New Americans

We're up in Massachusetts now, visiting the kids and grandkids, and not at all appreciative of the colder weather. The change in temperature really didn't hit home until this morning when we left the hotel, got into the rental car, and discovered that the windows were covered with a nice layer of ice. Naturally we didn't have a scraper, so we had to wait 10 minutes for the defroster to do its work. This only reinforced our comfort with our decision to move to Florida five years ago. Tomorrow should be warmer; they predict a high near 60. Whoopee!

We didn't fly up here to complain about the weather, though. One of the primary reasons for our trip was to attend a naturalization ceremony, which was held yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston. It was our first visit to the library, even though we lived in Massachusetts for 25 years. Of course, I was never a big Kennedy fan, so I suppose I just didn't consider a visit to be a major priority. But that's all irrelevant. The ceremony was absolutely wonderful.
220 new Americans were sworn in as citizens of the USA in the presence of their proud families and friends. Among them was our son-in-law, Airton, a native of Brazil, and a fine young man. He's not only the husband of our elder daughter, Erin, but also the father of four of our grandchildren. And we are suitably proud of him for his decision to become an American citizen. His sister-in-law (our other daughter, Siobhan) and her husband felt compelled to give him one of those big Uncle Sam hats and, not surprisingly, Airton plopped it right down on his formerly Brazilian head.

The new citizens were a remarkable cross section of humanity. They came from 60 different countries and ranged from 20-somethings to mid-eighties. After the ceremony I approached one of the latter, an elderly woman from Latin American who I discovered was 84 years old. When I asked if I could take her picture, she just beamed a said, "Yes, yes, please do." She wore a rosary around her neck and proudly displayed her new certificate of citizenship. I'm sorry I didn't catch her name, but I thought I'd post her picture anyway. Truly a wonderful day for everyone involved.

It's now Friday and I'm sitting at our daughter's kitchen table watching four of our grandchildren prepare for an evening of trick or treating in their Cape Cod neighborhood. Halloween, of course, means that tomorrow is All Saints Day. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone took some time tomorrow to ask their patron saint to intercede on behalf of our country as we approach election day?
Just think of it: all of heaven asking God to bless this nation as it chooses its next president. Just a thought.

And take a moment tomorrow to let someone know that God loves them.

Blessings...

The Wildwood Soup Kitchen

As a deacon, one of the ministries in which I'm actively involved is the Wildwood Soup Kitchen, located, appropriately enough, in Wildwood, Florida. An ecumenical ministry operated exclusively by volunteers (almost 150 volunteers from 30+ local churches), the soup kitchen will serve approximately 60,000 meals this year.

I'm the current president of the board of directors, but my most fulfilling job is working as a kitchen flunky every Thursday under the firm and knowledgeable supervision of my wife, Diane, who happens to be the Thursday cook. All of our cooks are wonderful, but Diane, a native Floridian, knows how to satisfy those Southern appetites with good home cookin'. Today's main course, Brunswick Stew, received rave reviews.

I'm especially proud of the fact that the soup kitchen accepts no government funds or materials and is completely dependent on donations of money, food, equipment, and services from individuals, businesses, churches and local civic and neighborhood associations. What a blessing that so many are willing to help the hungry, the poor and the lonely. As you might imagine, fundraising has turned into my most time-consuming task.

Today was a record day for us. We served 134 meals to walk-ins and delivered 125 meals to those unable to get to the kitchen for a variety of reasons. It's one of those records that I hope will remain unbroken. Unfortunately, given the uneven state of the economy these days I suspect we will continue to serve large numbers of people daily.

This is a wonderful ministry, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to take a more active role in doing God's work by fulfilling the Gospel mandate to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and welcome the stranger. [See Matthew 24:35.] We feed anyone who walks in the door looking for a meal. No one asks to see a 1040 or W-2. We just feed the hungry.

If you'd like to view my latest PowerPoint presentation on the soup kitchen, click here. We also have a website: http://www.wildwoodsoupkitchen.com/

I'll take some time every so often to fill you in on some of the ministries I'm involved in with the hope that someone reading this might listen more attentively to God's call to love Him and their neighbor.

Blessings and God's Peace...

More politics? Praise and thanksgiving at the jail.

No matter how I try to focus on other issues, I keep coming back to politics and the upcoming election. I suppose I should actually say current election, since here in Florida the polls opened this morning for early voting. Personally, I'll be glad when it's all over, but until then...

Some interesting things transpired in recent days. Archbishop Chaput of Denver argued that several prominent Catholics who have publicly supported Barack Obama "have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn." Wow! I've always found the Archbishop to be sensible and clear-thinking, but now have to add courageous as well. (That's the Archbishop's photo above.)


Naturally his comments didn't go unnoticed by those in the hierarchy who would like abortion to just "go away" so they wouldn't have to apologize constantly for their favorite politicians. One bishop who disagrees with Archbishop Chaput is Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala who remarked that all those fervent anti-abortion Catholics are "mistaken" because the Catholic Church isn't a one-issue church. He wants Catholics to consider all issues, including economic issues that affect people's lives. Presumably, he believes that something like abortion would be trumped by these other issues.

Of course, all of this only leads to a confused Catholic citizenry. And the source of all the confusion, in addition to the politicians themselves, is the muddled statement of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on voting, Faithful Citizenship, that allegedly instructs Catholics on how to weigh critical issues when making decisions in the voting booth. Naturally, like most documents driven by the need to compromise, Faithful Citizenship, will only confuse any Catholic voter who takes the document seriously. After reading the document one can make a case for placing the willful destruction of 50 million innocent unborn children on a par with economic policies that negatively impact the lives of single mothers. This can be inferred because the document refuses to tell Catholics that they should never vote for any politician who supports abortion. I like the comment by Bishop Martino of Scranton, who tried to place things in proper perspective when he said, "No social issue has caused the death of 50 million people." He then went on to let his flock know that the USCCB document, Faithful Citizenship, is not relevant in his diocese. Way to go, Bishop!

Here in Florida we have the opportunity to vote on a state constitutional amendment that will define marriage as a bond between only a man and a woman. I feel confident that it will pass, but I've been fooled before.

I spent the afternoon at our county jail sharing God's Word and His Love with the inmates. I spoke to them about grace, that wonderful undeserved gift of God that keeps our faith alive, gives us hope, and allows us to do God's will in the world by loving Him and each other. They appeared to respond well to what I shared with them. And they certainly enjoyed singing all those hymns when we made our joyful noise unto the Lord. Interestingly, not one of the inmates -- not a single man or woman -- ever mentioned the elections. It's amazing, isn't it? I guess they had other things on their minds.

