Be Reconciled Day has come and gone in our diocese. It was a first-time effort to issue a diocesan-wide invitation to Catholics to come to confession. The idea to open churches and make the sacrament of reconciliation and penance widely known and readily available isn’t new. A similar program, The Light is On for You, was initiated in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia several years ago with enough reported success that more than 20 other dioceses across the U.S. either borrowed the program or developed one similar. The Light is on For You program usually asks all parishes within a diocese to be open from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on all Wednesdays during Lent, meaning the doors are open and the light is on.
Here in the Rockford Diocese, we chose to execute a similar program but put the focus on one specific day — April 9 — right before Holy Week. We called the program Be Reconciled so as to speak to the invitation and the goal.
The publicity for Be Reconciled was scheduled for newspapers, radio, television, parish bulletins and social media. The ads featured either the Be Reconciled website, area churches or both and a special invitation from Bishop David Malloy. The TV, radio and YouTube spots featured Bishop Malloy with a very simple message that went like this:
“Has it been a while since you’ve been to confession? That’s what Be Reconciled Day on April 9 is all about. I’m Bishop of Rockford, David Malloy and I want to personally invite all Catholics to the sacrament of confession.
“No matter how long it’s been — a few months or many years — come to confession April 9 and Be Reconciled. For church locations and confession times visit BeReconciled.rockforddiocese.org. We look forward to seeing you.”
And he meant it. Thank you for that, Bishop Malloy.
From reports all across the diocese we have learned that thousands of people responded to the invitation to Be Reconciled. Thousands stood in lines all across our 11 counties to renew or repair their relationship with Christ and seek forgiveness. What a wonderful thing to celebrate this Easter — the sheep returning to a loving shepherd! Thanks be to God for our healing sacrament and thanks for all those who made a confession this Lenten season.
There are many other people to thank for this cause of celebration. Renewed grace for so many souls was made possible by all the good people who assisted in parishes, whether it was putting up a Be Reconciled poster, writing about it in the bulletin, teaching about confession in religion class, praying for people to come back to confession or simply inviting a friend or neighbor to come to confession. Thank you to all who helped with Be Reconciled Day.
And then there are the priests of this diocese who waited in parish confessionals and listened, counseled and granted the forgiveness of Christ through absolution for many, many hours. How grateful we are to have them to help us on our journey to salvation. Thank you, dear priests, for your promotion, support and participation in Be Reconciled and most of all, thank you for your continued service to us.
Of course a recap of Be Reconciled would not be complete if I didn’t also acknowledge the staff at the diocesan administration center. Every person in our building helped in one way or another. The sacraments are common ground for all of us and whether our jobs are in accounting, education, family life, charities, information technology, communication, or clerical, each one had some part in Be Reconciled and we are grateful for their help, support and participation in the initiative.
The final thanks of course belong to Christ who came into this world to live among us and save us. He offered his life for our sins so that we may know love and forgiveness. May we all live our lives with our eyes on the promise of heaven and eternal life with the God who loves us. Let us always be reconciled in our life with Christ, each and every day, and let us truly celebrate that grace this Easter and beyond.
Happy Easter from our diocesan family to yours.