advertisement
... every little thing you do is headlined.
Pro: An attentive audience is, generally speaking, a
receptive audience. This even applies to the section reserved for the press. Maybe
they'll receive the Gospel while they're salivating for a scoop.
Con: Those who see you primarily as a celebrity — and their numbers are legion today — will see your very humanness as fair game for silly sport ... and report on you accordingly.
DP
Another topic that came up during last night's talk to the deacons was the mainstream media's coverage of the Pope's visit. They wanted to know what I thought of it, in general. That discussion bounced around pretty good. Then I shared the anecdote about the young reporter whose editor gave him the St. Patrick's Cathedral assignment even though he'd never seen a Catholic Mass before. Suggested this sort of halfhearted effort was emblematic of the superficial coverage we've come to expect from Big Media on all things Catholic.
Well and good, my point, but an elderly and wise deacon proposed another way to look at that episode.
"You can never tell what being exposed to the beauty of the Mass for the first time is going to do to someone," he gently pointed out before adding, in so many words, that beauty is truth. And truth attracts.
Touché, Deacon. The last word on the story is yours.
— DP
Two decades ago papal doings, even big ones, earned no
more than news-brief attention in evangelical-Protestant publications. After
all, Catholics were not saved. They hadn't been born again. They were non-Christians.
A fair number of subscribers to Christianity Today, Christian Herald and the
like would have cancelled their subscriptions, or done worse damage, over long
and complimentary features on a pope.
Times have changed. Here's World magazine, an influential evangelical publication:
More intriguing was his warning, at a session with non-Catholic Christians that included evangelicals, against relegating religion entirely to subjective personal experience, minimizing the faith's objective truth and doctrinal content.
Till now Benedict has been barely known to non-Catholic Americans, while Catholics have seen him as John Paul's doctrinal "Rottweiler" who disciplined Catholic liberals and denounced secularism.
The Benedict that Americans observed is no rock star in the mold of his predecessor. But this first modern pontiff to be fluent in English (albeit with a heavy German accent) has a theological mind for all Christians to reckon with.
I have a lot of respect for a lot of evangelical
Protestants. I have more in common with some of them, spiritually
speaking, than with some of the people in the pews of my own parish. (Remember
that Southern New England, where the Register is located, is one of the most
densely Catholic areas in the country -- and one of the least friendly to life,
marriage and the family.)
Altar Call: If you've got an evangelical friend who asked
anything at all about the Pope during the visit, invite him or her to Mass this
weekend. The Tiber is riper for the crossing than it's been since a Calvinist college student
asked Protestant Professor Scott Hahn, famously: "Where is Sola Scriptura in Scripture?"
-- David Pearson
Waiting for Pope Benedict to arrive inside St. Patrick's Cathedral last Saturday, I had a chance to make small talk with some other members of the press. The youngest one there, a guy I figured to be no more than half a decade out of college, told me he was with a daily serving one of the NYC boroughs. Then he said something that almost caused me to drop my pen and pad. "This," he said without trepidation or irony, "is my first time seeing a Mass."
Hooboy.
I thought about running Scoop through a variation of Tom Hoopes's sports-coverage analogy. I mentally cued up something like And is your paper going to send someone who's never seen a football game to cover the next Super Bowl? Instead I bit my lip, wished the young man well and eased away. Said a little prayer for him. We were, after all, no more than a few feet from the reserved Blessed Sacrament. (Not that he knew anything about that.)
Today I'm happy to tell you that I've read his report and that, all things considered, it really isn't all that bad. He got the gist of things about right. The work would have been a lot worse, I'm sure, if he'd traded his inexperience and lack of subject knowledge for the kind of hubris and willful ignorance we've come to expect from many mainstream reporters twice his age. I think of the cable-network anchor who, during the Mass at Yankee Stadium, bizarrely suggested that priests look like one another and behave similarly, and that they do so because the Vatican keeps tabs on priests. When one of his co-commentators -- a priest -- assured him this was a silly notion, the anchor only insisted the more: "Oh, they're watching, all right. They're watching." I kid you not.
As for the cub reporter covering the Pope at St. Pat's: Either the Holy Spirit is up to his old writing-straight-with-crooked-lines ways or that reporter has a pretty good editor.
Or maybe it's a little bit of both. Isn't it pretty to think so? (If you're a Catholic editor, Yes it is. Irresistibly so.)
-- David Pearson
In which a non-Catholic deputy D.A. studies Pope Benedict XVI during his American visit and, with keen eye -- he displays powers of observation that could only belong to a legal-eagle law enforcer -- notes some moments that, he thinks, could easily be mimicked to power the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
Is this a great country or what?
-- David Pearson
I'm a little late blogging on the Mass at St. Patrick's earlier today. Better late than never? I hope so. Three quick observations.