I suppose the best thing we can do at this point, other than doing our civic duty by voting, is to pray that God's will be done in all things, including elections.

Praise God and thank Him today for creating you.

Under-reported News

Persecution of Indian Christians. Perhaps one of the most under-reported news stories involves what is happening to Christians, and particularly to Catholics, in India. It's especially sad that this persecution is taking place in a nation frequently referred to as the "world's largest democracy" and is often carried out with the assistance of local police.

How bad is it? In just the past few weeks over 100 Christians have been murdered, 180 churches have been destroyed, and 4,500 homes have been burned to the ground. This has generated over 50,000 Christian refugees who are treated like criminals by the local police agencies.

Hindu fundamentalists are behind this persecution, which has apparently become almost methodical and even continues within the refugee camps set up to house the dispossessed Christians.

Pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in India, and pray for their persecutors.

For more details, read the story on AsiaNews.it -- click here.

Pope Benedict's Scripture Reading Marathon. On October 5, Pope Benedict XVI began a non-stop 7x24 Bible reading marathon that was fully covered on Italian television. While the Pope kicked off the marathon by reading Genesis 1, he was followed by over 1,200 different readers from all walks of life. Readers were not exclusively Catholic but also included those from a variety of Christian denominations as well as Jews and Muslims. The reading went on for six days. Click here for the CNS story.

When I first read the article about this wonderful event, the thing that immediately came to mind was that beautiful scene from Nehemiah 8 where Ezra and the Levites read the Scriptures to the Jews living in post-exilic Jerusalem. The result? The people listened and wept, and then, filled with remorse for their sinfulness and that of their fathers, they repented and confessed their sins. Ezra continued the readings during the seven days of the Feast of Booths. I suspect that our Holy Father had Ezra in mind. Let's pray that it may lead to similar results.

Tomorrow Diane and I join the diocese's other deacons on a continuing education weekend. I expect it will, as usual, be a valuable and pleasant experience. Keep us in your prayers.

Praise God for all things...

Campaigning without ideas

If you have turned on a television or a radio lately, you certainly know we're in the middle of political prime time. Maybe I've just forgotten what it was like in previous years, but it seems that we are being subjected to more political ads this time around than ever before. And not just a few more, but a lot more. They seem to run longer too. Some of them just go on and on telling us all kinds of things about the candidate or his opponent, mostly inconsequential things.

The trouble is, these are the very things upon which people tend to base their vote. Most people in their daily lives deal only with other people and events, and the political spin doctors know this. And so political ads focus on people and events. What you will almost never encounter in political ads are the very things that should be seriously weighed before voting: ideas.

Ideas, however, demand abstract thought, something in which most people have never engaged. Our educational system certainly doesn't encourage this kind of thinking, and neither do the task-oriented lives that most people lead. And so the politician appeals to the lowest level, attacking his opponent personally while depicting himself as a good guy or, at least, as a better guy. And when he tires of that he focuses on events and things, but he never talks about ideas for fear that millions of eyes and minds would glaze over.

Too bad, isn't it? Because ideas are what actually matter. Ideas, real philosophical ideas, will ultimately determine how the candidate will act once he's elected. And so the only way to judge a candidate with any accuracy is to understand the ideas that drive and influence him. If a candidate doesn't openly discuss these ideas, be suspicious. Pay no attention to his campaign promises or the happy family photos, but examine instead his record. By looking closely at a candidate's record a pattern of behavior will generally emerge, and from that pattern one can usually identify the ideas that motivate him. One can also learn more about a candidate's character from his record than from his words.

That's enough on the elections. Pray for all the candidates, even those you oppose. And don't forget to thank God for your being.

...and things just get stranger.

I haven't posted much of late simply because I've been so busy. But even though I haven't written anything, I have pondered a few things. As a result of these rather random musings, I have become more firm in my conviction that the world we live in is insane.

Symptoms and problems. Since our return from Rome two weeks ago, much has happened to bolster this conviction. It seems like only yesterday (perhaps it was) that people's major concern was the rapidly increasing price of gasoline along with a corresponding decline of the dollar against the Euro. And so what's happened? The price of gasoline is falling like a rock and the dollar is gaining just as quickly. Why, then, aren't people happy? Because these seemingly positive reversals were brought about by some very unwelcome changes. And it's these changes, the disruptions in our worldwide financial system, that have become the new concern. Who's talking about the price of gas today? Who's celebrating the dollar's growing value?

Yes, we love to focus on the symptoms of our problems simply because we can all see them, we are all affected by them, and we all believe that if we only remove them, the problem will go away. It's also a lot easier to focus on today's very evident symptoms than to try to uncover the problem's root cause, which often enough was brought about by our own past stupidity. But, of course, the symptoms change over time as the problem worsens and so fighting symptoms is always a losing battle. That's one reason that price controls never work. They always address yesterday's symptoms, and therefore only generate new problems.

But I'm neither an economist nor a politician, so what do I know? And I really shouldn't enjoy watching all the supposedly smart people blame each other and make fools of themselves, but I can't help myself. It's such good entertainment.

God's Word and Prayer. At the Synod of Bishops currently taking place at the Vatican, the bishops are focusing on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." One of the more interesting comments came from a bishop of an Eastern Catholic Church, Bishop George Punnakottil of India. Bishop Punnakottil is a bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, which traces its origins back to the Apostle Thomas and is one of 22 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. The bishop, unhappy with the Synod's failure to address the spirituality of Eastern Catholics, made the point that Scripture is both historical and spiritual. He went on to say, "Reasoning is not enough. Spiritual contemplation of the Word is required. True theologians are true saints. Reading presupposes a state of prayer. Prayer illumines the mind to grasp what one reads. Reading of the Word should lead to the substantial Word, that is Jesus." I agree, and based on what Pope Benedict has written over the years, I'm pretty sure he would too. Unfortunately, I suspect many of our scriptural scholars would not. The good bishop from India is another example of the Catholic Church as a bastion of sanity. (The image is of the St. Thomas Cross, the official symbol of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.)

Oh, and here's some interesting information on the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The Church, to serve its 3,675,000 members, has 3,500 priests and 2,400 seminarians. They also have 30,000 women religious and about a thousand brothers. It would seem they're doing something right.

Portugal says "No!" The Portuguese parliament overwhelmingly defeated a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage. The proposal was supported by only a handful of far-left legislators from the Green Party and a far-left Bloc. Three cheers for Portugal and let's pray that they don't buckle under the pressure that will no doubt come from the European Union and the European courts. Click here for the AP story. Sanity still has a grip in Portugal...if not in the place of my birth, Connecticut.

