Hey Pope Benedict IVI is coming to the U.S. this Wednesday and much has already been written about him and he has not said a word yet.
The New York Times had one of their Catholic reporters write an article about what the Pope’s visit means to him and his Catholic family and he basically said that it means nothing to him and his seriously Catholic family.
He was more or less saying what many if not most American Catholics feel about THIS pope; nothing. Maybe they don’t know him and maybe this visit will change that.
One underlying sentiment about American Catholics that I am hearing is that they basically do what they feel is right despite what the Vatican thinks or even demands from them. I think the Pope knows this.
The other item or issue that I am hearing about is the lack of care by the Vatican about the “American” priestly sex scandals that have bankrupted a number of large parishes in this country. It appears that the Vatican thinks that by ignoring the problem people will soon forget about it. Or making it into an ONLY AMERICAN problem, world Catholics will just say “those crazy Americans, here they go again…”
I personally think the problem is worldwide and has been in existence from the beginning and the Vatican has done a great job hiding it through the centuries but is having problems in continuing to hide the problem of pedophile priests and I think the Catholics in the U.S. want the Vatican to take some responsibility, acknowledge that the problem exists and describe steps it has taken to address the problem.
I think the Pope has no plans to address the priestly sexual abuse scandal while in the States because the Vatican considers the matter “closed”. I think we may see some organized protests on the matter and why not.
Time Magazine also talked a lot about Benedict and the Americans. The magazine thought Benedict actually likes Americans and America and remembers all the good deeds we did for Europe after WWII.
The Wall Street Journal had a big piece about the President of Notre Dame and what he thought about the Pope’s visit. He is looking forward to it especially the speech the Pope will make to leaders of Catholic education. Notre Dame is not known for sticking to official Vatican teaching instructions.
Benedict is a smart man – I am looking forward to hear what the man has to say.
The New York Times had one of their Catholic reporters write an article about what the Pope’s visit means to him and his Catholic family and he basically said that it means nothing to him and his seriously Catholic family.
He was more or less saying what many if not most American Catholics feel about THIS pope; nothing. Maybe they don’t know him and maybe this visit will change that.
One underlying sentiment about American Catholics that I am hearing is that they basically do what they feel is right despite what the Vatican thinks or even demands from them. I think the Pope knows this.
The other item or issue that I am hearing about is the lack of care by the Vatican about the “American” priestly sex scandals that have bankrupted a number of large parishes in this country. It appears that the Vatican thinks that by ignoring the problem people will soon forget about it. Or making it into an ONLY AMERICAN problem, world Catholics will just say “those crazy Americans, here they go again…”
I personally think the problem is worldwide and has been in existence from the beginning and the Vatican has done a great job hiding it through the centuries but is having problems in continuing to hide the problem of pedophile priests and I think the Catholics in the U.S. want the Vatican to take some responsibility, acknowledge that the problem exists and describe steps it has taken to address the problem.
I think the Pope has no plans to address the priestly sexual abuse scandal while in the States because the Vatican considers the matter “closed”. I think we may see some organized protests on the matter and why not.
Time Magazine also talked a lot about Benedict and the Americans. The magazine thought Benedict actually likes Americans and America and remembers all the good deeds we did for Europe after WWII.
The Wall Street Journal had a big piece about the President of Notre Dame and what he thought about the Pope’s visit. He is looking forward to it especially the speech the Pope will make to leaders of Catholic education. Notre Dame is not known for sticking to official Vatican teaching instructions.
Benedict is a smart man – I am looking forward to hear what the man has to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment