Papa B on Me!

Well, not me, but my patroness :)

The Pope, The Press, and Condoms

Ok, so if you are like me, you are so sick of hearing about the 'seismic' or 'cataclysmic' shift the Pope has magically taken on the use of condoms. 'Condoms are the moral solution to stop AIDS according to Pope!' cheerfully declares the press. The Pope's latest books Light of the World was released this week, and as you can see, the press has had a field day. With an article out every day since for nearly a week pretty much saying the Pope is changing the discourse on condom use, it's no wonder people are confused. I am.

Here is what I found out. First of all, the statement was made in regard to Pope Benedict's 2009 trip to Africa when he was lambasted by the press for the Church's "oppressive" stance on contraception. (Little does the world realize that contraception oppresses them, especially the women!) Anyway, the question was posed to Benedict by Peter Seewald as follows: On the occasion of your trip to Africa in March 2009, the Vatican’s policy on AIDs once again became the target of media criticism.Twenty-five percent of all AIDs victims around the world today are treated in Catholic facilities. In some countries, such as Lesotho, for example, the statistic is 40 percent. In Africa you stated that the Church’s traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church’s own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

Benedict went on to discuss his frustration that the press did not highlight the rest of his statement, wherein he announced the Church's continuing to commitment to being one of the only institutions that treats AIDS victims with continued support and dignity...think Mother Theresa, for example. While Benedict does indeed state that perhaps condoms can help stop the spread of AIDS, the use of condoms does not ask or answer the right question about human sexuality. According to Peter Seewald, the right question that Benedict challenges us to ask is "Does sexuality have something to do with love?" It seems quite simple, but in today's world, this is no longer a simple question to ask.

Janet Smith offers a great commentary on the statement which you can find here. And I'll post an excerpt:

What is Pope Benedict saying?

We must note that the example that Pope Benedict gives for the use of a condom is a male prostitute; thus, it is reasonable to assume that he is referring to a male prostitute engaged in homosexual acts. The Holy Father is simply observing that for some homosexual prostitutes the use of a condom may indicate an awakening of a moral sense; an awakening that sexual pleasure is not the highest value, but that we must take care that we harm no one with our choices. He is not speaking to the morality of the use of a condom, but to something that may be true about the psychological state of those who use them. If such individuals are using condoms to avoid harming another, they may eventually realize that sexual acts between members of the same sex are inherently harmful since they are not in accord with human nature. The Holy Father does not in any way think the use of condoms is a part of the solution to reducing the risk of AIDs. As he explicitly states, the true solution involves “humanizing sexuality.”

Anyone having sex that threatens to transmit HIV needs to grow in moral discernment. This is why Benedict focused on a “first step” in moral growth. The Church is always going to be focused on moving people away from immoral acts towards love of Jesus, virtue, and holiness. We can say that the Holy Father clearly did not want to make a point about condoms, but wants to talk about growth in a moral sense, which should be a growth towards Jesus.

I am challenging myself to read this entire book and to get to know our beloved Pontiff better. He challenges us to be a light to the world and to ask those simple questions that have become so obscure in the vision of the world. Pray for him!

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Sacred or Secular: Thoughts on the Pope

Now that I have finally gotten through Pope Benedict's speeches and homilies from his trip to the UK last week, I am again reminded of the fact that I simply love our German Pontiff. One of the more interesting themes that came up repeatedly was the need for the secular space in society to be preserved. This might seem strange at first glace, given that Catholicism has not always had the most friendly views toward a growing secularization - think French Revolution and German's Kultur Kampf.