Electoral hatred. Last week I asked a parishioner why he planned to vote for Senator Obama. (He had an Obama bumper sticker on his car.) His answer was telling: "Because I hate Bush." Here again we brush up against insanity, the kind of thinking that takes a single irrational idea (hatred of another human being) and makes it the driving force behind one's actions and decisions. Because the president cannot run for office, this man is unable to express his hatred of George Bush in any meaningful way, so he compounds his insanity by joining other Bush-haters in their opposition to...not George Bush, but John McCain. Go figure.

Pope Pius XII. I can think of no man who has been the object of more vicious slander than Pope Pius XII. The revisionist historians (aka, liars) have rewritten history in an attempt to portray this saintly, courageous pope as an anti-Semite and Nazi collaborator. Fortunately, his defenders, particularly his Jewish defenders, are fighting back against the bigots (the insane bigots) and telling the world the truth about this wonderful man. Click here for some current insight. If you want to read a complete intereview of Paolo Mieli, a secular Jewish journalist, that appeared in the Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, click here.

And yet, despite all the insanity, the Lord of History remains in charge...Praise God!

Photos of Rome

OK, I've placed almost 100 of the photos I took while in Rome on flickr.com. If you want to view them, click here. Then, click on "Slide Show" if you want to view them all. Or can you go directly to the slide show by clicking here.

I'll probably add more soon.

I hope you enjoy them.

God's peace...

Photos of Rome

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I actually took about 1,200 photos when we were in Rome. This, of course, wouldn't have happened ten years ago, before the advent of the digital camera. But now, armed with my trusty Canon Digital Rebel SLR and a few extra lenses, I can take hundreds of photos without worrying about the cost of film. I can take multiple exposures of the same subject and simply select the best later; and I can even improve on the original photo thanks to the powerful software on my PC. All in all a wonderful innovation. Unfortunately, because I took so many photos, it's taking me a while to go through them all and select some of the more interesting ones for inclusion on the blog. I hope to post some later this week. I might even add a few photos retroactively to some of the postings from Rome. We'll see...

No time to write much today. One of our sons is visiting and requires entertaining and I have a Bible Study and liturgy course to prepare. Busy week...

Just remember to take a moment to thank God for creating you.

Praise God.

Elections and Disintegration

The above is a strange title but it's just the outcome of a some equally strange thoughts that bubbled up in my brain earlier today as I thought about our upcoming presidential election. It really started a few evenings ago when I was thinking about what took place in Greece -- specifically in Athens -- about 2,500 years ago.

Athens, for a good three or four hundred years, was a pretty marvelous place. Ordinary citizens were given a major role in the political life of Athenian society. The creative genius of the people flourished in this open atmosphere, a creativity from which we still benefit today. But something went wrong, as something always goes wrong with every society. Athens, faced with overcrowding and subsistence farming, expanded overseas through colonization. And then there was the remarkable victory over the Persians. With these events came a marked change in societal attitudes, a change driven by pride and greed. Moral leadership cannot exist once pride and greed take hold. And so the still seemingly great Athens found itself facing the revolt of its neighbors led by Sparta. During the Peloponnesian Wars hatred and injustice and barbarity led to a steady loss of freedom and creativity. Ultimately, the old Athens disappeared, becoming just one more nation that crumbled into nothingness as a result of war and violence.

Not a pleasant story but it got me thinking about our own nation. Internally we have lost any sense of morality and with it the moral leadership our nation once exerted. The best example, of course, is how we murder our unborn babies at a horrific rate, discarding their tiny torn bodies in the garbage. And there is virtually no outrage over this. Oh, some politicians call themselves pro-life and wring their hands publicly -- particularly at election time -- over the "issue" but do absolutely nothing.

Sadly, the Catholic Church in America is in pretty much the same state. Yes, some bishops write pastoral letters and occasional editorials in their diocesan newspapers on the evils of abortion, but that's about it. Most still schmooze with the pro-abortion politicians (especially the Catholic ones) and talk a lot about "conscience" and "seamless garments" and "a multitude of critical issues." But in their moral cowardice they seem far more concerned about capital campaigns and maintaining their tax-exempt status than they are about the modern slaughter of the innocents going on right under their noses.

I wonder what a bishop thinks when he realizes that his Catholic flock votes for pro-abortion politicians at virtually the same rate as the rest of the population. Does this bother him? Does he think that perhaps he's not doing what Christ commanded him to do? Or does he just write it off as another symptom of societal change over which he really has little control? And how about Massachusetts, a state that I believe is at least 50% Catholic, voting for homosexual marriage? The bishops of Massachusetts should be embarrassed and ashamed. Of course, when bishops turn a blind eye to blatant homosexuality among some of their priests, I suspect the average layperson won't care much about a radical redefinition of the sacred bond of marriage.

And greed? Oh, my, do we have greed. Indeed, it seems that our economy now runs and thrives on greed. No return is high enough. No profit big enough. No lottery payoff great enough. No government program or handout expansive enough. Yes, as greed eventually pervades every level of society it destroys a nation just as effectively as a devastating war. Indeed, national collective greed usually leads to war because of the hatred it engenders in others. And to think that some people don't believe in original sin.

No society can long survive this massive loss of moral direction. When the good is redefined as that which is most useful and when justice becomes that which serves the current special interest -- when these things happen, the society is in serious decline.

That's why this election will be so critical and so interesting. I don't know whether our nation will or can restore itself to what it once was, or remake itself into something else, something different but good. I suspect not. I'm neither smart enough nor prescient enough to call that one. But it would appear we're at a crossroads of sorts, because the choice facing us as Americans is a real choice. It's not a perfect choice, because no choice between two human beings is ever perfect, but it is nevertheless a real choice between a culture of life and a culture of death. I believe that the Lord of History is giving us an opportunity to redeem ourselves as a nation, to do as Moses commanded God's chosen people: to choose life.

I hope we make that choice. Pray for our nation, for those we have elected to office, for our judges. And pray for our bishops that they have the courage to be true shepherds.

Now that I've criticized those bishops who have avoided criticizing our anti-life politicians, I should thank the bishops of Florida for their election year statement reminding us that we may not in good conscience vote for candidates who consistently support intrinsic evils like abortion. I'm also pleased to note that the bishops of Kansas City published a similar joint pastoral letter on the upcoming election. Click here for the EWTN news story. Let's hope that the pastors of Florida's parishes, along with those of the archdiocese of Kansas City and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, listen to and preach the bishops' words from the pulpit. Click here for the complete pastoral letter. And we should also thank our US bishops for their public corrections of the grossly inaccurate comments of two pro-abortion politicians, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. Sadly, correction seems to have no impact on those who place politics above all else, even the lives of innocents and their own salvation. One more piece of good news is the talk Bishop Jaime Soto gave to the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. Read the story here.

