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WASHINGTON (March 16, 2000) -- The Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops (NCCB) issued a statement expressing "profound gratitude to our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, for his act of 'purification of memory' celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica on March 12."
"In this 'confession of sins and asking for forgiveness' on behalf of the whole Church, Pope John Paul, as the universal Pastor, is a model for all Catholics and especially for Bishops, who are called to the ministry of leading our local Churches," the Administrative Committee said.
"We pray that the Holy Father's humble 'confession of sins and asking for forgiveness' will be greeted with an equally humble appreciation of his action on the part of those wounded by members of the Church in their own experience or in that of their forebears. Above all we pray that in the Holy Father's action, the grace of God will be recognized, so that this confession of sins may also resound as a hymn of praise to his mercy."
The NCCB Administrative Committee, composed of 60 bishops from throughout the country, meets twice a year to prepare the agenda for the semi-annual meetings of the Catholic Bishops of the United States. The committee met here March 14-15.
Below is the full text of the statement.
'Purification of Memory' Ceremony
From the beginning the Lord taught his disciples to pray "Forgive us our trespasses," and he instructed them not to bring their gifts to the altar until they were reconciled with anyone who had something against them (cf. Mt. 5.23-24). In the mystery of salvation, the Church has always been not only the extension of Christ's saving presence in space and time, but also the field in which the wheat and weeds grow together (cf. Mt. 13.24-30). The Second Vatican Council described the Church as "at the same time holy and ever in need of purification" (Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 8).
Pope John Paul II has brought this awareness of the continued presence of sin in the midst of the Church's saving work to a new stage. His profound sense of the dignity of each and every human being --founded in the Gospel and forged by personal experience of times and places in which this dignity was massively denied in words and action --has endowed him with a special sensitivity to the denial of human rights and dignity even on the part of those in the Church.
Chosen to lead the Church into the third millennium of Christian evangelization and committed to an evangelization that is "new in ardor, methods and expression" (Address to CELAM assembly, March 9, 1983), the Holy Father has also expressed his desire that, for the sake of the authenticity of her witness, the Church acknowledge the ways of thinking and acting on the part of her leaders and members "which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal" (Tertio millennio adveniente, 33).
In this "confession of sins and asking for forgiveness" on behalf of the whole Church, Pope John Paul, as the universal Pastor, is a model for all Catholics and especially for Bishops, who are called to the ministry of leading our local Churches.
We pray that the Holy Father's humble "confession of of sins and asking for forgiveness" will be greeted with an equally humble appreciation of his action on the part of those wounded by members of the Church in their own experience or in that of their forebears. Above all we pray that in the Holy Father's action, the grace of God will be recognized, so that this confession of sins may also resound as a hymn of praise to His mercy.