But Benedict's desire to the secular space of society preserved is not for rampant secularism to dominate political ideologies - it is in fact rather, as Professor Zachary Calo calls it, "an invitation to resacralize the political life of modernity." (Quote taken from an article for the Journal of Catholic Social Thought 7:2, 2010 p. 236). Benedict XVI calls for a secular space in the public square so that a religious voice can be clearly heard and taken seriously. Consider, for example, what he says in his recent address to British dignitaries, political representatives, and academics on September 17th. This passage is worth quoting at length:

The central question at issue, then, is this: where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found? The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. According to this understanding, the role of religion in political debate is not so much to supply these norms, as if they could not be known by non-believers – still less to propose concrete political solutions, which would lie altogether outside the competence of religion – but rather to help purify and shed light upon the application of reason to the discovery of objective moral principles. This “corrective” role of religion vis-à-vis reason is not always welcomed, though, partly because distorted forms of religion, such as sectarianism and fundamentalism, can be seen to create serious social problems themselves. And in their turn, these distortions of religion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion. It is a two-way process. Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person. Such misuse of reason, after all, was what gave rise to the slave trade in the first place and to many other social evils, not least the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. This is why I would suggest that the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief – need one another and should not be afraid to enter into a profound and ongoing dialogue, for the good of our civilization.

Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation. In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere. There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none. And there are those who argue – paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination – that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience. These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square. I would invite all of you, therefore, within your respective spheres of influence, to seek ways of promoting and encouraging dialogue between faith and reason at every level of national life.

While Benedict XVI is an academic and this long quotation might seem at first glance a little bit involved, what he is saying to us is that Catholic ethics in the public sphere are first and foremost available to all through common sense. You don't have to be a Christian to understand that you should always do the right thing and be nice to people. Religious beliefs should not necessarily dictate political laws and policies, but it should help to guide the public in key ways - and also be tempered by it so as not to give way to fundamentalism or sectarianism.

Pope Benedict's proposal is a reminder to us of what we continually strive to achieve as Catholics - a steady relationship between faith and reason - with each guiding one another and bringing out the best in each other as all good relationships should. How grateful I am for our Pope who has the courage to speak out in defense of Christianity's place in Europe and in the West more generally. Just imagine, readers, what we could achieve by heeding this advice and not being afraid to speak as our minds as followers of Christ.

Photo Credit

Bravissimo NY Times

I am just now catching up on reading all about Pope Benedict's trip to the UK last week. Given that I did lots of running around and my media sources were limited to NPR snippets about protests and sex scandals, I was relieved to read what the man himself had to say. I particularly felt the beauty of this quote, from a speech he gave during his homily in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park:

There is only one thing which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you. Search for him, know him and love him, and he will set you free from slavery to the glittering but superficial existence frequently proposed by today’s society. Put aside what is worthless and learn of your own dignity as children of God.

Thank God for the Holy Father to remind of us that....because the world is weary indeed.

I also appreciated this Op-Ed from (shocker!) that bastion of left-wing liberalism, the New York Times. Columnist Ross Douthat had this today regarding protests to the Papal visit:

And yes, the church’s exclusive theological claims and stringent moral message don’t go over well in a multicultural, sexually liberated society. But the example of Catholicism’s rivals suggests that the church might well be much worse off if it had simply refashioned itself to fit the prevailing values of the age. That’s what the denominations of mainline Protestantism have done, across the last four decades — and instead of gaining members, they’ve dwindled into irrelevance.... This, above all, is why the crowds cheered for the pope, in Edinburgh and London and Birmingham — because almost five centuries after the Catholic faith was apparently strangled in Britain, their church is still alive.

Bravissimo, NYT. Now I know why, despite your manifold faults, I continue to read you.

From the Pope's Lips to My Ears

On the occasion of the beatification of John Henry Newman, the Pope reminded me, through Newman's own words, of why I teach theology:

And indeed, what better goal could teachers of religion set themselves than Blessed John Henry’s famous appeal for an intelligent, well-instructed laity: "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it" (The Present Position of Catholics in England, ix, 390).

Thanks, Papa B.

The Pope and the Shroud

I don't know if anyone else has been interested that the Shroud of Turin has been on tour, but I'm wishing I could get to Italy asap! Anyway, here's the text of a beautiful sermon delivered by Pope Benedict after his own veneration. As always, it's amazing.

Photo found here.