I don't mean to sound pessimistic, because I'm not. Despite all these worldly concerns -- and the rise and fall of governments and nations are truly worldly concerns -- we can look to the future with hope, because we have a loving God who is always in charge, a God who is true to His promises. Yes, being here in the world today is a good thing. Give God thanks for the fact of your being.

Oh, yes...one more thing: Check out the website CatholicVote.com. It's worth a visit.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Back Home Again...

Although we've been home for several days, it's taken us that long to fully recover from the jet lag and the fact that we really took no downtime after our trip. Trying to hit the ground running the day after one's return from a trip abroad is not something I would recommend...especially at my age.

In any event, before I delve into deeper subjects, I thought it would be well to describe our last day in Rome. So here goes...

One church I badly wanted to visit was St. Cecilia in Trastevere. On our last visit to Rome in 2005 we tried to see the church, but it was closed for renovations and all we could do was view its exterior. So this time we did our homework and made sure the church was open for visitors.

First we took our trusty tourist bus to its first stop, Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of Rome's oldest churches. We stopped by for a brief look, and once inside wished we had more time. Like many Roman churches it's been rebuilt several times, and if I remember correctly, the existing Romanesque church was built in the 12th century. Of particular interest are the beautiful 13th century mosaics by Cavallini. One could spend hours enjoying them and the other marvels hidden in this wonderful church...but time (and the fact that rain threatened) didn't permit more than a brief visit. As you can see in the photo, Diane did have time to light a candle and offer prayers for special intentions.

And so we walked on through the winding, narrow streets of Trastevere (aided by my TomTom handheld GPS) and made our way to St. Cecilia. What a treat this was!

One of the most moving works of art in the church is the sculpture of St. Cecilia displayed under the main altar just over her tomb. The sculpture, by Stefano Maderno, shows Cecilia's incorrupt body positioned just as it was when it was exhumed from her grave in the 16th century. Cecilia, of course, is the patron saint of music. Given the state of music in the Church today, perhaps we should send some intercessory prayers her way.

We also visited the crypt where the saint is buried as well as the adjacent excavations beneath the church. The church was built over a 2nd century Roman home (thought to be the home of Cecilia and her husband, Valerian) and the home has been remarkably well restored by the archaeologists responsible for the excavations. It is truly worth a visit.

As we left the church we stopped by the neighboring convent where (for a small fee) we went upstairs and were able to view Cavallini's "Last Judgment" -- a remarkable medieval painting on a wall of the convent. This is another "must-see" in Trastevere. The photo is of the Church of St. Cecilia.

By this time our feet were getting tired and it had started to rain. Our thoughts were also beginning to turn to food and so we decided to search for a restaurant. The one we settled on was a nice, little restaurant that obviously caters to the locals but still warmly welcomes tourists like us. The meal was good, as was the wine. It's name is Hostaria Dar Buttero and it's located at Via della Lungaretta, 156. I recommend it.

Earlier we had thought about spending the afternoon at the Forum, but the increasingly heavy rain convinced us to shelve that idea and save it for a later trip. We took the bus back to St. Peter's and from there walked in the rain to our hotel where we enjoyed a nice afternoon nap. The evening was spent packing, enjoying a last dinner at our favorite local restaurant, and then to bed in preparation for our 4:30 a.m. wake-up.

The trip home, like every long, non-first class flight was semi-miserable, although British Air did their best to make it as endurable as possible.

I am still going through the 1,200 photos I took and will post a few on the blog in the coming days.

All in all, dear Diane and I had a wonderful trip, but it is, as always, good to be back home in the USA.

God love you...

More catching up; final post from Rome

As you can all attest, I haven't been a very reliable a blogger on this trip. We have, though, been busy and this touristy stuff is a full-time job. I will try to fill you in on the events of the past few days...

It's 5:30 pm on Friday and I'm sitting up in bed with Diane napping beside me. The sound of the rain (it's been raining all day) outside the window is almost enough to put me to sleep, but I'm fighting it.

Wednesday morning began with the papal audience. It was held indoors in the huge audience hall, so that was a new experience for us. The two previous audiences we attended were both held in St. Peter's Square. We were advised to arrive early at 8:30, although the audience doesn't begin until 10:30. We had to wait about 30 minutes outside, then pass through security before entering the audience hall. Thanks to Sister Maria at the North American College we had "special" tickets which allowed us to sit in the front section. Our 90-minute wait wasn't at all unpleasant. The seats were comfortable and we enjoyed wonderful conversation with our neighbors from West Virginia and the UK.

The folks from the UK included another permanent deacon and his wife who were celebrating their 50th anniversary. We had a nice long chat, comparing notes on the state of the diaconate in our respective countries.

Pope Benedict was received joyously by the large international crowd. Once again, Diane and I were thrilled by the numbers of enthusiastic young people in attendance. A large group of teens -- probably 50 or more -- from Argentina sat directly in front of us and the hall was filled with similar groups from all over the world. What a blessing for the future of Christ's Church. Pray for these young people. It's hard to strive for holiness in today's world.

Pope Benedict spoke of his recent visit to Lourdes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady. He also addressed the young people in particular, telling them that he consigned to them "two treasures of Christian faith: the Holy Spirit and the Cross. The Spirit opens human intelligence to horizons larger than itself, and brings it to understand the beauty and the truth of God's love revealed on the Cross." It was a wonderful reflection. The Pope then imparted his blessing on all of us and on our families and blessed the religious articles we had brought with us -- two large bags full!

Wednesday afternoon we had another perfect Roman lunch and then took our tourist bus out to the Basilica of St. Mary Major where we spent a good two hours checking out all the nooks and crannies and marveling at the beauty of this lovely, old church. After spending more money at the basilica's gift shop, we once again climbed aboard our tourist bus and headed for St. Peter's. From there we wandered back to our hotel window shopping along the way.

Thursday was a bit of an adventure, one that included a lot of walking. We left our hotel, crossed over the Tiber via Ponte Margherita and entered Piazza del Popolo. Once there we stopped by the church of Santa Maria del Popolo and enjoyed being amazed by the artwork of the grand masters that decorated the church's side altars. We stayed for Mass, celebrated by the pastor, and then continued our exploration of the Piazza. We briefly considered making the walk up to the Pincio to take in what is described as a remarkable view of Rome, but decided that the walk was more vertical than horizontal and completely unsuited for our tired, old legs. We can look at the pictures in the guide book instead.

