Clergy especially need to "return. to a sense of sacramental awe," said Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien,, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.The archbishop criticized "those relatively few but so destructive predators who could do what they did among our innocent young and still approach the altar of God daily." Archbishop O'Brien spoke during the June 22-23 congress at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The event drew several thousand Knights and other Catholics from more than 20 states.

Archbishop O'Brien opened his address by talking about a moving letter discovered at the National Archives in Washington that described a young Civil War soldier's reverence for the Blessed Sacrament and his regular attendance at Mass in the midst of war.

The soldier, Pvt. Thomas Connors of New York, died at Antietam in western Maryland, serving with the Irish Brigade. The letter was from his commanding officer to his father and described the young man's display of faith during wartime.

"He was also at confession on the morning of the battle," wrote Cmdr. Bernard S. O'Neill. "So you must not mourn his fate. ... He had everything prepared for the great and inevitable journey."

If the average Catholic "really knew and believed the age old teaching on the sacraments, the Eucharist and penance, why are they not packing our congregations daily, as young Thomas Connors took joy in doing in the midst of war?" asked Archbishop O'Brien. -

Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., said the current sex abuse crisis is putting members of the church to the test.

"We will become stronger so long as we put into practice the spirituality of Communion that is at the heart of who we are as a church," he said.

"We cannot live the spirituality of Communion if we are constantly tearing one another down, if priests make fun of bishops and bishops do not respect the laity and religious attack the church," he said.

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