Bishop Offers Masses to Remember ... and to Seek Forgiveness
November 8, 2018
Bishop Offers Masses to Remember
ROCKFORD— On All Souls Day, Nov. 2, Bishop David Malloy celebrated Mass at Calvary Cemetery west of Rockford for the souls in purgatory, including more than 250 people listed in the program who were buried at Calvary in the year since All Souls Day in 2017.
The bishop spoke of how God is “eternally good (and) completely perfect,” and only those who are perfect in love can be in His presence. He noted that “our prayers, our offerings at this Mass ... our prayers even for the souls in purgatory most forgotten for who knows how many years, by God’s design these prayers somehow assist in that process of purification.”
He called it “a deeper sense of calm, because I know even if I am not now perfectly ready for the entrance to heaven, God still makes room, in my flaws, for that final purification, that final union with Him. A day like this is sadness to remember those we’ve lost, but it is a consolation in the real hope for them and for each one of us ...
“In my own heart, this gives me so much hope about being with Christ forever.”
... and to Seek Forgiveness
EAST DUBUQUE—Bishop David Malloy said the first of several Masses for prayer and repentance in Rockford Diocese parishes Nov. 5 at St. Mary Parish here.
In doing so he joined his brother bishops in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in dedicating themselves to seven days of “intensified prayer and sacrifice” and to ask for prayers that will open an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all the bishops.
The week of peninitential activties precedes the Nov. 12-14 USSCB meeting in Baltimore where the bishops are to discuss and vote on specific measures to hold themselves accountable for their response to clergy sex abuse allegations in their dioceses.
Although the 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” imposed standards that led to the removal of hundreds of priests, “the bishops specifically excluded themselves from the landmark child protection measures,” according to recent newspaper reports.
Assisting Bishop Malloy at the Mass on Nov. 5 were Father Dean Smith, pastor of the East Dubuque parish, and Father Howard Barch, pastor of St. Mary in Byron and coordinator of Prison Minisry for the Diocese of Rockford. Deacon Tony Keppler and altar servers John Herding and Tom Francois also joined the bishop for the Mass.