As I was on vacation in Hawaii, I fell in love with both St. Damian and St. Marianne Cope who served on the islands of Hawaii. Quickly, know that St. Damian is "the patron saint of people suffering from leprosy," and St. Marianne Cope, "provide[d] health care on the Hawaiian Islands, especially to those with leprosy."
While my parents and I stayed on the island Maui, and we saw a stunning view seeing the ocean and two islands, one to the left (about ten o'clock vision), Lana'i, and the right side (two o'clock image) Moloka'i which had a mountain/volcano which is extinct. Now, I must also mention that I have told other people the wrong name of Moloka'i, like Mordicai, (a character in the book of Esther in the Bible) as well as Malachi, (a prophet in the Bible as well). My bad.
While I have just ordered a book about St. Damian, another for St. Marianne Cope and another for an intense book called "The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai," about the lepers who were exiled and quarantined in from 1866 to 1969, and there are actually six lepers still living in his colony. While it makes sense to me, for such quarantine is what we do to this day (for instance, the Ebola virus which "The quarantine period for Ebola virus. WHO and CDC recommend that individuals who are potentially infected with Ebola virus should be quarantined for 21 days" from http://www.virology.ws/2014/10/16/the-quarantine-period-for-ebola-virus/).
As I do not know all the details—yet—but I do know that this colony began to protect other people from this leprosy as they did not have as we do today. And, this disease is known today as "Hansen's Disease—which is still most commonly known as leprosy—was extremely stigmatized around the world for centuries."
The saddest part was these brothers and sisters were not listened to, were not fed, were not giving housing, etc.
Last weekend I preached about Moloka'i, as I spoke about the disturbing history with sexual abuse in our Catholic Church. I said that those who were abused by a Catholic priest, bishop or cardinal were, like the lepers, not listened to, not in the presence of (not all, not many, but a few) leaders of our Church or not protected.
Please know that we must be like St. Damian (who contracted this disease as he served the people in the lepers' colony on Moloka'i), St. Marianne Cope and Jesus Christ himself: "On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.' When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed" (Luke 17:11-14).
As the scandal of sexual abuse has come to the front line—praise God!—around the world, we Catholics must continue to pray for these victims. We must offer our presence (when needed), love, compassion, and LISTENING to support our family. As Bishop Paul mentioned to us that: "…because we are all of the Body of Christ: 'If one part suffers, all the parts suffer it' (1 Corinthians 12:26)'".
We also must pray for these perpetrators, as Jesus taught us to pray for all sinners, even though this is indeed challenging when we experience anger, confusion, and disgusting acts.
Let us walk together with and towards our King, especially with every person who have experienced traumatic situations, especially today the victims of clergy sexual abuse.
God Bless.
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