Papal Visittag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//412008-04-22T01:49:43ZMovable Type 3.331567882http://www.feedburner.comSt. Patrick's press conferencetag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.57282008-04-21T22:03:50Z2008-04-22T01:49:43ZJust after 8:30 this morning, I was shivering in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue while listening to Peter Isely, who serves on the national board of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. He (the bald-headed...
"The disciplinary measures against those who covered up those crimes have not been put in place," he told me. "We would like to see a national registry naming all the sexually offending priests and what we're doing with them and what neighborhood we are settling them in." Some archdioceses (such as Baltimore) have published the names of such priests. Others, such as Washington, have not.
I told him of my interview with Archbishop Wuerl Sunday night (see previous blog entry) where he thought everything that needed to be done to contain priestly sex abuse had basically been done.
"That is the worst thing he could have possibly said," Isely replied. "He should have said, 'We will hold ourselves as bishops accountable to correct the failures the pope talked about.' ''
Plus, he added, what about abusive priests around the world, Sure, some 5,180 U.S. clergy - about 4% of all American clergy - have been found guilty. If you extrapolate that percentage to include all the world's priests, that would be about 21,000 clergy, he said. I have not done the math, so am taking his word on this. But are their 21,000 clergy worldwide identified as predators? Nope.
SNAP also wants the pope to sanction, publicly reprimand and discipline bishops who have transferred known sex offenders.
There's a lot more. For those of you local readers interested in this topic, there will be a movie, "Vows of Silence," about the Marciel Maciel sex abuse case involving the founder of the Legionnaires of Christ at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Georgetown University, 111 St. Mary's Hall on Reservoir Road near the GU hospital. See www.vowsofsilencefilm.com for more info.
You'll be hearing a lot more on this topic, believe me.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
Wuerl's thoughts on papal visittag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.57082008-04-21T01:54:16Z2008-04-21T04:55:24ZOne man who got to be with the pope almost continuously during Benedict's visit was Washington's Archbishop Donald Wuerl, who had the amazing experience of riding in the popemobile not once but several times. What was all that close contact...
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times
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Kelly Clarkson sings Ave Mariatag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56962008-04-20T02:06:29Z2008-04-20T02:44:26ZI have rarely heard a voice much like that one; soaring into the early evening air; full-throated, beautiful as stars at midnight. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson's warm-up act before Pope Benedict arrived at today's (Saturday) youth rally in Yonkers...
Benedict was already running a half hour late, due to his speech continually being interrupted with cheers and shouts of "Benedetto!" The crowd filling what looked like a football field adjacent to St. Joseph's Seminary had sat in the sun all afternoon, so they wanted the pope to stick around as long as possible to make up for it. Black-clad seminarians were packed up against the stage, mosh-pit style while those of us in the press pen were reduced to sitting in the dirt on a hill overlooking the main stage, trying to keep dust off our computer screens.
I think John Paul II was used to rock-star receptions but this was all new to Benedict. But he was really warming up to the crowd and twice walked out on walkways extending into the crowd to shake hands. His speech was solid and interesting. Then a parade of outstanding local Catholic youth were marched past him for a personal greeting.
By 7 p.m., it was almost over. Then Kelly Clarkson, 25, who had changed out of a black dress from her previous act into a demure blue frock, began to belt out the well-known words of "Ave Maria." She was so magnificent, that afterwards the crowd roared and even Benedict stood to greet here. Miss Clarkson, by the way, attends a Baptist church.
Then Benedict climbed into his popemobile and disappeared behind the stage. I then noticed tons of police lining up on a small road right in front of the press pen. Right behind us stood a group of nuns from the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia in Nashville. Then, the popemobile hove into view, barely 15 feet from me and maybe 25 feet from the nuns. It was so dear to watch their amazed faces.
"I can't believe it. He was right there," Sister Mary Angela, the novice mistress, told me afterwards.
"You know," I overheard a broadcaster saying nearby, "his reception has gotten warmer as people have gotten to know him better."