Papal Homily

Today is the Pope's 83rd birthday! Happy birthday to our Holy Father! In other news, the Pope's homily from yesterday is making headlines. In it, he referred to scandals as penance that is 'a grace.' Here is a quote from CNS linked above:

The pope said Christians know that "to open oneself to forgiveness, to prepare oneself for forgiveness, to allow oneself to be transformed, the pain of penance -- that is to say of purification and of transformation -- this pain is grace, because it is renewal, and it is the work of divine mercy."

In his homily, the pope also spoke about the liberating effect of obeying God, even in a world that likes to pretend that freedom means doing whatever the individual wants to do, but still insists on everyone conforming to what the majority believes and does.

Without a reference to God and to God's will for his creation, the final arbiter of right and wrong becomes majority rule or the dictates of the most powerful, he said.

You have given us lots to reflect upon, today, Pope Benedict! Let us pray for him especially today on the occasion of his birth (for which I am most thankful) and offer up our little sufferings to alleviate his!

Photo found at American Papist

The Stones Will Cry Out

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

He said in reply, "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!"

As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides."
-- Luke 19: 39-42 (Verses 39/40 were read at the Procession of the Palms on Passion Sunday.)

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for me. I've been watching the news more closely than ever before in my life--between health care and the scandals involving the Church in Ireland and Germany (and now again in the US). Last weekend was a joyful respite from my worries about the Church. With a guest in town, I was too busy to read obsessively the news. But, Monday rolled around and I fell back into the cycle.

When I was in highschool, I was pretty obsessed with Politics. We were an argumentative bunch, and being interested in and to a certain extent involved in politics gave weight to our arguments, and made us all feel like we were part of something more. When I got to college life and literature distracted me, and since then I have spent my time trying to avoid politics like the plague. (Its difficult to do in Washington, but so far I have succeeded.)

Two weekends ago, I felt drawn towards the news about the HCR Bill like a magnet, and thus began the old cycle of obsessively following news until I felt depressed and inadequate to confront the task at hand. Sunday evening at mass I was reminded to "rejoice" and I tried to focus on the truly important things.

And then the shit hit the fan. Major newspapers across the US and the world began a coordinated attack on the Church. And make no mistake--it is a coordinated attack, if not consciously than supernaturally, for there is great good happening in the Church today, and the Devil is surely out to destroy that good.

Make no mistake, the sexual abuse of minors is vile, and utterly reprehensible, and I mourn for the innocence stolen from these child's hearts. There is plenty to fault the Church with in its past handling of the sexual abuse of minors. But we should also credit them with the great good that has been accomplished in rooting out these evils. Great strides have been takes and new measures enacted that will help the Church in the future. Reputable sources have said again and again that Pope Benedict, above all other men in the Vatican, has been responsible for the great work that has been done in rooting out this "filth" (his word).

This, then, is where I am most distressed. Not only do the stories sensationalize and trivialize the real suffering of those involved, and not only do they fail to report accurately on the proceedings of individual cases, but they also slander our shepherd, who is a good man dedicated to serving the Church--and has never minced words with pedophiles (see paragraph #7 in his Letter to Ireland).

Much of my anger about the articles has faded. The facts have been corrected elsewhere (check out my quick list below of sources I consider invaluable)--though they still have not been corrected by those who perpetrated them (especially not the New York Times). And this battle is by no means over--we must be watchful and diligent.

For my part, I can't take the media attention anymore. When Father read the words of the reading from St. Luke quoted above at mass on Sunday, I could hardly hold back the tears. Which the whole word is crying out in anger (some of it deserved), I just want to leap into the defense of Pope Benedict. I'll be that stone, crying out to praise the Lord and thank Him for his blessings.

To that end, I am really enforcing a silence. I am turning off all these outside voices for the Triduum, to allow myself to be free from worry and to really rejoice in the Feast at hand. I encourage you all to do the same.

Essential Sources:

+ As pertains to the Milwaukee Case please read the article written by Fr. Thomas Brundage, who was the presiding judge on the case (and who has not been called upon as a source by any of the major news outlets!!!). (HT: Thomas Peters)this statement from the current Archbishop of Milwaukee

+ For a factual rebuttal of the specific claims of the New York Times article, please check out Fr. Raymond J. De Souza's article in National Review--this includes a timeline based on the documentation between Archbishop Weakland and the CDF.

