We priests of the Archdiocese of Seattle, gathered with our Archbishop for some days of prayer and renewal, and joined by other priests who also serve this Archdiocese, are conscious of how deep and pervasive are the pain, hurt, and disillusionment of the people of our church at this time. We experience these feelings ourselves and find ourselves wanting to speak words that will help, but following the lead of our bishops who began their important work in Dallas by listening, we believe that the most important thing we can do at this moment is to listen.

We listen first of all to the voices of all whose lives have been damaged and whose faith has been shattered by the sinful and criminally abusive actions of some of our brothers. We cannot undo the damage that has been done, heal the lives that have been so gravely harmed, or repair the trust that has been broken. But we can ask forgiveness in the name of our offending brothers who have not done so themselves, and we can and we do pray earnestly for the healing of all who bear the wounds of abuse even as we commit ourselves to do whatever we can to foster that healing.

We listen also to the voices of the people of our parishes who bear heavy burdens not only because of the sins of some of our brothers but also because of the failure of some of our bishops to put justice and compassion for victims ahead of issues of institutional face-saving and self-protection. We are aware of how powerless our people feel at this time and of how few are the channels open to them for speaking out and effecting change within our Church, and we commit ourselves to finding better ways for our people to share the wealth of their experience, along with their God-given wisdom, for the good of the entire Church.

We listen also to the voices of people outside our Church who are scandalized by these sins and failings that so gravely compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ which we preach. We need their forgiveness, too, and we humbly ask for it.

We listen to the voices of each other as brother priests, including those who stand accused - and we hear stories both of quiet heroism and of selfish exploitation, stories of pain bravely endured and of pain cruelly inflicted on others. We seek to understand all this and we do so, not from some lofty high ground but from the common ground, the human ground, on which we all stand, and we are left to deal with two great mysteries which we know only too well from our own broken yet redeemed lives: the mystery of human sinfulness and the mystery of divine grace.

We listen also, perhaps as never before, to the voice of God's Spirit speaking within us and we hear that voice calling each of us to a deeper commitment to our sacred calling, to the promises we made when we accepted priestly ordination, and to the people we have been sent to serve. Each of us acknowledges his own need for conversion through prayer and penance so that we can more faithfully and effectively minister to and with the holy and priestly People of God.

And finally, as we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we hear a call to work with our bishops and our people to become ever more the Church God calls us to be, the Church which the Second Vatican Council told us that we are: a Church which honors the baptism of each of its members, a Church in which roles differ but in which responsibility is shared, a Church in which power and authority are defined by humble service after the model of Jesus Christ, a Church which values honesty and puts a high price on openness and accountability, a Church which admits to failings even as it aspires to ever deeper holiness.

It is this Church we solemnly promised to serve on the day of our priestly ordination, and today we recommit ourselves to serving it with the love, courage, and fidelity which our people have a right to expect and which, in the end, are gifts we are able to give only because they have first been given to us by a good and generous God.

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