After an espresso in a nice, overpriced sidewalk cafe we began the trek to Via Veneto where we hoped to visit the Cappuchin church, Santa Maria della Concezione. We had hoped to visit the church on our last visit in 2005, but simply never had the time, so yesterday we were hopeful..until we arrived and discovered that the church is closed only one day a week, on Thursday! And so the famous crypt will have to wait until our next visit to Rome. To ease our disappointment we walked across the street and had a nice lunch at one of the local restaurants.

After lunch we continued our trek, making our way to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. The Pantheon is always surprising, always wonderful, always awesome...and always crowded, just as it was yesterday. I took lots of photos and we walked the few blocks to Piazza Navona where we examined all the bad art for sale and decided that another coffee would be a fine thing. We then searched out a small print shop where we had purchased a print eight years before. We found it easily and were impressed when the proprietor remarked that he remembered us from our earlier visit, so impressed that we purchased another print, this one from the 18th century.

From there we just wandered back across the Tiber over Ponte Sant'Angelo, took lots more photos, and collapsed in our hotel room. It was a tiring, but very enjoyable day.

More soon, but it's time for dinner...

Three-day catch-up: Basilicas, Gardens, Audience, Food...

Monday was such a busy day that I simply had no time to post anything. We also returned to the hotel so tired that even the rock-hard bed was inviting.

Our main event on Monday was a visit to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. It's quite a distance -- too far for us senior citizens to walk -- so we took cab and spent a small fortune. It was worth it, though. We were surprised that so few people were there, especially since it is the key spot for pilgrimages during this Pauline Holy Year. But the lack of crowds was fine with us since it meant that we had plenty of room to roam around at our leisure. It's truly a beautiful basilica, a majestic church in the classical revival style. We visited St. Paul's tomb, located under the main altar and spent a few moments there in prayer thanking God for this wonderful opportunity to again visit these holy places. After taking in all of the Basilica and the adjacent cloisters, we stopped by the gift shop and ended up buying some lovely gifts for family members. The shop is staffed by two Franciscan nuns from Chile who speak no English but nevertheless kept us entertained with their comedy routine. All in all a lovely visit.

As we left we found ourselves faced with the same problem we encountered the last time we visited this particular basilica: there's no taxi stand anywhere nearby and we have no idea how to navigate the Roman bus system. So I prayed briefly to St. Paul (after all, he's the one that drew us there) and a tour bus pulled up. When I asked if they went anywhere near St. John Lateran, the driver explained that they followed a set route that included all the basilicas plus a dozen or more popular tourist stops. The catch? One had to purchase a one- or three-day ticket. As it turned out a three-day ticket costs less than the cab ride we had just paid for. The ticket is also good on Rome's public buses and subway, plus you can get off and on at any of the stops and the tour buses run every 15 minutes. Such a deal!! We grabbed it and have been riding around in their open-air buses ever since.

Our next stop was St. John Lateran where we did more roaming and took in all the side chapels, the beautiful main (papal) altar and the cloisters. I especially enjoyed the cloisters where they have nicely displayed many, many fragments from the earlier basilica as well as fragments of early Christian cemetery inscriptions and statuary. Very neat stuff.

That evening we went to a local restaurant and had a wonderful steak dinner. We were very much in need of beef after all the pasta and pizza we'd been consuming, Too tired to party and too old to remember how, we wandered back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

I'll add more later, but now it's time for Wednesday's dinner. Off to the local pizza joint with the cute waitress...

...OK we've returned from dinner at our local pizzeria. The cute waitress was apparently off this evening and was replaced by a nice young man that reminded Diane of our younger son. Anyway, it's a great little pizza place named Pizzeria L'Archetto and located at Via Germanico 105 in Rome's Prati district. They have about 10 sidewalk tables which are perfect this time of year. The food and the wine are excellent and reasonably priced. We recommend it.

Now back to our tourist stuff...

Tuesday we began the day -- after the normal hotel breakfast -- with a guided tour of the Vatican Gardens. This is a tour everyone should take at least once in their lives. For two hours you roam through these beautiful gardens and get to experience Vatican City up close and personal. It is truly amazing. Our guide (sorry, I forgot her name) was wonderful and provided all sorts of interesting insights.

In the afternoon we went to the North American College (NAC) to pick up our tickets for the Wednesday general audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Sister Maria kindly gave us "special" tickets which allowed us to sit up front, close to the Pontiff. We spent a little time in the NAC's beautiful chapel, then walked over to the nearby Trevi Fountain, fought the crowds, sampled some of Rome's famous Gelato (ice cream), then wandered aimlessly looking for my favorite vestment shop, D'Ritis. We finally found it and I purchased a new alb to replace the one I bought there 3 years ago. From there it was a short cab ride back to the hotel, dinner at the pizza joint, and bed.

...more to follow.

Roma: Sunday

Today began with a quick breakfast at the hotel followed by a brisk walk to St. Peters for 9 a.m. Mass. Among the sad commentaries on modern life is the fact that one must pass through security before attending Mass at St. Peter's. The security folks, however, found us to be inoffensive and permitted us to pass without having to undergo a full-body strip search.

The Mass, of course, was celebrated in Italian and so we understood perhaps 10% of what was said. The celebrant gave an animated and, I am sure, interesting homily on the Exaltation of the Cross. He was joined at the altar by four con-celebrants but no deacons. I was hoping to see a deacon or two if only to ask what is was like to serve as a deacon assigned to the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. It's just one of the many unanswered questions constantly roaming around my overtaxed and under-utilized brain. (Or is it under-taxed and over-utilized?)

After Mass we made our way back to the hotel and changed rooms. Our new room is somewhat larger although the shower looks to be about the same size. We'll manage. Then we changed into our tourist clothes, and went to lunch at one of the many little restaurants on Borgo Pio, a touristy, pedestrian only street near the Vatican. The meal was OK, but not worth a return trip. We then walked a few blocks to Castel Sant'Angelo, paid the entrance fee, and climbed (to the point of near exhaustion) to the terrace at the top of the Castel to take in one of Rome's more breathtaking views. I took lots of photos which I will include on a slide show on the blog once we return home. The Castel was originally built as the Emperor Hadrian's tomb back in the 2nd century. Later it became a fortress for popes under siege...but you can read all about its history from far more authoritative sources elsewhere. Just be sure to include a visit to the Castel when you're in Rome. It's worth the climb.