1. One thing that struck me from the "press box" (okay, the folding chairs in front of a side altar with an obstructed view of the main altar) was the number of vociferous, almost rowdy, rounds of applause and cheers that went up for the Pope. After all, this was a cathedral full of priests and nuns. I didn't count, but the communicants must have communicated their love for the Holy Father at least a dozen times. One warm welcome for the entrance and another at the departure wouldn't have made me think twice. But the repetition of the roars did.
I wondered how Pope Benedict felt about the adulation. Not to mention the noise level. He's famously attentive to the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament wherever it's reserved, and famously insistent on reverence in (or just before, or just after) the liturgy. He's careful to make sure people understand that the celebrant isn't the star; Christ is. Even when the celebrant is Christ's vicar.
Well, guess what? He handled the development very deftly indeed. No, not deftly. Pastorally. At the close of Mass, in an apparently impromptu statement, he both warmly thanked his wowed and vowed "fans" -- and, with fatherly gentleness, reminded them whose shoes he wears.
In this moment I can only thank grace for your love of the Church, for the love of Our Lord and that you give your love also to the poor successor of St. Peter. I will do all that is possible to be a (worthy) successor of the great St. Peter, who also was a man with his faults and sins, but he remains finally the rock for the Church. And so also I, with all my poorness -- spiritual [poorness] -- can be, with the grace of the Lord in this time, the successor of Peter. And with your prayers, your love will give me the certainty that the Lord will help me in this, my ministry.
So I am so deeply thankful for your love, for your prayer, and my answer in this moment to all what you have given to me in this moment and this visit is my blessing at the end of the Holy Mass.
Amen, Holy Father. And Amen again.
Or, as the priests and nuns chanted while the Pope exited: BEN-E-DI-TO! BEN-E-DI-TO!
2. What a scene to step into after Mass, the hordes of humankind queued up behind police cordons for just a glimpse of this man of "spiritual poorness." It seemed the whole of Manhattan turned out to form one long, serpentine line. The view from inside the cordons = a sight I'll never forget. Anyway, I decided to get a few quick quotes from some young priests and religious walking along at about my pace. What, I wanted to know, did celebrating Mass with the Holy Father -- in English, in America -- mean to you?
"I've never been to Rome but he brought Rome to us a little bit here in the United States," a young member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in Mishawaka, Ind., told me. "This really, I'm sure, inspires a lot of people to follow the faith more closely and with greater fidelity. Seeing our Holy Father inspires us so much." Were the ovations a distraction from the sacrament at hand? "Well, having the whole Body of Christ here -- complete with our head, priests, religious, lay people -- everybody's here but we're all centered in Christ and in the Eucharist. I was thinking about that at Mass. Everyone was united spiritually in this spot right now but Christ is always here; we have him always. It's amazing, the fullness."
Father Sean Timmerman, ordained five years ago in the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., said the experience was "a tremendous opportunity, and just very special knowing that we could celebrate with the Holy Father. It's always nice to go to Rome but this was special, having him come to our home." (I got the sense Father Timmerman was a man of few words. His beaming comportment filled in the blanks.)
And a young priest from the Philippines who's in New York for studies put it like this: "When you are inside a church with the Pope, it's really an awesome experience. I cannot explain it. It's the mystery of God's presence in us. It's really wonderful to have this kind of experience in which each one of us is an instrument of God's love. Now we have to communicate that love to the world."
(BTW, the text of the Holy Father's memorable St. Pat's homily, from whose script he did not veer, is here.)
3. Remember the question I raised a few days ago about the "interior struggle" Catholic journalists sometimes experience when covering big Church events like papal Masses? The whole Am I here as a Catholic or as a journalist thing? Well, I now admit what a dumb question that was from the get-go. (Then, too, if you can't hash out a dumb question on a blog, where can you take it?) What settled the matter for me was recognizing, and introducing myself to, a writer I very much admire and respect, Peggy Noonan, before this Mass. I repeated the question and asked her -- klutzily, with an inappropriate specificity that probably alarmed the poor woman (D'oh! Guess I've gotten a little rusty on the ol' field-reporting skills) -- whether or not she would be receiving Communion. "Oh, absolutely," she said. "Absolutely."
Question closed. Promise.
-- David Pearson
Two days ago I blogged on the “identity crisis” of the Catholic journalist — the interior struggle that gets especially intense when you’re sent to cover a big Church event. Am I here as a Catholic or as a journalist?
Of course, you’re there both as a Catholic and as a journalist. You’re there as a Catholic journalist. You don’t just observe a papal Mass, for example; you also participate. You do like Tom Hoopes does in "I DO!" (Scroll down.)
In making this point I distinguished between the Hoopeses and Drakes of the world and “our brother and sister journalists on assignment with secular outlets.”
Afterthought: Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Get a clue, dude. Some of our colleagues who work for secular media companies are no less Catholic than the scribes and broadcasters sent by Church-affiliated journalism enterprises. They’re Catholic journalists too.