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
About Sen. Kennedytag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56892008-04-19T14:51:12Z2008-04-19T16:23:31ZIn yesterday's post, I said Sen. Ted Kennedy did not receive Holy Communion at the Nationals Mass. However, my source at Christendom College got the following e-mail soon after I filed the post. It said: "Two of my sons and...
yesterday's post, I said Sen. Ted Kennedy did not receive Holy Communion at the Nationals Mass. However, my source at Christendom College got the following e-mail soon after I filed the post. It said:
"Two of my sons and I attended the Papal Mass yesterday. We were seated in section 216, directly above the section in which Ted Kennedy was seated. Several minutes prior to the general distribution of communion a priest walked down to Ted Kennedy and gave him communion. There was some discussion amongst we in our section about the inappropriateness of his reception of the Host. Be certain, he remained seated not out of some self-enforced respect for the sacrament, but rather out of respect for his girth and mobility."
Here's the question of the day: Who was the priest? If you know, let us know!
As I write, a gorgeous Mass is going on now at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Folks were camped out for hours on the Manhattan sidewalks to get a glimpse of the pontiff as he was driven to its Gothic precincts at 9:15 a.m. I've never seen so many religious habits in my life - except around St. Peter's Square. Mayor Michael Bloomberg put in a brief appearance to call it a "historic day for New York."
After this, the pope rides his popemobile up Fifth Avenue - without ticker tape, I am guessing - then heads off to Yonkers where he will first speak to about 50 disabled children, then about 20,000 young people.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
Wafer watch: Kerry and Kennedytag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56772008-04-18T21:35:37Z2008-04-18T22:13:44ZI'm in the freezing press room at the Sheraton New York, waiting for Benedict to appear at Park East Synagogue. I thought I'd run a photo from yesterday's Nationals Stadium Mass furnished by Tom McFadden, director of admissions at Christendom...
Well, there was no enforcing yesterday. You can see Kerry taking Communion in the photo. So did Dodd. But Kennedy did not. Interesting, no?
After the service, the transportation company responsible for ferrying some 20,000-30,000 attendees back to their buses at JFK stadium kept people waiting at least 2 1/2 hours, I was told by Jim Allison, a parishioner at St. Clare's in Gainesville. Finally, he said, a DC police officer took pity on the waiting multitudes and requisitioned some Metro buses to take them back. There were only 160 shuttle buses, he said, although at least 250 were needed to help the folks who lived too far out to take advantage of Metro.
The public aren't the only folks being kept waiting during the B-16 Tour. Those of us reporting on this adventure have to report to duty six hours or more before the event. For instance, for a 4:30 p.m. Saturday event at St. Joseph's seminary in Yonkers, I have to present myself at the media center at 10 a.m. Once we are put in place — often in a media bubble with no access to either the pope or the people he has come to see, we just sit there. Being that all the media are thoroughly vetted by the Secret Service beforehand, we wonder why we have to 1. show up so early at the venues and 2. be x-rayed at all, especially the reporters who, unlike the photographers, don't get withing 50 feet of the pope. Back in the good old days of John Paul's 1987 tour, we sat within 20 feet of the stage and had no grinding security sweeps to endure.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
More on the victims who met with Benedicttag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56562008-04-18T03:26:04Z2008-04-18T12:00:52Z I got the call at 3 p.m. as I was returning home from the Mass. I had been up since 5 a.m. covering that and was beat. On the phone was someone from SNAP, the ad hoc group representing...
Press release of the Holy See Press Office on the meeting of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, with a group of sexually abused victims by members of the Clergy
Today at 4:15 p.m. the Holy Father met in the chapel at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington D.C. with a small group of persons who were sexually abused by members of the clergy.
The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, accompanied the group. They prayed with the Holy Father, who afterwards listened to their personal accounts and offered them words of encouragement and hope.
His Holiness assured them of his prayers for their intentions, for their families and for all victims of sexual abuse.