We enjoyed yesterday evening's meal so much we decided to return to the same restaurant for dinner this evening. Except tonight we splurged and ordered two of their finest steaks. What a treat, and what a marvelous meal! The restaurant is new, only a month old, and the head waiter is the owner. I'll include the restaurant's name and address in tomorrow's posting -- too tired to look for it tonight.

Tomorrow is another day. We plan to visit the other major basilicas of Rome: St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, and St. Mary Major. I'd also like to squeeze in a visit to St. Cecilia in Trastevere if we have time. On our last visit to Rome we went there only to find the church closed for renovations. Anyway, all of this should occupy most of the day.

Blessings from Rome...

Rome: Day 2 and a half

Diane and I were apparently more tired than we thought. We went to bed at 11 last night and awoke 11 hours later at 10 this morning. The only negative was missing the nice breakfast provided by the hotel. But at least we're now rested and functioning at or near 100%.

Today is my birthday (64), so we spent it doing some very birthday-like things. We made the obligatory visits to a few of the shops that sell religious articles and books. I, of course, bought some books for myself, enough that we'll probably need to buy another suitcase. We then enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a restaurant we had visited some years ago. Our Polish priest friend, Fr. Adam Domanski, took us there for lunch during our Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome in November 2000. At the time, Fr. Adam was studying in Rome. He eventually earned his doctorate in Sacred Scripture and now teaches at a seminary in Poland. Anyway, the food was wonderful and I enjoyed some of their local white wine. (By the way, that day with Fr. Adam was the day I met and accosted Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on the street. The future Pope Benedict XVI was very understanding and actually spent a few minutes chatting with us and posing for a photo with me,)

After lunch Diane and I made our leisurely way back to St. Peter's and spent an hour roaming around the Basilica, once again awed by size and the almost overwhelming beauty of the place. We had to leave because we had reservations for a guided tour of the excavations and ancient necropolis beneath the Basilica. Only a week ago I finished re-reading "The Bones of St. Peter," a wonderful book -- now sadly out of print -- about these excavations that began in 1939 and ended with the uncovering of St. Peter's simple tomb. Our tour guide was a lovely and very knowledgeable young woman -- a historian and wife of a Swiss Guard. She brought us back to the time of Peter, the time of Constantine, and the time of the secret excavations during the years of World War II. It was a remarkable experience, one that we will never forget.

Then, after a brief rest back at the hotel, we enjoyed a marvelous dinner at one of the local restaurants. And because it was my birthday, we thought it OK to sample a few of the house desserts. What a wonderful, if mildly sinful, decision!

Tomorrow we plan to attend 9 a.m Mass at St. Peter's and then pay a visit to Castel Sant'Angelo which is just a few blocks from our hotel. The weather may cause a change in plans, however, since they're predicting rain showers. We'll just play it by ear, as usual.

A fun day for an old guy and his much younger wife.

Blessings and God's Peace...

Roma!

We made it to Rome. It seemed to take forever since we flew first from Orlando to London (Gatwick) and then spent six not so interesting hours waiting there for our flight to Rome. We finally arrived at our lovely little hotel yesterday evening (Thursday), almost 18 hours after leaving Orlando.

I think I managed about two hours of sleep during the two flights (poor Diane couldn't sleep at all), so after passing through Italian customs, we were extremely happy to see our driver waiting for us. Now, I have no idea how many airport transfer drivers there are in Rome, but it seems to be a thriving business so I would guess there are several thousand. And I would also assume most carry out their responsibilities at some reasonable level of competence. These responsibilities should include such basic things as NOT RUNNING OUT OF GAS on a major highway.

That's right. Our driver ran out of gas about five miles from the airport. After a few minutes of rapid fire Italian curses, he got on his cellphone and called for help. In the meantime we're parked on the shoulder (barely) in a construction zone of a major highway at rush hour. Before our help arrived a good Samaritan stopped and apparently offered to take our driver to a service station. It would seem this transaction demanded a certain amount of negotiation on the part of both men because it took another ten minutes for them to leave. And so Diane and I spent probably another 20 to 30 minutes sitting alone in this Mercedes minivan as cars and trucks roared by us at 7o+ mph. This was scarier than it sounds because our driver had rolled to a stop on the extreme left edge of the shoulder, and these speeding vehicles were mere inches from us as they passed.

Oh, yes, to make matters a wee bit worse, there was some sort of controlled fire in a nearby field and so smoke was blowing across the highway right in front of the cars who were bearing down on us at high speed.And to top it all off, it was getting dark.

Eventually Signore No-Benzina returned with an odd little plastic bag containing a few liters of gas and we were on our way. Of course we had to stop and fill up at the service area a mile or so down the road, but that didn't take too long. All in all we spent about two hours in that van.

I will say one positive thing about our driver. I had decided to pay him up front, when we first got in the car at the airport, and had included a substantial tip under the (now obviously mistaken) belief that this would encourage our driver to get us to our hotel quickly and safely. But after he filled the tank, he tried to return the tip I had given him. I refused to accept it because he had provided us with a wonderful story that I'll be able to tell and embellish for years to come. It was well worth all those extra Euros. Anyway, the poor man probably has a family to feed and if he does this very often they'll starve.

The hotel (the Vatican Garden Inn) is a lovely little place in the Prati district of Rome, just a few blocks northeast of the Vatican. Our room is a bit small for two, but the manager offered to move us to a larger room on Sunday. We accepted the offer, mainly because the bathroom is so tiny. Indeed, the shower is the only argument one needs for going on a diet. (A dropped bar of soap is gone forever because it's impossible to bend over to pick it up.)

This morning, after our nice continental breakfast in the hotel's garden, we walked over to St. Peter's Square, took a few photos, and then made our way to the Vatican Museum in time for our guided tour of the museum and Sistine Chapel. The tour was wonderful, two hours of interesting commentary by our tour guide, Gabriella.

The weather today was hot, humid and overcast, followed by a real boomer of a thunderstorm this evening. Oops! The power just went out. I'll finish this tomorrow morning.

Blessings from beautiful Roma. Ciao!

The Priesthood and Women: the Last Word?

This morning, while browsing an online news site from Massachusetts, I came across an article about a woman who claims to have been ordained a Catholic priest. She and her husband now preside at a small chapel located behind the Harwich Port B&B they operate. (Even though I moved to Florida after 25 years in Harwich Port, I do not know the woman personally.) The article dates from 2005, shortly before her invalid ordination by a woman "bishop" in Canada. Her words, as reported on Boston.com the news website of the Boston Globe):

[Marie] David, who opposes mandatory celibacy for priests and is married to a former priest, shrugs off the possibility of being excommunicated by the church, saying ''there would be a sadness, but I refuse to recognize their authority to tell me that."

