March 2023
Dear Friends in Christ,
I want to personally invite all Catholics in Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore to experience Our Lord’s love and forgiveness on April 3 from 3-8 p.m., as we hold our second annual, diocesanwide “Reconciliation Monday.” All parish churches will be open and all of my brother priests will join me as we hear confessions and offer absolution. It is our hope that Reconciliation Monday will make it easier to experience Christ’s healing grace.
We especially hope that God’s people who have fallen away from their faith, will use this opportunity to prepare their hearts for a return to Mass at Easter. We invite all Catholics – whether it has been months, years, or decades since their last confession – to take advantage of Reconciliation Monday. If you have forgotten how to go to confession, or the words of the prayers, don’t worry, Father will guide you. There are also resources such as an examination of conscience, Act of Contrition, and a step-by-step guide to the Rite of Reconciliation at cdow.org/ReconciliationMonday, and in the March 24 edition of “The Dialog.” Please share this information with friends and family members who may want to take advantage of this opportunity.
I want to thank the priests of the diocese for their enthusiastic support of Reconciliation Monday. It was most gratifying for us to hear more than 5,000 confessions last year during our first Reconciliation Monday. Please know that the call to be a “servant” of God’s forgiveness and a “sign and instrument of God’s merciful love” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1466,1465) is a humbling experience for me and my brother priests and it is our deepest desire to help you encounter his merciful love.
God bless you,
Most Reverend William E. Koenig
Bishop of Wilmington
