I, for one, welcome Pope Benedict XVI.
When I first heard he was planning a trip to the United States, I very much hoped he would come to Chicago. I wanted to see him. I wanted him to see me. I wanted to be more connected to him.
That’s why I was looking forward to reading the essay by Dan Barry this weekend in the NYT called “The View From My Pew“. I respect Dan Barry a lot, starting with his coverage of post-Katrina New Orleans, and I got that odd sense of kinship that Vonnegut called granfalloon when I saw that he was Irish Catholic, and writing about it.
I enjoyed his essay. I wanted to feel the same way he does, because I like him. But Barry lays out a Catholicism that includes practice, and church-going, and community, but leaves the Pope out for the most part. He doesn’t feel connected to him. I think Benedict is actually fine with that.
Here’s some disconnected bullets on my Catholicism:
- I teach 7th grade CCD, mainly because they needed someone to do it and I could. For years I was the substitute, the person they could call at any time to fill in when needed. This is the way Catholics work– if you show up, they put you to use
- When the kids ask tough questions, like where the priest is who baptized them and gave them their First Communion, I tell them the truth. He was removed from ministry by the Cardinal when a man accused him of a sexual abuse incident from more than 25 years ago. I tell them that this priest is my friend, and he either did it or he didn’t, but for sure there are at least two Catholics in much pain, the accuser and the accused, and we have to help them both
- When they ask about the Immaculate Conception, I tell them that I believe it, 100%, it was a Virgin Birth, of that there is no doubt, and that no one will ever come to them with proof to the contrary. That they can believe, it’s OK to believe
- I also tell them that I believe that Michael Jackson’s Thriller was divinely inspired– it had to have been. I’m not kidding or being flip. I believe that God has a hand in works of art that I like
- The Church has been key for me all my life. I did my first poetry reading at my First Communion. The Church helped me get married, get sober, get divorced. It makes me feel connected to Deirdre and all of us
- There’s lots of baloney in Parishes. I recently left a position on my
own Parish Council because I felt they weren’t getting enough done - When I arrive in Church, I get on my knees and I say this prayer, over and over: “Help me. Thank you. Help me. Thank you.” &etc. It works for me
I remember the day that the Pope– my Pope– was elected. And there was a palpable disappointment in the American flock– that he was conservative. And he entered the balcony and his words really got to me, choke-up style, and have stuck with me as an unexpected guiding light in my daily religion. Here’s the entire text of his speech:
Dear brothers and sisters: After the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.
I am comforted by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and act even with insufficient instruments. And above all, I entrust myself to your prayers.
With the joy of the risen Lord and confidence in his constant help, we will go forward. The Lord will help us, and Mary, his most holy mother, will be alongside us. Thank you.
The Pope was dead, long live the Pope.
I disagree with all of the Church teachings you’d think I disagree with– abortion, birth control, blah blah blah. No effect on my daily life. In my experience, American Catholics work, not complain. If someone says, for instance, “you know, we oughtta have a group that serves the older people of the Parish”, someone will say, “Sounds great. You’re in charge. When’s the first meeting?”
We are but workers in the vineyard of the Lord, and what the boss man in the mansion has to say just doesn’t really matter. I think, in his own German way, that’s what my Pope said on that balcony.
We will go forward. God bless us all.