Is anyone in this latter category reading this? If so, I’d like to know your thinking on the identity-crisis question. Specifically: When you're reporting on a Mass, do you participate as well as cover? If so, do you experience any tension when it comes time to sing, pray and respond — or when you feel the need to jot down a note at an especially solemn moment (during, say, the consecration)? Do you feel called to witness your faith to your non-Catholic colleagues by living it out right there on assignment? (If so, is your employer okay with this?)
Secular Catholic journalists, or Catholic secular journalists, or co-workers for the truth: We’d love to hear from you on these questions. (Hint, hint. Our comboxes are open — and hungry.)
— David Pearson
Cell phones are ringing, radio broadcasters are broadcasting, video is being taken and several languages can be heard from the nearby reporters -- German, Italian, Spanish. As Pope Benedict began speaking there was a tangible feeling/energy in the air, even here apart from the stadium. Writing and blogging is reaching a fever pitch, as journalists who had in their hands the embargoed text of the Pope's homily sat with their fingers on the keyboard waiting for the moment when they could post the text online or file it with their editors.
When the Holy Father began speaking in Spanish, a loud cheer arose not only from the stadium, but also from Spanish-speaking media here in the media center.
Tom Hoopes here.
And Pope Benedict XVI, now, too.
His Popemobile is rounding the outfield. Waves of fluttering flags indicate his progress. The crowds are on their feet waving, cheering, and applauding.
Heck, the crowds of priests in white robes are applauding and cheering, also.
In the press box, the radio guys are revving up. Their deep resonant voices are talking about this "ballpark turned into an open-air cathedral on this beautiful sunny day."
Hey, wait! It's working! The papal media dynamic that always happens: The negativity followed by the surprised positive joy.
The radio guys are saying, "We don't see a crowd jaded or cyncical. We don't see a crowd turned off to the Pope's message. We see a crowd alive with excitement."
The Holy Father is back in the outfield, having made the full circle. Excuse me while I join the hymn.
"Holy God we praise thy name .."
Every publication seems to have their own blog about the Pope's visit, but few are receiving the level of media coverage that Pope2008.com has received. The site's visitors have grown six-fold over the past two days, and continues growing.
The Los Angeles Times, CNN, and New York Times have provided links to the site. We've appeared on Sirius' The Catholic Channel with Gus Lloyd and Dr. Pia de Solenni. Future segments are planned with Greg Popcak and Lino Rulli. USA Today mentioned us in an article on Catholic bloggers. Yesterday, I was interviewed by the fine folks at Salt + Light Television, our Catholic Television friends from the north. We're also in today's St. Cloud Times, and linked in this article from Our Sunday Visitor.
On Saturday morning, I'll be appearing on a segment on CNN between 11-12 a.m., most likely near the top of the hour. Be sure to check in and watch.
-- Tim Drake
Tom Hoopes here. Tim and I were chatting with some "mainstream media" journalists yesterday. I mentioned something the Register's publisher, Legionary Father Owen Kearns told the editorial board of a daily newspaper (I forget which).
Father Owen said that it's nice that newspapers are trying to cater more to religious audiences, but that good intentions aren't enough. "You would never assign someone who had little understanding of sports to the sports beat," he said. "So why do you assign people who know very little about religion to your religion beat?"
I remember that now because I am sitting in the media center listening to one side of an interview a "mainstream media" guy is doing. He just asked:
"Now, I'm just learning about all of this so bear with me. But tell me if this could work out. What I'm hearing is that there are some differences between, like, traditionalists and folks stateside about, like, what's allowable for homosexuals or abortion or whatever. Now, could this just be a restructuring issue? I mean, can't they just have kind of like a corporate policy out of Rome and, maybe, give some of the countries that have these different interests, give them some leeway to structure their own thing?"
And so he's kind of, like, suggesting a second Reformation or something, maybe.
Which makes me think of what I would be like as a sports reporter.
"So, I understand that there's a problem in that lots of guys try to tackle the one quarterback while he's, like, about to throw the ball. Could this just be a restructuring issue? I mean, what's to stop you from hiring, like, six quarterbacks and five running backs, and then have them all fan out so that, maybe, the other team wouldn't know who to go after, and they'd all go after different guys and then you'd have, maybe, a better chance to throw the ball?"
By the way, when I quoted that line of Father Owen's to our "mainstream media" friends, the one I was facing suddenly got kind of quiet and a little red, let an awkward silence build, and then began talking about how gusty the winds were on an otherwise sunny day.
We're in the middle of a political campaign right now, and have seen how candidates either create their own news, or react to news.
The candidates try very hard to frame the way they're covered. Thus, Barack Obama will give a speech to support his "Barack is our hope" message. But then a quote will be chopped up and re-presented, and he'll find himself having to explain why he's not the "out-of-touch bitterness" guy.
The pope is not a political figure. But the coverage of his visit will have the same characteristics. On the airplane, he said precisely what he wanted to do with his visit:
First, to celebrate the "great jubilee for the Church in the United States."
