|
 In
His Light
by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron
Healing garden — a continuing
commitment to survivors
Below is the text of Bishop
Allen Vigneron’s address at the Oct. 11 dedication of the healing
garden for survivors of clergy sex abuse. The garden is located on the
plaza adjacent to the Cathedral of Christ the Light.
To begin, I want to thank all of you who have come here today for this
important event in the life of the Diocese of Oakland: the dedication
of the Survivors of Clergy Sexual Abuse Healing Garden, here on the plaza
adjacent to the Cathedral of Christ the Light.
I also want to express, on my own behalf and on behalf of the whole diocese,
my profound gratitude to the members of the Survivors Garden committee
for conceiving of the idea of this garden and then doing the hard work
of making your idea a reality. What you have proposed and what you have
accomplished is a real gift to our Catholic family in the East Bay. Thank
you.
The dedication of this garden today advances and enriches all the events
that make up the dedication of the center of the new Cathedral of Christ
the Light. What we are doing this afternoon is not extraneous to the establishment
of the cathedral, but is a completion of it.
To help us grasp this point we need to understand that today’s gathering
is a continuation of what began at the “Reconciliation and Healing
Service between the Victims of Clergy Abuse and the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Oakland,” held at Leona Lodge on March 25, 2000.
A key moment in that service was the confession by Church leaders that
we had not brought out into the light, but kept in the shadows, the evil
of clergy sexual abuse of children and young people.
Today, it is right for us to recall that then we leaders admitted, that
“we were ashamed and afraid to know the horrible truth about the
abuse happening within our Church and its devastating impact on the lives
of so many of those we were called to serve. Even when the signs were
right there before us, we did not recognize them. We had eyes, but we
did not see.”
To the hurt of so many innocents, we preferred the darkness to the light.
And for that, I make again our heartfelt apologies to victim survivors.
The dedication of this new Cathedral of Christ the Light has been the
occasion for the Catholics of the East Bay to rededicate ourselves to
letting the light of Christ and his truth shine out in every corner of
our community and in every aspect of our lives.
Since we, especially we leaders, as we said eight years ago, failed in
our time to shine the light of Christ on the sin of clergy sexual abuse
of children and young people, it is right that we should alongside this
new cathedral dedicate this Healing Garden.
The garden is, in this sense, a particular ray of the Christ-light, permanently
focused on an evil that must never again be left to fester in the cover
of darkness, but must always be exposed to the light, so that it can be
exorcised whenever it is found and, with great vigilance, prevented from
even happening.
We are resolved to keep learning to walk in the light no matter the cost;
to witness to the light of Christ, that shines out in the darkness, and
to find our courage from the truth that no darkness can ever overcome
this light (cf. Jn 1: 5, 7).
Since the healing service at Leona Lodge, we have worked hard to fulfill
the solemn pledges made that day. We are giving our best efforts to ensure
that children and young people are safe while they participate in the
life of the Church.
We remain committed to supporting and walking with victim survivors of
clergy sexual abuse as they journey along the path toward healing. The
dedication of this Healing Garden is the latest reaffirmation of those
pledges made eight years ago.
This garden, like all such memorials, brings back painful memories, memories
that, yes, we might be tempted to suppress. But the physical, tangible
presence of the garden — and in particular the presence of the stone
sculpture at its center — will not let us forget. As it says on
the plaques at the entries, “We remember, and we affirm never again.”
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"In His Light" Columns by Bishop Allen H. Vigneron
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