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Purification of Memory and Entrusting the New Millennium to the Protection of the Blessed Mother Eminences and Excelencies: Last March 12th, 2000 , the Holy Father celebrated the Day of Pardon and Peace. In a primatial act he confessed the sins of Christians over the centuries down to our own time. In his homily he quotes his own Bull of Indiction and said: "As Successor of Peter, I asked that in 'this year of mercy the Church, strong in holiness which she receives from her Lord, should kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the sins of her sons and daughters.'" This can be done in a particular way by those who, by charism and ministry, express the communion of the People of God in its weightiest form: on behalf of the local Churches, Bishops can make confessions for wrongs and requests for forgiveness. I believe we should do just that for the past and present sins peculiar to our country. What are these? And how do we determine them? The Apostolic Nuncio in his talk last January indicated a way when he chided us and rhetorically asked, if I remember correctly, "to what extent have we done or not done something about the malaise in our country, namely graft and corruption, the origin of so many of our ills?" What are these? And how do we determine them? The Apostolic Nuncio in his talk last January indicated a way when he chided us and rhetorically asked, if I remember correctly, to what extent have we done or not done something about the malaise in our country, namely, graft and corruption, the origin of so many of our ills. I also believe that we should make a public gesture of purifying our own memory of the effects of our own individual failings in our ministry as bishops. May I, therefore, propose that we make a pastoral letter on the matter. Our Jubilee Calendar of Activities calls for entrusting the Third Millennium of our history as Church to the protection of our Blessed Mother, to her ever-loving Immaculate Heart. May I propose that the Pastoral Letter be combined with this. I am enclosing a draft of such a Pastoral Letter. The Pope also referred to a document of the International Theological Commission entitled Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past. I am also enclosing a summary of their own summary for your guidance. Archbishop Dosado, c.M. |
All the teachings in these pages are for the instruction of the
faithful of the Particular Church in Misamis Occidental, Philippines |