"200 years ago the Archdiocese of Baltimore was elevated as a metropolitan archdiocese, and at the same moment two or three other dioceses were created … Philadelphia, Boston, Louisville. It’s a great jubilee for the church in the United States. It’s a moment of reflection on the past, but also on the future, on how to respond to the great challenges of our time that will present themselves in the future."
Second, to address the United Nations on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Lest we forget, that's the matter-of-factly pro-life document that says:
"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. … Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."
But the Pope will also have to react to news. People will try to change his "Christ our Hope" message into a "out-of-touch bitterness guy" message.
Benedict answered a few questions on the plane, and so he's already in the thick of this. The media wants him to declare whether he's an antagonist or protagonist of the little guy in the various "policy" battles regarding: Sex abuse and the constituent parts of the WOCHA mantra.
Benedict has a way of getting the best of this game. But watch here to see how the different parts of the visit play out.
Every Catholic journalist covering a papal Mass will face a
little dilemma: Are you there as a Catholic or as a journalist?
— David Pearson
While we're delighted for the attention by today's USA Today, it makes you cringe when the big guys in the MSM (mainstream media) make errors as glaring as the one made in this story. You just know the error will be picked up and passed along.
Their excerpt about Pope2008.com reads: "In addition to nuts and bolts information on the visit such as links to streaming video coverage of the visit, Drake recently held an unofficial Papal Skateboard Contest and shows the top design, which sports Benedict's crest."
The reporter might want to check the facts. It wasn't I who "held" the Papal Skateboard Contest, but the Archdiocese of New York.
There are other errors in the story, but we'll leave it up to our astute readers to discover those.
As I've mentioned previously, there's quite a strenous screening process for those journalists desiring to be in the various media pools for all of the papal events. Each journalist, because of security, will only have access to one event per day. There are some who will have access to the public Masses in addition to another event on that day, because they obtained tickets to the Mass outside of the media pool. Competition was stiff. 5,300 media applied overall for only about 1,100 positions. At many of the events only 40-45 media will be allowed access to the media pool. You can figure the math.
Just to give you some idea how this all works, at left you'll see a photo of the media pool screening/holding area outside the hotel. Tomorrow, for example, those allowed into the media pool will have to go to the screening area beginning at 10:30 a.m. There, they'll be screened by security personnel before being placed on buses and moved on to the venue site for the day - Andrews Air Force Base. Where the journalists will be between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. when the Pope arrives is anyone's guess. Whether the reporters will have access to food/water/bathrooms or electrical power and wi-fi access is another unknown. Some of the hours are a bit inhumane. For example, on Thursday, they are asking media to begin screening and boarding buses at 2:30-3:00 a.m. to be brought to Nationals Park for the Mass, which begins at 10 a.m.
There are an abundance of options for folks wanting to catch part of the Pope's DC leg of his journey. Of course, streaming video is available right here at Pope2008.com and at EWTN.com.
In addition, all of the major Washington, DC stations - NBC 4, News Channel 8, Fox 5, and WUSA 9 plan to provide full coverage of the Pope's visit to DC, including the Papal Mass.
ABC 7, News Channel 8, Fox 5, and WUSA 9 will broadcast live from Nationals Park at 5:00 a.m. Live broadcast will continue through the morning, culminating with a live broadcast of the Mass from 10 a.m.-noon. NBC 4 will provide some coverage of the Mass during the morning newscast and continued live coverage of the Mass from 10 a.m.
According to the Archdiocese of Washington, the stations will stream some of their coverage on their web sites:
· ABC 7: http://www.wjla.com/news/papalvisit.html
· News Channel 8: http://www.news8.net/news/papalvisit.html
· WUSA 9: http://www.wusa9.com/news/faith/papalvisit.aspx
· Fox 5: http://media.myfoxdc.com/papalvisit/
· NBC 4: http://www.nbc4.com/pope/index.html
Some stations are planning online and TV Papal Visit special broadcasts:
· Fox 5 is broadcasting a Papal Visit special on Monday, April 14 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. it will continue until 8:00 p.m. on their Web site: www.myfoxdc.com.
· ABC 7 and News Channel 8 are simultaneously broadcasting a one-hour special on the pope’s visit on Thursday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m.
· NBC 4 is running a series of special reports leading up to the visit.
· WUSA 9 is streaming all the pope’s speeches and travels live via their web site.
I've arrived safe and sound in Washington, D.C., obtained my USCCB and Secret Service credentials and scoped out the Media Center. Although the media center isn't officially open, I got a sneak peak (photo at left). Already, worldwide media are congregating. I ran into EWTN's Raymond Arroyo (who said he's been reading us) in the hotel lobby and spoken with media from Italy and Germany who are here for the Pope's visit. The media center is where press conferences and updates will take place and where reporters will be working on their stories. The large screen you see in the photograph is where all of the papal events will be covered live for those who are not credentialed to actually be at the actual venue.