By the time I got wind of this, it was well past 5. Apparently word was whipping through the media center downtown; problem is, I was no longer there. Two other reporters from my paper were in the area, but they were in media lock-downs waiting to report on various events the pope was attending in the evening. Word was the group members had talked with NPR. Later I found out they were on CNN.
Rocco Palmo, the meister-writer of the whispers-in-the-loggia blog, said the meeting *had* to occur in Washington, as the nunciature is literally the pope's house in a way that his lodgings in New York will not be. So, if he was going to host a meeting, it needed to be while he was still in DC. And today was his last day here.
I called around some Boston contacts and got enough details to update Friday's front-page story. Apparently one member of the group, Bernie McDaid, is an activist on behalf of folks who have been abused by priests. He had gone to Rome in 2003 to seek a meeting with the pope and ended up instead with a high church official who remembered his name. So when it came to selecting who should meet with the pontiff, his name came up. It's a bit muddy right now figuring out if the Vatican chose all these guys or if Cardinal O'Malley had some sort of input. One thing some of the group members had in common was they had been abused by the same priest: one Joe Birmingham.
I talked with Father Bob Hoatson, a priest who was himself abused in the 1970s, who will be demonstrating in New York during the papal visit on behalf of sex abuse victims.
"The meeting should have been part of the pope's public itinerary," he said, "but instead it was done in secrecy. SNAP had already sent him a letter asking for a meeting but they were denied."
Robert Costello, a Boston activist, felt the same way.
"He met with five people for a half hour; that is 6 1/2 minutes per person," he said. "It is more of the same: secret meetings in secret rooms planned by the church. The abuse happened behind closed doors too."
Joe Cultrera, a Boston filmmaker whose film, "The Hand of God," is about the abuse suffered by his brother, Paul, at the hands of Fr. Birmingham, said there was no way the pope could visit America and not deal with the issue.
"For him to make a big point now on meeting victims; that should have been done 10 years ago," he said. "If he wants to do something now, he should fire Cardinal Law," the retired Boston prelate forced out of his job because of the high amount of abuse cases in his archdiocese. The cardinal now lives in relative comfort in Rome.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
Wow - what a Masstag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56462008-04-17T16:58:01Z2008-04-17T17:51:44ZBenedict XVI just left the field — what a splendid event this was — great music, faultless presentation. Fabulous, cool weather and sunny skies didn't hurt, either. And in the midst of a baseball field at that. The pitcher's mound...
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times
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Pope calls for 'reconciliation' around sexual abuse scandaltag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56402008-04-17T15:42:16Z2008-04-17T16:29:53ZDuring his homily, the pope asked his flock to "love your priests," and create an environment of forgiveness and vigilance to ensure Catholic children are raised in a safe setting. Yesterday he discussed the sexual abuse scandal that has plagued...
sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church in America. The pope earlier apologized for the scandal.
"These efforts to protect children must continue," Pope Benedict said. "Today I encourage each of you to foster healing and reconciliation."
The pope also discussed what he called "a disturbing breakdown in the foundations of society" while also praising globalization and the increasing interdependence of humanity.
"Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the Church in America, but also for society as a whole?" Pope Benedict asked. "It is a time of great progress."
The pope decried a "weakening of the moral sense," and a "forgetfulness of Christ and God."
— Carrie Sheffield, Web editor, The Washington Times]]>
Mass features women, minoritiestag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56382008-04-17T15:15:57Z2008-04-17T16:26:34ZToday's Mass is featuring women and racial minorities, highlighting the Catholic Church's broad appeal. The pope just presided over the responsorial psalm, Psalm 104, which calls on God to "renew the face of the earth." It was read by a...
Psalm 104, which calls on God to "renew the face of the earth." It was read by a black woman.
A black woman also just read from Romans 8:22-27, which discusses the "groanings" of humanity.
A Hispanic priest from Maryland just read about the resurrection in a passage from John 20:19-23 and brought the Bible to the pope to kiss.
Mezzo soprano Denyce Graves sang the initial call to worship.
