Pittsburgh bishop announces
Year of Repentance
The bishop called for the
restoration of the Ember Days and the St Michael Prayer at Mass
In the wake of recent sex abuse
scandals, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh has announced a Year of Repentance
in the diocese.
He has asked all the clerics to
fast and pray for the purification of the Church, and invited all Catholics to
join the initiative.
“Faced with the sinful actions
of the members of our own ranks of the clergy, who are called to manifest the
example of Christ, we feel both shame and sorrow, and are reminded of our own
sinfulness and the need for mercy,” Bishop Zubik wrote in a Sept. 10 letter to
the clerics and seminarians of the diocese.
“I invite the faithful to join
with the clergy as they desire in our acts of prayer and penance. The year is
open to individuals to go beyond what I am requesting as we continue to pray
that the Lord come to our aid.”
The Year of Repentance will
include the observance of the Ember Days, which were traditionally days of fast
and abstinence.
Bishop Zubik has asked that on
each of the 12 Ember Days in the coming year, clerics of the Diocese of
Pittsburgh fast, abstain from meat, and make a Holy Hour.
Ember Days are tied to the
seasons of the year, and are held on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of
four weeks: the third week of September, the third week of Advent, the first
week of Lent, and the octave of Pentecost.
In the Pittsburgh diocese’s Year
of Repentance, the Ember Days fall Sept. 19, 21, and 22, 2018, Dec. 19, 21, 22,
2018, March 13, 15, 16, 2019, and June 12, 14, 15, 2019.
Bishop Zubik will inaugurate the
Year of Repentance Sept. 23 with Vespers and a Holy Hour at the cathedral.
The year will close with a Mass
for the Assumption Aug. 15, 2019 to serve “as a sign of hope and healing for
victims and for renewal in the Church through the intercession of Mary.”
In his letter, Bishop Zubik also
encouraged the clerics of Pittsburgh to consider restoring the recitation of
the prayer to St. Michael after all Masses.
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