American Catholics Welcome Their Spiritual Leader, NECN, April 15, 2008

American Catholics Welcome Their Spiritual Leader

NECN
April 15, 2008

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/American-Catholics-welcome-their-spiritual-leader/1208226779.html

(Greg Wayland, NECN) NECN's Greg Wayland takes a closer look at the Pope's visit to the United States and talks to some New England Catholics about what the trip means to them.

Script:

He is scholarly, shy and prayerful, and seldom given to grand gestures. But Pope Benedict the 16th, will face a grand audience during his six-day American visit. The country's 67 million Catholics, though divided on moral and political issues, seem united in welcoming their spiritual leader.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, "I think it has a big impact. And I'll look forward to hearing what his message is."

Benedict is said to view America as the Spiritual Promise Land at a time when Europe is being de-Christianized. But he is a stranger to many Americans. Even many Catholics .

Phil Lawler is Editor of the online Catholic World News.

Lawler: "By nature, he's a very gentle, unassuming, mild-mannered man, extremely polite."

Benedict is a former University Professor, known for never cutting off dialogue while never wavering from Catholic teaching. He'll be only the second Pontiff ever to visit the White House where he'll have a private meeting on Wednesday with President Bush.

C.J. Doyle is Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.

"The Holy See has made very clear it's serious reservations about the American adventure in Iraq. It has obviously a very, very different view of priorities

in the Middle East, particularly regarding the state of Lebanon."

He'll also be meeting with American leaders of many faiths and visiting a New York synagogue. Interfaith dialogue is a delicate matter. When his remarks in Regensburg, Germany linking faith and reason were taken out of context, violence erupted in the Islamic world.

Later, by way of reconciliation, he prayed with the Grand Mufti in Istanbul's Blue Mosque. But in America, look for him to continue to link faith and reason.

Lawler: "If we disagree about matters of faith as with Muslims, what can we say reason tells us about the need for instance to disassociate religion from violence."

The Pontiff, who will turn 81 on Wednesday, will visit only Washington and New York. Despite an invitation from Cardinal Sean O'Malley, he is bypassing the Boston Archdiocese, which along with Washington and New York is marking its 200th anniversary.

Phil Lawler, who's book, "The Faithful Departed," describes the church culture he believes gave rise to the sex abuse crisis, believes Boston is still unfriendly turf for the Catholic hierarchy.

Lawler: "His enemies would be very well prepared and his allies would not be prepared to welcome him."

The lay Catholic group "Voice of the Faithful" took out a one-day $51,000 dollar ad in the New York Times calling on the Pope to remove Bishops who knowingly re-assigned sex-abuser priests. The ad also calls on Benedict to transform the church through greater lay involvement in finances and other areas.

Benedict may or may not hear this appeal while offering Mass for thousands in two ballparks, praying at Ground Zero and delivering eleven public speeches in his soft German accent, including an address before the United Nations General Assembly.

Sister Olga of the Eucharist is a Carmelite nun, a Campus Minister at Boston University and a native of Iraq.

Olga: "Particularly as an Iraqi person, I feel he is a man of peace and of justice, he always made very clear statements where he stands as the head of the Catholic church about the issues of war and of violence."

On Saturday, Benedict will preside over a massive youth rally outside Manhattan in Yonkers. Many of those attending the Pope's youth rally will be coming from non-Catholic colleges, such as Boston University. In this case, there will be fifty students attending from B.U.'s Catholic Center.

John Gancarz and Sarah Doyle, both B.U. freshmen, plan to attend the youth rally.

John: "My birthday is actually the day before I'm going to see the Pope. And what a better birthday present than to see the Vicar of Christ in person".

Sarah: "It will be quite the experience to see so many younger people coming out and expressing their beliefs all together and hopefully that will send a message to the rest of America."