— Carrie Sheffield, Web editor, The Washington Times]]>
Pope hopes to 'renew the hope and love' of Jesus Christtag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56362008-04-17T15:08:22Z2008-04-17T15:19:58ZPope Benedict XVI just began celebrating Mass at Nationals Park. His assistant removed his golden mitre, and the pope put on his spectacles and began his introduction. "I'm happy to be with you all in Washington, the District of Columbia,"...
Acts: 2:1-11.
— Carrie Sheffield, Web editor, The Washington Times]]>
The bishops and their professortag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.56062008-04-16T16:41:46Z2008-04-17T05:52:31Z My goodness - what a reception the pope had here at the Shrine. The crowds started assembling hours earlier at Catholic University; sitting in gorgeous sunshine, banners ablaze. And then - and then - there he was, surrounded by...
here. It is so multi-faceted, a different theme comes up each time you scan it. He stuck to the general text of the first part of the speech but the question portion deviated a bit from the text as he threw in some extra words and phrases. But nothing startlingly different.
I would have liked him to have been more specific on the sex abuse angle in that if bishops had been doing a decent job at reaching out to victims, why six dioceses now in bankruptcy? I also don't think the problem of priestly sexual abuse lies in the sexual mores of the larger American society. Methinks the problem lies in a specific kind of priestly abuser, 81 percent of whom went after boys or young men. That says something about homosexuality in the priesthood, which the pope was not about to mention in his talk.
The point is he brought it up and stayed on topic for several paragraphs, which is more than most of his bishops do.
He also had a dig at pro-choice Catholics in one of the answers in the Q&A portion of his talk. Now that was really the most interesting part. Questioners were either the most recently consecrated bishop or the oldest serving one or one from an Eastern rite diocese; men who were a bit different. With Benedict sitting there in his white mozzetta (shoulder cape) trimmed with ermine fur and wire-rimmed glasses, he looked all the part of the kindly old professor listening to questions from deferential students.
But did he answer their questions? On #1 (creeping secularism), no. On #2 (about the attrition of Catholics from church), he broadly hinted that church is so dull these days ("Has our preaching lost its salt?" he asked) that it is no wonder people leave. As for #3 (on vocations), he gave a very profound reply that if young people were taught to pray and hear God, then there'd be no problem attracting people to religious orders and the priesthood because God is very willing to speak on this issue.
I predict this speech out of the bishops' session will end up being the most interesting of all of Benedict's presentations during this trip.
One other note: the choir that sang vespers for the bishops was truly exquisite. I managed to corner Newt Gingrich, the husband of one of the sopranos, for a quote for my daily story. Only the bishops got to really spend time with the pope in the crypt chapel but Benedict did make a swing through the main floor of the Shrine itself, to a tumultuous reception by some 600 church employees.
He then went and prayed in a chapel that was consecrated on April 16, 2005, the date of his 78th birthday which was 3 days before he was elected pope. The chapel has a statue of Our Lady of Altotting, a part of Bavaria near the pope's home town of Marktl am Inn. The statue in the Shrine is a copy of the Gothic original that stands inside the Bavarian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Altotting. The town in which it is located is known as the "Lourdes of Germany" and the present pope spent lots of time there as a child.
And..we have this from our U.N. reporter Betsy Pisik:
While in New York, his Holiness will be staying at the townhouse residence of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the papal nuncio to the United Nations. The well-monied and normally quiet block, just east of Fifth Avenue, will be sealed off by police from Thursday forward, with traffic diverted and even pedestrians denied. Migliore's neighbors will have to show identification and their keys to get home.
So ... what kind of a houseguest is the pope?
"He is very easy to content," Migliore told the Washington Times.
When asked if his house guest had requested a favorite flavor of ice cream or other snacks, the archbishop chuckled and said "of course we'll take all the steps." He said the kitchen staff is preparing "meals that are nutritious, quick and short" because Benedict XVI's schedule does not leave him much time for seated dining.
Migliore did not sound terribly put out by the security protocols, rigid schedules and other elements that make Benedict XVI seem like rather troublesome weekend guest.
"It is kind of exciting," he said happily.
