For the seventh year running, Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) will hold an hour of remembrance, as Religious communities across Australia unite in prayer this Sunday, 20 October 2024, for victims and survivors of sexual abuse.
Each year, CRA creates a prayer service for Religious Congregations, which is prayed in local settings, as well as being shared more widely with their associates, parishes and ministries.
Explains Anne Walker, CRA’s National Executive Director, “It’s one hour together, on one day, across the nation – Religious, united in prayer for victims of sexual abuse and renewing, their commitment to the safeguarding reforms of the Catholic Church. The theme for this year is ‘Widen the Circle of Our Hearts’. It includes words from Scripture and from Pope Francis that reflect both the woundedness and hope of the human heart, words that are both challenging and consoling.”
Established in 2018, the CRA National Day of Sorrow and Promise acts as a symbol and annual rallying call to Religious and their associates to keep before them always the painful lessons of the past and the need to be continually vigilant to the work that is required to ensure that the Church is always a safe and lifegiving environment for children and vulnerable adults.
CRA’s Acting President, Philippa Murphy, makes the point that, while each Religious Congregation has its particular scaffold of safeguarding commitments in place and is robustly engaged with matters of compliance, the annual prayer hour has the effect on inculcating a sense of ecclesial and spiritual unity among Religious. “It reminds us that we are together in this path of repentance and recommitment,” she says. “Our prayer speaks as one voice that cries out to God and says ‘No’ to the sins of the past and ‘Yes’ to a culture of life and care for the vulnerable”.
The prayer resource for the 2024 National Day of Sorrow and Promise is accessible at CRA’s website and can be freely downloaded for use in church circles.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Anne Walker | M: 0409 936 711 | E: nationalexec@catholicreligious.org.au