Rough road ahead

In the face of change, Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish leaders are sticking to principles.

The last time groundbreaking changes happened in the Catholic Church was at the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in 1965 when the liturgy was translated into the vernacular and the altar was rearranged so that priests could face people during service.

"It's not like wherever the wind blows we'll go," explained Fr. Jarek Pachocki, Our Lady of Perpetual Help pastor. "I would see (the Catholic Church) as more grounded."

He said that the Catholic Church is very progressive, but also faithful to principles.

Tackling tough issues

For example, he expressed, when it comes to abortion, the church stands for the principle of life even if a child is not developed.

With respect to same-sex marriages, he said that people of different sexual orientations are not excluded from the church, but that the church believes marriage is a place where family is created for the purpose of procreation.

"I think that's the difference between the Catholic Church and other denominations, the Catholic Church comes with the tradition of 2,000 years and it takes a while to answer questions," he stated.

Addressing abuses

In light of abuses within the church, Fr. Jarek expressed that he's found big support from the Labrador West community.

"The challenges that are here is the whole atmosphere about the Catholic Church in general," he said. "The events that happened, in recent years, by particular people are so generalized and are unjustly giving a black eye to the church."

"It's difficult to change the precepts that the people have," he expressed. "According to statistics, the Catholic Church is the safest place for young people and children, which for many people listening to the news would be a different opinion."

"The Church's learning from experiences of the past becomes more and more transparent," Fr. Jarek explained. "We have in the diocese here the implementation of a new responsible ministry policy, which is involved with working and ministering with children and those who are vulnerable. Everything's above the table."

"There are lots of good priests out there and I think people know that," said Bishop Douglas Crosby of Corner Brook-Labrador. "I think it (abuses) exist in other organizations, in other churches. I think it is a human issue and I think that the church perhaps is held to a higher standard, which is appropriate, but we're earthen vessels."

He added that priests can only regain people's trust by living lives of integrity and generosity, and that the only way to get through the current climate is to keep focused on Christ.

Youth losing interest

Fr. Jarek also spoke on the issue of youth losing interest in the church when they're searching for their own identity.

He said that the Church is trying to reach out to them in different ways, including modern technology such as the church's website, MySpace, and Twitter, as well as by getting parents more involved.

However, he believes that young people never lose faith and sees them returning to the church once they settle in life and start families of their own.