To give you some idea of the interest, our site visitors today are three times what they've been each day over the past week. We expect the numbers will rise even more dramatically tomorrow. The National Catholic Register will be on site for the Pope's arrival at Andrews Air Force Base tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned...
One day away and the volatile language has already started in anticipation of Pope Benedict XVI's arrival. Newsbusters has analysis of ABC's Dan Harris' description of the Pope as a "hard-liner" with a "tin ear." It, of course, attempts to show the disconnect between the Pope and a majority of American Catholics. It's a shame the mainstream networks can't seem to get beyond the cliched boilerplate description. After three years as Pope, it would be difficult for the vast majority of American Catholics to point to a consistent pattern of behavior, or speeches, or writings that could be described as "hard-liner." Most of us would describe his behavior, speeches, and writings as being...well, Catholic.
While Georgie Ann Geyer's article, which I linked to previously, is decent overall, she does use some harsh language, consistent with the tired cliche of seeing Benedict as some type of guard dog. She writes: "Next to his predecessor, the image of Benedict was often that of a snarling defender at the gate of Vatican ultraconservativism, standing side by side with the Swiss Guards, moral bayonets at the ready, defending the past. "
Hopefully, much of this language can be set aside once the Pope arrives. It should have been set aside three years ago.
As so many surveys have indicated, the Catholic Hispanic population in the U.S. is large and growing. Peter Micek has a round-up of some of the Hispanic media coverage of the Pope's visit at New American Media.
From the article:
Archbishop José Gómez of San Antonio tells Spanish-language Rumbo in Texas that he was delighted the Pope included a paragraph in Spanish in a message preceding the visit. "Recognizing that almost 40 percent of the Catholics in the United States are Hispanic is very important for the Church, as is realizing that the future of the Church in the United States is the Hispanic community," says Archbishop Gómez.
Gómez wants the Pope to mention the topic of immigration during his trip to Washington and New York. "I don't know what he is going to say, but I believe the Pope will give a call for hope," says the archbishop. The current atmosphere regarding immigration will pass, Gomez believes. "The United States is a country that respects human rights and is a country of immigrants that will logically find a solution that will serve as an example for countries worldwide."
Just two days to go from the Pope's arrival and expectations are high for Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit. The visit will give Americans their first up-close view of Pope Benedict. They are eager to see him and hear what he has to tell them. His visit is not merely to another head of state, or to the U.S. Bishops, or to the U.N. (even though that was his primary reason for visiting), but rather a visit for the universal Church on America's shore. It's easy to think, given the various audiences, that the Pope's visit is for particular groups within the Church. Yet, his message, whether it's to a group of Catholic university presidents, or ecumenical leaders, is intended for all of us. Will we listen?
The inevitable polls have started surfacing. The Associated Press reports this morning on the "Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S.
Catholics" survey conducted by the U.S. Bishops and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which has mixed news.
Among its findings:
- For Catholics who attend Mass at least once a month, an overwhelming majority of the young and older generation believe Christ is present in the Eucharist.
- Younger, regular Mass-goers surpass their elders in observing Lent, with nearly all saying they abstain from meat on Fridays and receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. The young people are also more likely to consider devotion to saints very important to their faith.
- Sixty-eight percent of all Catholics surveyed said they agreed that they believed they could be in good standing with the church without going to weekly Mass.
- Nearly one-third of the nation's 64 million Catholics attend Mass in any given week. That figure has remained the same in the last five years, according to the report.
- Thirty percent of the respondents said they go to confession less than once a year and 45 percent said they never go.
The Worcester Telegram and Gazette passes the "J.C. Survey" with flying colors by publishing a piece which focuses on the theme of the Pope's visit - "Christ our Hope."
Here's a key paragraph from the article.
“There’s a weariness and restlessness in our society. We’ve had five years of war and there’s terrible concern about the impact of the economy on families,” said the Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, bishop of Worcester. “Wherever he goes, the pope is going to remind us that Christ is our hope. That’s the theme of the trip. People will be asked to rediscover Jesus. The message couldn’t be timelier.”
Readers will recall yesterday's post about the loss of credentials for the Pope's meeting with the U.S. Bishops on April 16. Inquiries discovered that the National Catholic Register had originally received two credentials (one for our executive editor, Tom Hoopes, and one for myself) for that event, but because of limitations that was reduced to one.
According to Jackie Hayes, site coordinator for the meeting taking place at the Basilica, 3,000 media requested credentials for the event, for which there were only 45 slots. We can be thankful that the National Catholic Register received one. Our editor graciously gave his spot to me, meaning that I'm back on for covering the meeting. That's the best news I've had all week.
Time's Jeff Israely has a mostly helpful article about the man who will be seen at the Pope's side throughout his visit - his personal secretary Monsignor Georg Gaenswein.