+ John Allen is the only good thing about the National Catholic Reporter. Read his articles here and here.

+ Furthermore, keep tabs on The Anchoress as well. She is links heavily to real sources, and, as a former viticm of sexual abuse, speaks from a place none of us can imagine, with grace, circumspection, and fairness. This, I think, is the most comprehensive, powerful, prayerful, courageous and hopeful post I've read yet. UPDATE: Read this morning's post too.

Let me close with this quote from Pope Benedict on the occasion of his very first mass as Pope:

My dear friends –
at this moment I can only say:
pray for me,
that I may learn to love the Lord more and more.
Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more
– in other words, you, the holy Church,
each one of you and all of you together.
Pray for me,
that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.
Let us pray for one another,
that the Lord will carry us
and that we will learn to carry one another.

[Pope Benedict XVI, 24 April, 2005]

Pope's Letter to Ireland

Have you read the Holy Father's letter, released Saturday, to the Church in Ireland? You should. It is amazing. And new. And bold. And personal. And healing.

(Pope Benedict needs a lot of prayers, by the way. This is a hard time for the Church, but thank God he is our Head.)

John Paul II and Pius XII

Saturday Pope Benedict XVI declared Popes John Paul II and Pius XII venerable, much to my joy! JPII is the pope of my childhood, and therefore very beloved (and I saw him twice!). Pius XII is, of course, a very controversial figure, though most of what is said of him is either unfair or outright false. It was a classic Pope Benedict move to bring forward their causes at the same time. John Paul II is, in so many ways, a Santo Subito, while Pius's legacy is much more murky.

All the same, I have loved Pius XII, and hope that this declaration will provide an opportunity to defend him against the claims that he aided the holocaust (when, in fact, he encouraged his priests to do the opposite). He was a man of courage, and the most recent pope who's legal duties as heaad of a nation were as important has his pastoral duty as head of the Church. I've always thought him a man of heroic virtue. I'm glad Papa B agrees. He said, on Saturday:

When one draws close to this noble Pope, free from ideological prejudices, in addition to being struck by his lofty spiritual and human character one is also captivated by the example of his life and the extraordinary richness of his teaching. One can also come to appreciate the human wisdom and pastoral intensity which guided him in his long years of ministry, especially in providing organized assistance to the Jewish people...Wherever possible he spared no effort in intervening in their favour either directly or through instructions given to other individuals or to institutions of the Catholic Church. [He made] many interventions, secretly and silently, precisely because, given the concrete situation of that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews.


This courageous and paternal dedication was recognized and appreciated during and after the terrible world conflict by Jewish communities and individuals who showed their gratitude for what the Pope had done for them. One need only recall Pius XII's meeting on the 29th of November 1945 with eighty delegates of German concentration camps who during a special Audience granted to them at the Vatican, wished to thank him personally for his generosity to them during the terrible period of Nazi-fascist persecution.

Elsewhere

Friends, I have a slew of links for you today. Some wonderful, others...well...

First: You simply must read, in its entirety, Jeremy Lott's piece in the newest American Spectator about Pope Benedict, "The Great Consolidator." A snippet:

Less attention was focused on Benedict's first homily as pope, at a Mass of the College of Cardinals. He opened with the usual boilerplate. "Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope," he said. He promised to be "especially responsible" for promoting that unity. Benedict acknowledged that he had been "entrusted with the task" of strengthening his "brethren" -- a word that is fraught with meaning in ecumenical circles as Rome has taken to referring to non-Catholic Christians as "separated brethren."

Then he said something extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented: "With full awareness...at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome which Peter bathed in his blood, Peter's current Successor" -- that is, I, Pope Benedict XVI -- "takes on as his primary task the duty to work tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, his impelling duty." These words were brought to my attention by Keith Fournier, an ordained Catholic deacon who enthused on Catholic Online that "What happened [in October] is just the beginning."

