Alaska Archives - PrayTellBlog

A Pilgrimage to the Earth

The earth itself, the Alaskan earth—St Herman’s earth—was my relic, my pilgrimage souvenir. A sign of hope amidst corruption.

Good Friday, the Child Abuse Scandal, and The Long Dark Winter’s Night

March 25, 2013 Peter Rehwaldt Art and Architecture Liturgical Spirituality Liturgical year Ordained Ministry Recently Published Books

In his book The Long Dark Winter’s Night: Reflections of a Priest in a Time of Pain and Privilege, Father Philip Bergquist, formerly of St. Raphael Catholic Church in Fairbanks, Alaska, uses the metaphor of living through the long Alaskan winter to describe his own struggles with the crisis gripping the Roman Catholic church over the sexual abuse committed by priests and the reactions of bishops to that abuse. Theologically, it is a liturgical treatise on Good Friday, filled with stories and reflections about how a Church Grieving meets its suffering Savior at the foot of the cross, “where heaven’s hope and humanity’s wounds meet.”