Writes Israely, "Like the pontiff, Gänswein is Bavarian by birth and an academic by training, with a doctorate in canon law. His impressive intellectual credentials notwithstanding, Gänswein is devoted to the administrative and ceremonial requirements of his current job. Though he tends to keep a low profile, the 51-year-old prelate did tell one Catholic newspaper last year a bit about a typical day in the papal apartment: he and the Pope begin with breakfast, often with one or two other staffers, and Gänswein prepares documents for the papal signature and lays out the list of upcoming appointments. The pair typically take a daily stroll together after lunch in the Vatican gardens."
We've been linking to recent positive columns (here and here) about Pope Benedict. Yesterday there was another. This one by Georgie Anne Geyer describes the "valuable moral authority" that Pope Benedict brings with him.
In it she concludes, "But this pope is not without his international guile and talent, either. As John O'Sullivan, executive editor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty News, said at the conference: "This pope is only asking Islam to make the same changes that Christianity already made. To recognize that religion cannot be spread with force. This ... can only be done by a pope. He speaks with authority in combining faith with reason. He is ideally placed to do this."
Geyer's column itself is a valuable contribution to the pre-visit columns I've read so far.
Reading Peggy Noonan is about as close as it comes to perfection. At least that's my opinion. After I'm done reading her work, I find that I want to go back and read it again just for the sure pleasure of it.
If you haven't yet read her poignant column on Benedict, do so...right now.
She writes: "John Paul made you burst into tears. Benedict makes you think. It is more pleasurable to weep, but at the moment, perhaps it is more important to think.
Pope John Paul II was the perfect pope for the television age.... Benedict...is the perfect pope for the Internet age. He is a man of the word. You download the text of what he said, print it, ponder it."
Regarding the comment on Pope John Paul II, I once authored a column that made a similar point.
But, I'm not going to ruin Noonan's article for you. Just go read it, and enjoy!
The day before yesterday I was interviewed by Minneapolis Star Tribune
religion reporter Jeff Strickler. Yesterday, by Frank Lee of the Gannett-owned
St. Cloud Times. One of the questions I was asked was: "Many people who
have never before seen the Pope are traveling great distances to see him
personally when they could see him on television or the Internet. Why are they
going to see him?"
First, I asked whether the reporter had asked them that question. Then, I
fumbled out an answer about who the Pope represents...Christ. He's not simply a
head-of-state, or a great moral leader, or the head of a Church. No, in
addition to those things, he is the vicar of Christ.
Recall that during the time of Christ, many were asking, "Who is this
man? Is he not the carpenter's son?" Yes, he was, but he was also so much
more.
They sought to define him...largely unsuccessfully.
Still, it seems to me that the questions, particularly from the press, who
question what it is about this man (Pope Benedict XVI) that would attract so
many people to make so many sacrifices to go see him in person are very similar
to the questions asked by those in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
On the night before he died, and again by the seashore, Christ charged Peter
with leadership of the disciples - the Church - and since that time, the office
has never been vacated. When the Petrine office comes to the shores of America, it is Christ's
"Abba," translated, would be akin to the term "daddy."
Christ calls us to a radical, personal relationship with God the Father, our
"daddy." Is it any wonder that the term "Pope" comes from il
papa, or father?
It's important, however, to recognize that Pope Benedict does not come
alone. He gathers around him the community that is the worldwide Catholic
Church. Centered around Jesus Christ himself, is the Holy Father, the
cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, religious, and the laity - a family
of unfathomable size, fellow Catholics worldwide throughout time and space,
both living and deceased (the Communion of Saints).
Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin sheds some light on
this in a nice piece
in The Rhode Island Catholic, summarizing how the Pope comes to the U.S. as
pilgrim, prophet, pontifex, peacemaker, pastor, and il papa.
Asking why they come is like asking, "Who do you say that I am?"
Who do you say that the Pope is?
Update: The Houston Chronicle has this helpful article on the topic. Here's part of what it has to say:
Vicar of Christ
The pope is not just any religious leader. For 17 percent of the world's population, he is Christ's chosen representative on earth. As the sole successor of Peter, the apostle to whom Jesus entrusted the keys of his church and care of his flock, the pope has full power and primacy over the Catholic Church.
While each bishop oversees his particular diocese, only the pope, as supreme pontiff and bishop of Rome, exercises moral, doctrinal and jurisdictional authority over all the faithful.
Put another way, no other faith invests so much power in the hands of one man.
"He's in a position of being in the chair of Peter, which is a very privileged place. But it's also a place of a pastoral relationship. We are taught this is a place you look to for leadership," said Dawn Nothwehr, chair of historical and doctrinal studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
As visitors to the site will now plainly see, EWTN's live feed is now available at the top of the home page, compliments of EWTN. Enjoy the live video coverage while you enjoy the print and photo blog coverage.