THE ONLY THING IS, it wasn't the beginning. Far from it. The present pope may not go down as the Great Unifier, exactly. He's likely what people today call "too divisive" to pull that off, and it's hard to see why he would want to. Benedict knows how to use divisions to great effect. He takes Christ's statement from the Gospel of Matthew, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword," quite seriously.

Read the whole article here. Seriously. Read it. It brings hope, and you'll need it after these next two items.

Second, a few life-issue related links, both HT: American Papist. A group in Milwaukee called "Catholic for Choice" has recently encouraged young Catholics to use contraception. Thankfully, the Archbishop-designate Jerome Listecki has issue a statement regarding this group, saying:

While people can call themselves whatever they want, it is my duty as a bishop to state clearly and unequivocally that by professing and disseminating views in grave contradiction to Catholic teaching, members of organizations like “Young Catholics for Choice” in fact disown their Catholic heritage, tragically distancing themselves from that communion with the Church to which they are called. We pray that they may reconcile their position which is contrary to the Catholic Faith they claim to profess.

In considerably more shocking news (also brought to my attention by AMP), at the climate summit in Copenhagen, a British group has been promoting a program to offset carbon emissions by working to eliminate the birth of African children. LifeSite news reports:

suggests that people in wealthy first-world countries should "offset" the carbon cost of their jet-setting lifestyles by paying to prevent the births of poor children in the developing world.

John Vidal, the Guardian's environment editor, wrote that the OPT's report suggesting a "radical" plan to cut carbon emissions was the "best bet" to reduce global warming trends. In August, the OPT issued a report claiming to have made a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to work out exactly how much "carbon emission" a child born in the developing world costs.

Vidal pointed to the claim in the OPT report that the 10 metric tons of carbon emitted by a single return flight from London to Sydney could be "offset" by "enabling the avoidance of one unwanted birth in a country such as Kenya."

This isn't planting trees people; this is KILLING BABIES for the sake of your ridiculous lifestyle. I just can't even begin to express my shock and anger over this.

Come Lord Jesus, and do not delay!

The New Encyclical...

...will be available on Tuesday.  It's the first social encyclical written in about twenty years.  Go Papa B!  Once I get my paws on it, I'll be sure to post my thoughts.  

For Those of Us Who Love the Pope...

I saw this and I had to share. Presenting Pope2you.net: the Pope on just about every possible media available (although surprisingly, Pope Benedict XVI is NOT on Twitter, at least not yet...and I hope you can pick up my sarcasm on that...). I love the Pope, but I don't know whether to be excited because this is so cool, or to be totally freaked out by our reliance on technology and the FIVE different media present here!! In any event, I'll be checking it out, and I thought some of you might be interested too!!

"I Come as a Pilgrim of Peace"

Today the Holy Father begins his pilgrimmage to the Holy Land. Just listen to his beautiful words about this trip. Sisters and readers, let's make a concerted effort to pray for the pope's intentions for peace, especially in the Middle East. I love how he says that he's visiting the places "made holy by the life of Jesus." I hope that we, the Body of Christ, make places and people holy with His life, too.

Papa Don't Preach

...80's Madonna song as well as the hurtful cry of so many to our Holy Father after his trip to Africa... 

These past few months the pope has taken quite a verbal beating from people all over the world: some secular who simply do not understand the good news, and some Christian who did not inform themselves as to what the Holy Father has been saying in actuality.  Here is some support for the pontiff from a researcher at Harvard about AIDS prevention.   

Sisters, let's pray for our shepherd who challenges us to be better persons and to humanize our sexuality by recognizing it as both love and responsibility. 

On Fatherhood

So tomorrow is St. Joseph's day, and I've already posted on the person of Joseph, but I wanted to take some time to consider fatherhood. Who better to reveal human fatherhood than St. Joseph? I was just at a lecture given a priest on the gift of child-like faith and how it has been lost in post-modern secular society. He said what we primarily must recover is not just the sense of God as our Creator--but more importantly the sense of God as our Father, our loving Father. We might take for granted the words of Christ when He gave us the prayer the Our Father, but in fact, it was a very radical form of prayer to God. Israel would not even utter the name of God, and yet Christ tells us to invoke Him as our Father.

