to address the
heinous actions of the past that, sadly, are still felt today. It is my duty to
respond to the abhorrent behavior of decades ago, committed by priests
long dead and others long removed from ministry, as well as to those
incidents that you have read about recently that were not part of the Grand
Jury Report.

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 My first response is to ask forgiveness from all those who are victims
and survivors, as well as from their families. I offer my profound apologies
to all whose lives have been impacted by this criminal behavior. It is
impossible for the great majority of us to truly understand the burden
victim-survivors have carried for years, mostly in silence and hidden pain.
I seek your forgiveness because the Church, which should have been the
source of your strength, instead was the cause of your tremendous
suffering. Perhaps the measures the Diocese has now taken for several
years to prevent, report, and be transparent about abuse in the Church will
in some small way ease the mistrust that you legitimately feel about the
bishops of the Church.

I again urge anyone who has been a victim of abuse to report it to law
enforcement. If your abuse occurred in the Catholic Church, please contact
our Victim Assistance Coordinator as well. We need to hear about your
experience in order to create a safe environment in the Church. Our
Catholic Community cannot begin to heal if victim-survivors are not in the
process of healing, since you are an integral part of our family.

I ask the forgiveness of our devoted Religious Sisters and all of you,
the laity, who have remained steadfast in your faith in the midst of human
corruption and error. No Catholic should have to endure the shame that
you endure because of the sinful actions of those priests who failed to
bolster and confirm your faith. You have been heroic, even when
shepherds-turned-wolves infested some of your parishes and schools.

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 I also feel the need to apologize to the vast majority of our good and
faithful, Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians of the Diocese of Allentown.
This scourge and scandal in the Church has made their vocation so much
more difficult. It is heartbreaking for me to see them treated with suspicion
solely because they have heard the Lord’s call to serve Him. It is
unfathomable to me that ordained men could cause such extreme harm to
the very flock that they were ordained to protect and serve. I am so grateful
for the commitment of our current clergy to holiness and for tending to the
scandalous wounds of our people while they themselves have been
wounded.

To those who are open to hearing my words and even those who
may not be right now: I know it will take time to heal, but please offer us
another opportunity to regain your trust through the progress we have
made over the past 15 years. We have implemented many changes in that
time, all of which are designed to keep children safe. We have added
background checks, training for adults, education for children, clear
policies, and strict codes of conduct, as well as more rigorous standards
and training for candidates preparing for the Priesthood. We have
formalized assistance for victims and named safe environment
coordinators. We also take immediate action to deal with allegations:
removing the clergy member from ministry, notifying law enforcement,
and being transparent about our actions in cooperation with law
enforcement. I apologize that our standards of transparency were not

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adequate in the past, and we have changed that. I hope my actions in
immediately removing and reporting accused priests to law enforcement
since becoming the Bishop of Allentown demonstrate to you my
commitment to protecting children.

In a theological image, the Diocese is the Bishop’s Bride. It is why he

wears an episcopal ring: to signify the nuptial bond he has with his
Diocese, his portion of the vineyard to safeguard. The Bishop has the
obligation and profound honor to defend his flock and lead his people
unrelentingly to Christ. It is my responsibility at this time in history to
fulfill Christ’s command to Feed my sheep.

In the past, the Church did not always deal with abuse and abusers in
the way it does now. While seeking your forgiveness for the past, I pledge
my entire being to shepherding our local church through these hurt-filled
times. I pledge that our Diocese will do the right thing to protect children,
to care for and support victims and survivors. I will continue to do
everything I can to protect the flock of Christ entrusted to me to the best of
my ability, fully aware of my human inadequacies. In the years I was Vicar
General under the supervision of two bishops, any accusation of abuse was
reported to law enforcement. Since I became Bishop of Allentown on
August 31, 2017, I have fully cooperated with law enforcement, including
immediately reporting two accusations of abuse by priests and removing
them from ministry.

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 Together with God’s help, we can ensure that the sinful actions of the
past will have no place in the present, and that they will not define us in
the future. I understand that not everyone will accept my assurances, given
the way Bishops have eroded the trust of our people. My only hope is that
we can repair the trust of our Catholic family of faith and the wider
community by virtue of our action today and in the future. To those who
will hear these words as hollow, or as too little, too late, I ask your
forgiveness nonetheless. I can only assure you that they come from the
depth of a pastor’s heart.

In today’s Gospel Peter says “you have the words of eternal life” (Jn
6:69). As we continue to heal and make sense of this Report, we cannot
forget who is truly at the center of our life of faith, Jesus Christ, truly
present in the Holy Eucharist. In these difficult times, we turn toward
Christ for strength and healing.

Saint Augustine, a Bishop of the Fourth Century, taught: “Hope has

two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage: anger at the
way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they
are.” It is appropriate that we have a righteous, holy anger. The kind Jesus
had when His Father’s house was being defiled. To that, we -- beginning
with me -- must add courage to work for the continuing vigilance
regarding our response to victims and the handling of abuse allegations so
that it produces hope in all our people.

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 May God, who alone can heal the deep wounds that each person
uniquely feels, bring us to a renewed commitment to holiness and unity as
a Roman Catholic Family of Faith. Likewise, we seek the intercession of our
Diocesan Patroness, Mary, Mother of the Church, who was no stranger to
adversity, that we might follow God’s Will faithfully.