Annual day for victims of sexual abuse in the Church

Following the Ciase report and  the invitation of Pope Francis, the bishops of France have established a day of remembrance and prayer for victims of sexual assault and violence, and victims of abuse of power and conscience within the Church. This day is set in the liturgical calendar on the third Friday of Lent . It's a time to pray for the victims in our parishes and at home, to become aware of these abuses and to commit ourselves to the fight against paedophilia. 

A decision from the March 2021 Plenary Assembly of the Bishops of France

"The bishops, gathered in assembly, anxious to continue to listen to those who are victims, to fight against sexual violence and aggression and the abuse of power and conscience, to care for all the baptized who are bruised by these crimes, decide that the dayof Prayer for Victims of Sexual Violence and Assault and Abuse of Power and Conscience in the Church, as requested by the Holy Father, is now celebrated in the dioceses of France every year on the third Friday of Lent. Mention must be made of this in each diocesan liturgical calendar." 

(March 2021)

How is this day of remembrance and prayer organized?

Each diocese and parish is invited to organize special events for its faithful:

• community prayers , in particular through specific prayer intentions during the universal prayer (to ask for support, listening and comfort for victims; for the search for truth and justice in the midst of violence).rity and justice within the Church; to find ways of consolation and reparation; for more compassion and listening; for the desire to protect the weakest and most vulnerable...)
• Stations of the Cross, whose prayers and meditations invite us to bear the suffering of the victims. A 15th station is added to the usual 14 to mark Christ's resurrection.
• A time for exchange and discussion, with testimonies, films, etc. adapted to different age groups. The French Bishops' Conference also offers a framework to accompany a time of family exchange and prayer for those who wish to do so.

These are just some of the possibilities, which each parish can adapt according to its capacities, to :
- remembering,
- pray for victims of abuse,
- do penance for abuse, complicit silence and indifference in the face of suffering,
- free the word,
- raise the awareness of the faithful so that the Church can truly be a place of life where everyone - especially the most fragile and vulnerable - is safe.

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Learning to see and hear the silent cry of suffering

"Little child who cries,
 Little boy who went to mass full of pride, little girl who went to confession with a heart full of hope for forgiveness, little boy who went to mass full of pride, little girl who went to confession with a heart full of hope for forgiveness.heart full of the hope of forgiveness, young boy, young girl, enthusiastically going to chaplaincy or scout camp.
 Who dared to defile your body with his big hands? Who whispered words in your ear that you didn't know? Who imposed this smell on you? Who made you his thing, while pretending to be your best friend? Who dragged you into his shameful secret? 

Little child who, forever petrified, cries under the vaults of a cathedral, little child hundreds of thousands of times multiplied!
 Someone has photographed you. It allows many to see you, to look at you. Someone recognized themselves in you, saw in you the image of their broken, ravaged destiny. Someone, discovering you one day, found in you a brother or sister through whom they could express what they were carrying in secret, what so many have carried and are carrying without finding the words to say it, without finding, let alone a heart to listen to them. 

Little child crying on a church pillar, where you should be singing, praising, feeling at peace in God's house, we are watching you. 

From now on, we'll walk past you, seeing you, listening to you. 

O scorned child, humiliated child, desecrated child who survives in the depths of so many adults or suicidal teenager, we want to learn to look at you and hear the silent cry of your suffering. 

Little boys and girls who weep hidden in the adults everyone sees, teenagers walled in by a silence imposed on you, we owe you this. 

We owe it to you under the gaze of humanity, under the gaze of our conscience, under the gaze of Christ our Lord, whom you wanted to sing with all your soul, with all your being, and before whom you weep forever. 

It's too late for us to wipe away your tears. It's not too late for us to remember you. Your image before our eyes, we would like it to permeate our souls. From now on, I cannot enter a church, to celebrate the mystery of life and love stronger than death, without bearing the stigma of your weeping face, so poor, so touching, so alone, so helpless, and so worthy above all. All the good in the world doesn't redeem a child's tears. 

Little child who cries, little girl, little boy, teenager, I, Eric, bishop of the Catholic Church, with my brother bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, am here to help you.bishops, priests and faithful who are willing, I implore God on this day to teach me to be fraternal with you. "What you have done to one of these little ones who are my brothers, you have done to me".

Text by Monseigneur Éric de Moulins-Beaufort (Lourdes, November 6, 2021)

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Memorial time prayer

"O God, whom we dare to call "our Father", forgive us.
 You expose your Church, as Jerusalem was once exposed because of its crimes.
 We thought we were preserved by the holiness of your Son and the sacrifice he gave into our hands.
 We discover that we are capable, we your ministers, we whom you have called and chosen, of profaning your most ultimate gift, of transforming the gushing gift of your Spirit into a human system of degradation, contempt and death.
 Forgive us for not having understood how much the power you give requires us to be unfailingly clear.
 Forgive us for having mistaken your mercy for tolerance in the face of evil. Lift us up, we pray. Remake our hearts.

Inspire us to reach out to those we have humiliated, neglected, wounded and abandoned.
 Lift up those who suffer, we beseech you on our knees.
 Help us to listen to them and to do what they ask of us.
 O God, whom we dare to call "our Father", forgive us. Remake our hearts. Inspire us to reach out to the bruised and humiliated we have neglected and abandoned. Give joy to those we have failed, those you have appointed to carry your word of grace, and who have failed. 

You have called us to teach, teach us to listen. 

You have called us to sanctify, strip us of all appropriation, may your grace keep us in perpetual conversion. 

You have called us to govern, purify us of all taste for power, free us from all fear, starting with the fear of losing. 

God of justice and mercy, God of life and peace, take pity on us, come to the rescue of our humanity."

(Lourdes, November 6, 2021)

(Find other prayers to entrust victims of sexual assault and violence to God)

Pray for each other on Hozana

On Hozana, post your prayer intentions and feel supported by the praying community. You can also choose to become a prayer watchdog, praying daily for three intentions entrusted to you.

Join our prayer novenas to pray together for those who suffer, such as the beautiful novena to Mary who unties knots.