Be sure to catch Raymond Arroyo's exclusive interview with President George Bush here at 8 p.m. tonight. Arroyo is interviewing President Bush from "The World Over's" new studio at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.
Speaking of motorcades, there's been a great deal of attention recently about security during the Pope's visit. You'll find basically the same security story here, here, here, and here.
All of them say that Osama bin Laden's video threat hasn't prompted changes to the security plan, and all of them say that in addition to uniformed officers, there will be undercover officers, bomb-sniffing dogs, mounted patrols, helicopters, boats, scuba divers, and radiation detectors on the scene.
Some other details, include the fact that most of the venues where the Pope will be speaking will have "frozen zones" around them, meaning that there will be no access within the immediate streets surrounding those venues.
To give you some idea of how this works, allow me to offer the anatomy of a media pool. For those who wonder what it's like to be a reporter covering these events, here are the details.
First, because of the number of media (over 5,000) who applied for media pool positions to cover the various venues, only a limited number were provided access, and that access was reduced to no more than one event per day for each reporter. After you read the details surrounding how the media pool works, you'll learn why it's no more than one per day.
For example, let's say that 50 media personnel (I don't know the actual number, that's simply being used for illustration) were allowed to attend the Evening Vespers and Address to the U.S. Bishops taking place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on April 16 at 5:30 p.m. If you were fortunate enough to obtain credentials for that event (and I was), this is what that means.
Set-up for the event needs to be completed by 9:30 that morning, after which there is no access to secured areas, including the Catholic University of America campus mall. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. security sweeps are conducted throughout the Basilica.
Those in the media pool must be at the media center/hotel to board buses at 12:00 noon, while a security sweep is done of the bus and media personnel. So, between 12 noon and 5:30 p.m. when the Pope arrives, that means that the reporter is sitting/standing either on the bus, at a stop-off point, or at the Basilica.
So, to cover one venue/speech, you sacrifice five hours of your day, making it impossible for you to attend more than one event during the day. Granted, if you have your laptop and an extra battery or access to power, and wi-fi access, you may be able to do some work/writing. Otherwise, you're reduced to having to hurry back to the media center after the speech to file your story. Interviews during the waiting period often become difficult, if impossible, because you aren't allowed access to or from a given area. You are treated as a group, and moved and often corralled as a group, sometimes in fenced-off holding areas (this happened at World Youth Day in Toronto). I've often seen media interviewing other media in these situations. So, if you're in the media pool you may have a lot of spare time on your hands. Reporters might want to bring along a copy of Pope Benedict's Spe Salvi, Deus Caritas Est, or Jesus of Nazareth to read while they wait, wait, and wait some more.
There's been some media attention focused on comparing Pope John Paul II to Pope Benedict XVI, a comparison that is natural but not really fair. Most of those reports suggest that Pope Benedict doesn't have the same "rock star" following that Pope John Paul II had.
Actually, though, as some have pointed out, Pope Benedict has been drawing greater numbers to Rome and at the Wednesday General Audiences. And, if ticket demand is any indication, both the Archdioceses of Washington and New York have indicated that they could have filled each stadium three times with the ticket requests they received. To further support the popularity of this Pope, consider this.
When 5,000 tickets became available two days ago for standing-room only positions outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Archdiocese of New York made them available online. The tickets were gone in four hours, according to this story from New York Daily News. For many of the faithful, that means contending with crowds to try to catch sight of the Pope during one of his few motorcades through each of the cities.
Suffice it to say, Pope Benedict doesn't seem to have an issue with popularity.
Saturno tip to Amy Welborn for the New York Times' papal blog site - A Papal Discussion, with its impressive list of contributors. Among the contributors are Laurie Goodstein, the Times' national religion correspondent, Alejandro Bermudez, director of Catholic News Agency and correspondent with the National Catholic Register, Amy Welborn herself, Rabbi James Rudin, and others.
They also have their blogrunner, which provides links to other stories and blog posts on the Pope's visit. Pope2008.com appears to be absent.
More interesting places to go for coverage of the Pope's trip to the U.S.
I can die in peace. I've been particularly harsh on some of the mainstream media stories, but want to give credit where credit is due. Reuters has posted an unbelievably accurate article by Michael Conlon depicting the move by many young Catholics towards a stronger religious identity. The article reaffirms much of my own research and work for Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow's Church.
From the article:
"In general, there is among young people -- 30 or younger -- a growing desire for a reassertion of Catholic distinctiveness," said Mathew Schmalz, associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
But they are not simply turning back the clock to the 1950s.
Columnist Kathleen Parker has written a stirring column that appears in the Chicago Tribune describing Pope Benedict as "brave." It's unlike so much of what I've seen in recent weeks.
Here's the heart of her piece:
A majority of Americans anticipating the pope's visit next week are favorably inclined toward Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church, according to a poll recently commissioned by the Knights of Columbus. But many say they don't feel they know him. One can know this much about Pope Benedict without further evidence: He is a brave man. And it seems that his messages against violence and in defense of human rights not only are being heard, but are being echoed in surprising places.
