From Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda’s column in the August 9, 2018, edition of The Catholic Spirit:

Every time Mass is celebrated, the priest prays that Jesus will “look not on our sins but on the faith of [his] Church… .”  That’s been an important prayer for me in the time that I have been serving this archdiocese, well aware of our sins, but equally aware of the strong and vibrant faith of this local Church.

I’ve been praying that prayer even more earnestly in these past weeks as the Church in the United States has once again come face-to-face with its sins, with reports that former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, one of the most prominent Churchmen in the United States in the last quarter century, has been accused of abusing two minors and sexually harassing or assaulting a number of seminarians and young priests. To make matters worse (if that is even possible), evidence has surfaced that indicates that a bishop, as well as some priests and laity, had brought the allegations about misconduct with seminarians to the attention of Church authorities but to no avail: Archbishop McCarrick was nonetheless “promoted” to become the archbishop in our nation’s capital, and elevated to the College of Cardinals.

Click here for the rest of the column in The Catholic Spirit