Catholics Rejoice As John Paul II Is Beatified, by Judy Rattner , Long Island Herald, May 10, 2011

Catholics Rejoice As John Paul II Is Beatified

By Judy Rattner
Long Island Herald
May 10, 2011

http://www.liherald.com/rockvillecentre/rockvillecentre/stories/Catholics-rejoice-as-John-Paul-II-is-beatified,32527?page=1&content_source=

The Late Pope John Paul II was beatified by the Vatican, the last step before becoming a saint.

Roman Catholics throughout the world, crowds of pilgrims in Rome and admirers of Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, rejoiced as Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Mass of Beatification for his popular predecessor last Sunday. The beatification means that John Paul is one step from being formally declared a saint. Already considered a saint by many, particularly in his native Poland, John Paul’s beatification also means that he can now be venerated as “blessed.”

Msgr. Andrzej Zglejszewski, director of the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s Office of Worship, considers himself to be “part of the John Paul generation,” and said he felt “fantastic” about the beatification. “I was a teenager in Poland when he was elected and the enthusiasm that he created in Poland was very influential in my selection of a vocation,” he said.

The priest, whose name is pronounced On-jay Sklay-shef-ski, added that he had the opportunity, while studying in Poland, to meet John Paul three times in private audiences during trips to Rome. He described those meetings as “an incredible experience.

“Many considered him a mystic, with a deep relationship with God which was visible in his daily living and relations to people,” said Zglejszewski of John Paul, adding that six million people gathered for his funeral. “That says everything about him,” said Zglejszewski.

Former Rockville Centre resident Gary Krupp, who met John Paul on six occasions and was knighted by him to the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 2000 — only the seventh Jewish man to receive that rank in the Catholic Church — said that although it would be inappropriate for a Jew to comment on the Catholic issue of beatification, it is a great honor for one of the greatest popes in history — an honor that he feels “excited” about.

“Certainly as a pope he broke an enormous amount of ground,” said Krupp, who is president of Pave the Way Foundation, an interfaith activist group that aims to remove “non-theological obstacles” among religions. “He made a profound statement at the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem and initiated international gestures denouncing anti-Semitism as a sin against God and humanity. He also referred to Jews as ‘our beloved elder brothers in faith,’” said Krupp, who added that he had organized the last and largest Jewish audience with the late pope on Jan. 18, 2005 — shortly before John Paul fell ill.

Born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, the charismatic pope shaped the modern Catholic Church during his 26-year tenure. Major themes in his papacy can be traced to defining events in his early life in Krakow, most importantly the experience of living under Nazis and Communists. An outspoken advocate for human rights, John Paul is known as the pope who brought down communism and worked toward Christian reconciliation with other religions. Proficient in many languages, he authored a number of best-selling books and in his worldwide travels, he made a point of reaching out to the young, drawing immense, enthusiastic crowds.

The process of sainthood for the late pope was fast-tracked by his successor, who started it just weeks after John Paul’s death, waiving the traditional five-year wait. The Vatican has confirmed that John Paul II performed at least one miracle and it will need to confirm that he performed another miracle before he can be declared a saint.

But the process is not without critics. Some within the church believe that it is being rushed and are critical of John Paul’s rapid rise to sainthood — a view that doesn’t make sense to Msgr. Zglejszewski. “When you talk about the timeless reality of being in heaven, a saint is a saint from the moment he dies,” said Zglejszewski. “The speedy process is proof, and complements people’s understanding of how important [John Paul] was to the human race. I don’t understand why there is concern about

The late pope’s stalwart teachings of conservative church doctrine also earned him opponents as well as supporters. Regarded as a social conservative who steadfastly condemned secularism, materialism and the evil in what he regarded as the contemporary Western “culture of death,” his traditional views on sexual mores, birth control, abortion, science and the role of women in the church alienated those with more liberal views.

Some advocates for church sexual abuse victims believe John Paul II did not do enough to address the crisis, and say that is grounds to deny his sainthood.

Bob Schwiderski is the director of the Minnesota chapter of the Survivor Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an organization that reaches out to survivors and family members of those abused by a cleric from any religion. “What our organization did over the weekend,” he said, “was to wage a campaign for public awareness. We felt it most important to address the one issue John Paul did not address during his papacy — and that was the recovery from and prevention of the sexual abuse of children. What we did not see when he was the pope was as he walked down that path, and there were scarred souls lying by the side of the road, he did not stop as a good Samaritan and help them. We didn’t see that from him, so we have taken issue with his beatification to point out that it is a miracle he did not perform.”

Mary Caplan, co-director of the N.Y. chapter of SNAP said, “We were at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as were people [all over the world], and we were there to petition people to focus on the continuing child abuse within religions, because John Paul did almost nothing to safeguard children across the world. Although the church says it wants victims of sexual abuse ‘to heal,’ it is paying tribute to a man who was pope for more than a quarter of a century who elevated those who kept secrets about child sex crimes to protect the institution of the church. It really was terribly hurtful to survivors of clergy abuse.”

Comments about this story? RVCeditor@liherald.com or ext. 208.