In the midst of Muslim protests over Allam's baptism, for instance, Saudi King Abdullah issued a call for Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders to begin a dialogue about the world's suffering.
In other headlines, the Riyadh government called for refresher courses for Saudi Arabia's 40,000 imams to encourage a more moderate interpretation of Islam and to discourage extremists.
And in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, Christian and Muslim leaders recently met, along with Hindu and Buddhist representatives, to discuss how the world's religions might work together. More than 30 Islamic educators meeting in Jakarta issued an appeal to begin educating young Muslim men in more accurate ways. That is, without justification for violence.
Tipping points and perfect storms have permanent parking spaces in the pantheon of American clichés—and heaven forbid we should be seduced by optimism—but the confluence of these comments seems to offer a glimmer of hope for a saner world.
Parker isn't the first to editorialize on the Pope's efforts with Muslims. Robert Fox writing for England's "The First Post," said this:
What on earth is he up to? It seems the Pope wants to cancel centuries of blood and argument by reaching out to people of faith and reason in an effort to undermine the fanatical extremist version of Islam which has led to the creation of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.
MSNBC is looking for first person accounts from those who are going to see the Pope and why. If you're traveling to see the Pope, think about submitting your story and a photo or video. I'm sure MSNBC won't be the only media outlet looking for this. They just happen to be the first to have a request online.
When Pope Benedict comes to the U.S. he'll find something quintessentially American - polls. Syracuse.com has a story on yet another poll (this one by Le Moyne/Zogby) conducted on the approval rating of the Pope. I believe this is the third such poll that we've seen.
While I'm happy to see that the Pope's approval rating is quite high - 70% among American Catholics, I seriously question the value of such polling. The Pope, after all, is not a politician whom we vote for, and it seems to me that the press likes to use polls to push a particular point.
This story, for example, uses the poll figure to show that Pope Benedict's approval rating isn't nearly as high as Pope John Paul II. Of course, the story doesn't place that into context, noting Pope John Paul II's approval rating after only three years as Pope, or noting the fact that Pope John Paul II was elected at a much younger age and that he had decades to build up such an approval rating. They're comparing Pope Benedict to Pope John Paul II's approval rating shortly after his death. Not quite an apples to apples comparison, I'd say.
The first real suggestion that the Pope might address the sexual abuse crisis was revealed in John Allen's interview with Papal Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi. That story has grown legs and appears to be walking.
The Times-Union has an AP interview with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone further suggesting that it is a topic that the Pope will address during his U.S. visit. In a less meaty story, the Boston Herald reports the same. Expect many more stories today focusing on this aspect of the Pope's visit.
Pope2008.com continues to receive attention. The North Haven Citizen has a story about the site from Saturday's edition.
Readers will be interested to know of at least three changes that will be taking place on the site as we approach the date of the Pope's arrival.
First, the site will transform from linking to existing stories to providing more original content, much of it live from the events and being written while the events are taking place. Readers who can't be in D.C. or New York will be transported to the events via live, in-person reporting as events happen.
Second, expect posts from other National Catholic Register writers who will be attending various events. Since reporters were limited to covering one event (in-person) per day, we have other writers who may blog from some of the other events.
Finally, remember that we'll be providing EWTN streaming coverage throughout the Pope's visit. That will enable you not only to read the original content that you won't find anywhere else, but it will also allow you to follow along as the events take place.
A series of recent articles and observations are examining the theme of young adults in the Church and their response to Benedict. This started with the story that's appeared at MSNBC and elsewhere that we linked to previously.
Father John Zuhlsdorf at What Does the Prayer Really Say offers his comments on the "generation gap," in this post.
Daniel Napolitano, a 20-something with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops offers an insightful look at the question here at the USCCB Papal Visit blog.
Writes Napolitano: "I cannot downplay the influence of his writings in my own theological study. As the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, his moral direction shaped John Paul II’s writings, which my classmates and I read with abandon. He also published several theological books on a variety of topics and meditations in his own right. Reading his book-length interview Salt of the Earth with German reporter Peter Seewald provided an expansive look at how Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man, the theologian, and the priest saw the state of the current Church. Few men who went on to become pope have left such an honest public record of how they perceive the Church. Such honesty led many to believe they knew what his papacy would hold. Almost three years later, it has been shown that no amount of research can show how exactly the Holy Spirit will guide the spiritual leader of almost a billion people. He has reached out to both the “left” and the “right,” greening the Vatican city-state and steadfastly opposing the situation in Iraq while granting wider use of the 1962 Roman Missal with his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum. His life has been one which emphasizes the universal nature of the Church’s mission."
Finally, Thomas Peters over at AmericanPapist offers his commentary on the subject, saying that the author's perspective doesn't match his own experience of young adults in the Church.
Writes Peters: The article t
