Whether or not Pope Benedict XVI was aware that April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I do not know.

What we do know now, with memories of his uplifting pastoral visit to us last week still fresh, is that, in the words of a commentator on the radio, Pope Benedict is now the world's leading and most effective voice in raising consciousness about the horror of the sexual abuse of our young people, a tragedy that has wounded families, public schools, organizations, sports teams, child care, doctors, health care providers, police, counselors, and, us, the Catholic Church and every other religion.

Smack-dab between the one fringe that is so angry that nothing the church can ever say or do will ever make a dent, and the other wing that is into denial and fatigue over the horror, slowly walks the Successor of St. Peter. First and foremost a pastor, he expressed over and over again, prayerfully, humbly, sincerely, his sentiments:

• of shame, regret, and sorrow that God's favorite people, our children and youth, were terribly harmed in soul, mind, and body by those who dared claim they were God's agents, and that bishops were faulty in a response that should have been immediate, strict and transparent;

• of compassionate outreach to victim-survivors, privately meeting with them and saying simple but necessary words such as, "I am sorry," "I love you," "I pray with and for you.";

• of hope that the church will continue its effective initiatives of education, prevention, and pastoral care;

• of trust that the unmitigated evil of this scandal will renew and purify the church;

• of challenge to society and culture, that often hypocritically condemns child abuse, then uses its media, music, and entertainment to extol further violence, degradation, and sexual exploitation of our youth;

• of resolve that the church will keep its promise that never again will a priest who has sexually abused a minor be in the ministry;

• of conviction that this cancer flows from sin and the darkness that lurks in the human heart, that can only be cured by grace, mercy, redemption, and an allegiance to God's revealed teaching.

No one should have been that surprised, I guess. The Successor of St. Peter has become the most compelling moral voice on the planet, speaking indefatigably about human rights and dignity, which flow from our identity as created in God's image and likeness.

To abuse a helpless, innocent, trusting young person is a hideous contradiction to this message. No wonder this moral voice would be raised to condemn it.

No wonder his church, which here in America has been shamed by some of its priests, deacons, sisters, and bishops, however few, would now be considered a leader in promoting the reform necessary to reduce it.

The Holy Father encourages us not to let the terrible weight of this scandal so depress us that we lose our hope that, with God's grace, reform and renewal can transform our church and a society where child abuse is rampant.

Yes, we long for this to "be over," but we cannot let up. We resist the obnoxious views found in a letter to the editor of this very newspaper, a month or so ago and regrettably published - a decision for which the editor subsequently apologized - actually blaming victim-survivors. As our diocesan Community Advisory Board, composed of youth advocates, victim-survivors and their parents, law enforcement officials, and counselors wrote in a pointed and perceptive letter to me,

"True spiritual restoration and redemption require much time, prayer, vigilant honesty, transparency, forgiveness and faith. As an archdiocese, we have committed time, resources and heart to just such a restoration. It is evident from this letter, and the decision to publish it, that we have more work to do to bring the possibility for full healing and redemption of this painful experience of church abuse to true justice and healing."

The letter in its entirety, well-worth reading, is available at www.archmil.org/aboutus/ShowResource.asp?ID=2374.

Yes, it's a societal and cultural problem, the sexual exploitation of young people, not just a Catholic one. Yes, in the words of a leading expert in sexual abuse, Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University, "No one in the United States is now doing more to deal with this horror than the Catholic Church."

But, no, we still cannot let up. No, we cannot let fatigue or discouragement paralyze us.

This month of April calls us to a new energy.

So does Pope Benedict XVI.

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