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ECP Province Marks Jubilee with Honest Plea for Forgiveness
Facing the Light, Acknowledging the Shadows
Christian Stranz, SVD
Responding to this call with humility and courage, the ECP Provincial Council discerned how best to act on this important invitation. The result was a deeply moving moment of public confession and accountability, held during the province’s central Jubilee celebration on Pentecost Sunday 2025.
The service, presided over by Fr. General himself, was attended by around 500 faithful. During the celebration, the ECP Provincial, the Rector of St. Gabriel’s House, and the JPIC Coordinator each took the floor to offer a collective and unsparing plea for forgiveness—before God and before the people.
Their words, delivered with solemn conviction, were not vague generalities but direct acknowledgments of harm:
“You, Fr. General, have suggested to all of us that in this Jubilee Year we should not only recall the glorious successes of our history, but also take this moment as an opportunity to take responsibility for all that has gone wrong:
Where entrusted spiritual leadership or power was abused,
where confreres misused influence—against fellow confreres, against trainees, staff, or parishioners—
where dignity was violated, where people were exploited, harmed, even traumatised.
Today, we summon the courage, as those in leadership, to ask for forgiveness.
We cannot undo the past.
We are sorry. We are ashamed.
We ask those affected—and we ask God—for forgiveness.”
The litany of sorrow continued:
- Kyrie eleison – For all violations committed by members of the Society, both within and beyond its boundaries.
- Christe eleison – For every deed or attitude that has obscured the Good News and the mission of the Church.
- Kyrie eleison – For our collective lukewarmness, our failures in faith and in responding to issues of justice, peace, and creation.
This public act of contrition was not just a ritual gesture—it was a call for renewal. It expressed the ECP Province’s desire to move forward with deeper integrity, humility, and courage. By confronting its past, the province embodied what the Jubilee is truly about: a time of grace, truth, and transformation.
As the Society celebrates its 150 years of missionary presence, the ECP’s act of repentance reminds all SVD members—and the wider Church—that authentic mission must flow from truth, and that healing begins with courage and humility.