Why is this fatherhood so important and crucial to our time? Catholic psychologist Paul Vitz contends that nearly 9 times out of 10, those who subscribe to atheism had either absent fathers or bad relationships with their fathers. Our fathers encourage us, they protect us, they educate us, and they discipline us. But most importantly: they reflect God to us--they model His Fatherhood. (Just an aside-I don't know about you ladies, but I am such a daddy's girl and I love it! Yesterday, I picked up a book on Edith Stein that my father gave me and he wrote me a little not inside, telling me to pray to her to ask her intercession in my academic pursuits, as she was herself a doctoral student. It made me so happy to find that note; my father really instilled in me a devotion to her. I think sometimes fathers know their children better than the children know themselves). Our fathers are a blessing to us, and we should really take time to assess our relationship with our fathers and those relationships reflect ours with God.

There is one other event that got me thinking about fatherhood. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI declared June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010 a year for priests. I rejoiced!! (By the way, have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE THE POPE?) I love priests! It might sound simple, but I really do. I am so grateful for the great gift of our priests. Today, I asked God to increase their love, to give them courage and bravery, and to give them His consolations. Not only has God given us our earthly, biological fathers - but He also has given us spiritual fathers in priests, the ones who stand in the very person of Christ to help us attain our salvation. Our God is Our Father indeed. He is generous, He knows our needs, and He provides everything we need to know Him--especially through our fathers-whether they be our earthly fathers or our priests. When I think about this, it brings to mind the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 8 proclaiming, "O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens."

Christian Unity

This past year, God has really placed in my heart a desire to pray for and to help foster greater Christian unity. I have been mulling over this passage from John 17 (verses 18-24) for months:

As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me; that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me. Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me; that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world.

I love this part of John 17, but I'd recommend meditating on the whole chapter. What a magnificent prayer of Our Lord to be prayed right before His Passion! Almost as if He just saw the whole history of Christianity right before His very eyes! Christ prays for us to be one--so that the world may know who He is. What a scandal it is for us to squabble amongst ourselves, and yet real divisions, deep wounds divide His followers. But how are we to show others who Christ is if we cannot even agree among ourselves? Where do we begin to heal this very real wounds that fracture His sacred, mystical body and separate us from each other?

Recently the Pope came out with a statement on the priority for Christian unity. He writes that unity is essential for leading the world to God. Let me just quote his most beautiful and eloquent words:

The real problem at this moment of our history is that God is disappearing from the human horizon, and, with the dimming of the light which comes from God, humanity is losing its bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects. Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter at the present time. A logical consequence of this is that we must have at heart the unity of all believers. Their disunity, their disagreement among themselves, calls into question the credibility of their talk of God. Hence the effort to promote a common witness by Christians to their faith -- ecumenism -- is part of the supreme priority. Added to this is the need for all those who believe in God to join in seeking peace, to attempt to draw closer to one another, and to journey together, even with their differing images of God, towards the source of Light -- this is interreligious dialogue. Whoever proclaims that God is Love "to the end" has to bear witness to love: in loving devotion to the suffering, in the rejection of hatred and enmity -- this is the social dimension of the Christian faith, of which I spoke in the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est.

Let us reflect this Easter on the priority of Christian unity, for it was one of the last and most fervent prayers of Our Lord on His way to Calvary...

I Love the Pope!

This will probably be one of many blogs of this title because anyone who knows me know that I really do LOVE THE POPE (he and Fr. James Schall are hands down my two favorite members of the clergy). Anyway, Pope Benedict XVI commented yesterday for International Women's Day (by the way, happy belated Women's day), praising women for their work in the world and calling for a renewed commitment to the dignity of women. He spoke of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and recalled Pope John Paul II's wonderful letter on women, Mulieris Dignitatem (I would highly recommend it!) So, from the Vatican -- hats off to all the ladies. Hope you all enjoyed your day and rejoice in the great gift of femininity!