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
But will he talk to the victims?tag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.55812008-04-15T20:01:45Z2008-04-16T22:29:13ZThere's lots of mixed signals going on in view of Benedict's remarks this morning on the papal plane that he was "deeply ashamed" of what's gone on during the American priestly sex abuse crisis. Even the folks at SNAP —...
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
Papal press messtag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.55542008-04-14T21:55:06Z2008-04-14T22:14:12ZShowed up this morning at the media center for the papal visit, ensconced at the Westin Hotel on 14th and M streets NW, to find much anguished tearing of hair. The biggest mess was caused by the Secret Service, which...
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
Blockade on Massachusetts Avenuetag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.55382008-04-14T02:13:34Z2008-04-14T02:18:47ZThe latest from the archdiocese: The northbound lanes of Massachusetts Avenue between Whitehaven and 34th Place — which go nearest to the papal nunciature — will be shut down either by the Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department or a...
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>
New York takes huge security precautionstag:video1.washingtontimes.com,2008:/papalvisit//41.55342008-04-13T21:36:48Z2008-04-13T21:41:40ZThe following is what our United Nations reporter, Betsy Pisik, wrote Friday after a security briefing by U.N. officials about Benedict's visit there: After Shepherd One lands at JFK Airport Friday morning, the pope will be whisked by helicopter to...
After Shepherd One lands at JFK Airport Friday morning, the pope will be whisked by helicopter to a midtown helipad and ferried up the shut-down First Avenue to the United Nations, where he will give an address to ambassadors and visitors in the General Assembly chambers.
Traffic around the United Nations will be shut down from 8am to 3pm, including major arteries such as the East River Drive and portions of First Avenue and 42nd Street. Boat traffic -- which has been pretty light since September 11 -- will likely be restricted.
"Whether you have one head of state or 192, the preparations are significant," said Gary Fowlie, the UN Media liaison.
For this reason the regularly scheduled U.N. tours will be suspended on Friday, 18 April, and the staff has been encouraged not to schedule meetings inside the U.N. compound.
Of course, it doesn't sound like much ordinary work will get done on Friday morning as the pope has requested opportunities to meet with the U.N. staff and they are eager to receive him. His movements have been carefully choreographed. When he arrives, his path will take him down a long hallway and through wide lobby where officials are preparing for 1,000 U.N. staff and others with grounds passes to line his route.
In an odd bit of scheduling, Benedict will give his 25-minute speech, then leave the General Assembly chambers, greet VIPs in a separate lounge, and then return to the hall where the dignitaries are to have been replaced by U.N. staff. The pope is to have a few words with them, presumably about the importance of their work, especially in developing countries.
On his way out, Benedict is to stop by the framed tatters of the U.N. flag that flew atop the organization's Baghdad office and was destroyed in the 2003 bombing.
The speech and much of the papal entourage will be webcast on http://www.un.org/webcast/index.asp, as well as the official Papal website.
In a press conference last Thursday, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's representative at the United Nations, said that Pope Benedict XVI will not have time enough to address any specific world crises because "unfortunately, there are too many of them."
Instead, he said, Pope Benedict will highlight essential values and universal human rights and dignity.
"Society is essentially composed of two key figures, kings and prophets," said the archbishop, addressing a gathering of religious groups and reporters inside the United Nations.
"The kings are those who have to make decisions however complex and inconvenient they may be be at times, while the prophets keep alive in the consciences of kings and people those values without which society will crumble," he added.
Friday's visit is the fourth by a Catholic pope to the United Nations: Pope John Paul II visited in 1979 and 1995, and Pope Paul VI in 1967.
Benedict was invited to the United Nations early last year by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during a courtesy call at the Vatican. The secretary general is frequently referred to as a "secular pope," for his moral authority and presumed allegiance to no nation.
While at the United Nations, the Pope is also likely to express his support for the broad range of peacekeeping efforts, which include fighting extreme poverty and ignorance, Archbishop Migliore said.
He said that war used to be fought between nations, but today "working for peace has more fluid outlines."
— Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times]]>