Then, later in the same article, she's quoted as saying, ''It's not accepted by Rome today, but that doesn't mean it will not always be accepted. The only way Rome will allow women to be ordained is we do it. It has to start someplace."

It just doesn't go away, this idea that the Catholic Church will eventually permit the ordination of women to the priesthood. This idea persists despite the Church's constant reiteration of its unchanging teaching on the subject. I suppose this persistence stems from today's concept of "progress," the idea that society must move relentlessly toward enlightenment, part of which includes a sort of ambiguous, non-judgmental, universal acceptance. To this way of thinking, then, the Catholic Church is simply another element of society and is, therefore, not exempt from this movement.

That's the big picture view; but there's also a little picture involved: the belief on the part of some women that they have a God-sent vocation to the priesthood. For them it's personal and this desire colors and distorts virtually every aspect of their lives, even their Christian faith itself. Here's another example from a story in the secular press (Lexington Kentucky Herald Leader):

As a young girl growing up in Milwaukee, Janice Sevre-Duszynska often fantasized about becoming a priest while helping clean the sanctuary of the church her family attended.

“I’d sit in the priest’s chair, go to the pulpit, make believe I was preaching and giving communion,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why couldn't I be up here?’”

Now, 50 years later, she will get her wish, but it could come with a price — excommunication from the Roman Catholic church. On Aug. 9, in defiance of the church’s 2,000-year ban on women in the priesthood, she will be ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an activist group that has protested the ban since 2002.

And so, sadly, her attempt to realize a childhood fantasy will lead only to her excommunication. Was this self-proclaimed childhood fantasy one in which she sought to serve God's Church and His people, or was it one in which she hoped to satisfy her own personal wants, to serve herself? I'll let you re-read her words and decide.

Of course, the article, like most coverage of the Catholic Church in the secular press, is in error. It states that the realization of her wish "could" result in her excommunication. The fact is, as a result of her "ordination" she incurs automatic excommunication. Neither the pope nor her bishop need do anything. She, in effect, excommunicates herself.

Both the big and little picture motivations behind this call for the ordination of women ignore one important fact: the Catholic Church will never permit the ordination of women. This is not my personal opinion, but reflects the consistent teaching of the Church for 2,000 years. It is a teaching stated perhaps most clearly by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (May 22, 1994). In his letter the Pope, after outlining the Church's teaching on ordination, states unequivocally, "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." In other words, this teaching is not something the Church can ever change because it is based on God's law not man's law.

This certainly won't deter those who are uncomfortable with the very idea of absolute truth and divine law, particularly when the truth conflicts with either their ideology or their personal desires. I am reminded of Pontius Pilate's sneering question of Jesus: "What is truth?" And so, even though Pope John Paul II has, from the Church's perspective, put the matter to rest, I expect we will continue to hear these strident cries for a change the Church can never and will never make. Another, more detailed document on the subject is the Declaration on the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (Inter Insigniores), issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on October 15, 1976.

When I visited the websites of some of the organizations to which these women belong, I was struck by the gnostic, new-age themes that seem to run through most of them. It's also apparent that in rejecting the Church's teaching authority on ordination they also reject its authority on many moral issues, including abortion and homosexuality. This isn't surprising. Once a person rejects the authority of the Church on one issue, it's no great leap to reject its authority on any issue. This, of course, leads one to question why, if they reject the Church, are they so intent on calling themselves Catholic? Pray for them.

As Catholics we are bound to accept the definitive teachings of the Church; and so if you find yourself at odds with the Church on this subject, I suggest that you not only read the relevant documents, but also pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you to accept this teaching that comes to us from Jesus Himself.

Rome Update. Watching hurricane Ike move slowly toward Florida has not been particularly pleasant. Not only is it a major hurricane (now category 3) and likely to cause much damage as it makes its way to the Northwest, but the latest reports predict its arrival sometime next Wednesday. Unfortunately, we are scheduled to fly out of Orlando on our way to Rome Wednesday evening. Our prayer is that Ike veers out to sea, far away from Florida, and causes no damage or loss of life.

God's peace...

Persecution? Pauline Year

When I awoke early this morning and turned on the news to check the latest hurricane update, I caught the tail end of a news story about how the Catholic Church in Canada is under attack by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for its stance on moral issues, particularly homosexuality. This isn't anything new and has been going on in Canada for some time now. But it's still disturbing to learn that the Catholic Church, merely by stating its unchanging moral teachings, can be considered a criminal entity by the government of a Western "democracy."


After thinking about it, I suspect that we're really not all that far behind in the good ol' USA. Certainly the city leadership of San Francisco, if they could somehow circumvent that pesky old U.S. Constitution, would try to force the Church to follow their radically immoral agenda. Failing that, they would probably just try to evict the Catholic Church from the city. And while San Francisco is thankfully not typical, it is the home of the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a woman whose public remarks and voting record place her right there in the same hive along with the local S.F. pols. And if our bishops should ever develop some collective intestinal fortitude and actually take on the scandal of all those self-proclaimed Catholic politicians publicly supporting abortion and other anti-life abominations, I suspect things will get very hot indeed for us Catholics. In a world where quoting Scripture can be considered "hate speech," the excommunication of politicians might just be turned into a capital offence. But maybe a little persecution is just what the Church needs.


One of the things that's drawing us to Rome at this particular time is the special jubilee year of St. Paul declared by Pope Benedict to celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle. We look forward to spending some time at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls while we're in Rome. Diane and I have visited the basilica several times in the past, but only briefly. This time we hope to explore it more thoroughly. I realize that many people -- especially church architects -- don't particularly like the basilica's rather heavy, nineteenth century style, but for reasons that I cannot articulate, I'm always very comfortable there. Something about it just feels right and very Pauline. If you're interested, you might want to visit the basilica's nicely updated website. It's quite thorough and full of interesting information on St. Paul, the Basilica, and the Pauline Year. Click here to visit the English language version of the site. (I took the photo above on a chilly November day in 2005.)

Pray for our nation and those who would lead it...

God's peace.

Storms, Grandchildren, Politics

It's been over a week since I posted anything on the blog, and it will likely be another week before I do so again. With four little grandchildren in the house and large storms on either side of our "sunshine" state, I've been a wee bit preoccupied. Our daughter and the little ones fly back to New England on Wednesday which will give Diane and me a week to prepare for our trip to Rome.

Our hope is that neither Gustav nor Hannah will cause any more damage or loss of life. I've been through many hurricanes in my life (indeed, I was born in the middle of one), and I really don't want to go through another. Pray for those who are in the paths of these violent storms.

One political note (and politics is something I won't often address on this blog): I'm pleased to see that John McCain chose a strong pro-life woman as his running mate. I suspect that his choice of Governor Palin may well result in abortion becoming the major "issue" in the upcoming election. Although I've always believed that we will not eliminate the plague of abortion by political means, and that it will require a collective change of heart by the American people, politics can certainly be an effective way to ensure abortion isn't swept under the national rug.

Praise God, love God, and love His people...,

Rain & Rain, Children & Grandchildren

If Florida has learned one thing these past few days, it's that you can have too much rain, even after a draught. Maybe another lesson is: be careful what you pray for.

Tropical storm Fay apparently decided it liked our state so much that it intends to hang out here for an extended period of time. Here in The Villages it hasn't been too bad, but some communities over on the east coast have been inundated with over two feet of rainfall. As you might imagine, flooding has been a major problem and driven many from their homes. Pray for them.

Our household suffers from only a minor problem: the fact the our four grandchildren have been cooped up in the house for almost their entire visit. For little ones, seven and under, this isn't an easy thing (and, trust me, it's no picnic for the adults either). We've managed to get them to the neighborhood pool one day, and have made several excursions to the local Walmart, but that's been about it. And so we're hopeful that the remaining 11 days of their visit will include at least a few sunny days so we can venture out to see the alligators and manatees.

The Census Bureau recently released a not so sunny report claiming that an increasing number of women in their 40s are childless and that in general women are having fewer children. This, of course, should not be a surprise to anyone who has been following the demographic trends in Western Europe. It would seem that, as a people, we in the West, who once proudly called our civilization, "Christendom," are now committing a form of slow suicide.

The report, based on a 2006 American Community Survey, includes another interesting but depressing statistic. It seems that 28 percent of children born in 2005 were born to mothers who had never been married. And so not only are we gradually wiping out what's left of our civilization by not having a sufficient number of children to replace those who die, but a growing number of us apparently believe marriage and the traditional family are irrelevant. If you'd like to view the entire report (PDF file), click here. Like most statistical reports spewed out by government agencies, it's tedious and chock full of numbers that can lead to all sorts of erroneous conclusions...so have fun.

Today Pope Benedict did something particularly moving. He spoke publicly about his older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, during a ceremony at which he presented his brother with the honorary citizenship to Castel Gandolfo, the town of the Pope's summer residence. "He has always shown me the path to take, also in difficult situations," the Pope said. "My brother has mentioned the fact that we have arrived at the last stage of our life, old age. The days of life are reduced progressively...But also in this stage my brother helps me to accept with serenity, humility and courage the burden of each day. I thank him."

This brief address at this little ceremony, an event that will probably be ignored by the secular press, offers real insight into Pope Benedict's naturally humble nature. In Benedict we have a Pope with the courage to accept the awesome mantle of papal responsibility, but with the humility to know that no man is worthy of the honor of being Christ's Vicar in earth. And in his humility he credits his older brother as one who guided him throughout his life: "From the beginning of my life," the Pope said, "my brother has always been not only a companion to me but also a guide worthy of trust."

It was this humility that so impressed me when I had my brief encounter with the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger back in 2000. That he would stop and chat with me, a semi-crazed American deacon, for five minutes on a Roman street was remarkable. But that he actually seemed interested in what I had to say and even posed for a photograph with me is further evidence of the kindness of this man. Then, a month later, when I sent him a copy of the photograph which had appeared in an article in our diocesan newspaper, he responded with a lovely personal letter that I cherish to this day.

And so, Pope Benedict teaches us even through life's simple events. He teaches us that the family matters, that every man, no matter his position, owes much to others who have helped and guided him along the way. It has caused me to recall those who helped and guided me throughout my life. I think tomorrow I'll send those who are still alive notes of thanks.

Oh, yes, and like the Holy Father, I'll thank our loving and merciful God who has given us everything.

On Death Camps, Hope and Love

Last week, at his general audience at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict focused on two 20th Century martyrs, St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) and St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, who both suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis in Auschwitz, Poland. I was particularly struck by one the Holy Father's comments: "It would seem that their existence could be regarded as a defeat, but it is precisely in their martyrdom that the brilliance of Love shines which conquers the darkness of egoism and hatred. Attributed to St. Maximilian Kolbe are the following words which it is said he pronounced at the height of the Nazi persecution: 'Hatred is not a creative force: Love alone is.'"

His comments had special meaning to me because of an experience I had back in 1951, when I was just a lad of seven. My father, an Army Reserve officer, was recalled to active duty and sent to Germany. My mom, my older brother and I joined him soon afterwards in Heidelberg where we lived "on the economy" in a fourth-floor, walk-up, cold-water flat on a little street called Schlosserestrasse -- quite a change from our nice, suburban home in Larchmont, NY. It was an interesting experience. I attended school in a tiny one-room schoolhouse run by Frau Scharmer, a lovely young teacher. As I recall there were about a dozen students, and I was one of two Americans. The other was a girl of eight -- an older woman. I avoided her.

This was in 1951-52, so the war was by no means a distant memory. Germany, along with much of the rest of Europe, was still digging out from under the rubble and, with the help of the Marshall Plan, was rebuilding its devastated infrastructure and at the same time building a new nation.

My father, who believed that a person learned as well from experience as from formal education, took us on frequent short trips to help us experience the country and its people. On one trip to Munich, he decided we should visit Dachau, one of the notorious concentration camps where so many perished. Some might think it cruel and abusive to take young children to such a place with its crematoria and mass graves and bleak barracks, but believe me I have often thanked my dad for the experience. Although many of my childhood memories are vague and indistinct, I can recall those few hours at Dachau with remarkable clarity. And if I learned anything from that day in Dachau it was the same lesson stressed by Pope Benedict: that hatred only destroys, and that God's love is the only true creative force.

It seems odd to me that Auschwitz and Dachau and the Gulags and 911 and the myriad other examples of man's capacity for hatred and cruelty lead so many people to question the existence of a loving God. To me these are instead proofs of it. Left to our own devices we would have destroyed ourselves long ago. It is only through the love and mercy of God that we are able to survive and overcome the effects of original sin . And such martyrs as Teresa and Maximilian and the countless others who preceded and followed them are beacons of hope to the world, outward manifestations of God's love and its power to transform us all...if only we let it.

Storm update: It would seem that Fay has wimped out...thanks be to God. We will likely get lots of needed rainfall, accompanied perhaps by some moderate winds -- just enough bad weather to intensify the grandchildren's cabin fever, but mild enough to keep us all safe and sound. Life is good. Being is good.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever...