Part III: The Four Vote Conclave and Benedict XVI

I went into Conclave time anxious, but trying to trust the Holy Spirit. Providentially, my seminar reading the week before the Conclave started was a chapter on the Holy Spirit by Walter Cardinal Casper. He noted in it that the modern inability to trust institutions is a indication and result of our forgetfulness of the Holy Spirit, who even in evil situations wrought by evil men brings about good. My brother and his wife were visiting on the days leading up to the Conclave, and in my discussions with them I found it was this specifically that retarded their faith. I say this, remembering my own lack of trust in the spirit. They could not bring themselves to believe that the Church is guided by God, by God's spirit, and yet has evil men in it. This mystery of God's providence and its interplay of human freedom is of course a difficult question to answer. And those who raise this question always say—if the Church isn't perfect who are they to ask me to be perfect. This makes me think, if John Paul II had a church full of clones of himself, i.e. if every parish priest was as loving, compassionate, concerned for the truth, etc. Europe would be converted over night, with the US close to follow. Instead we have priest committing every nature of sin, publicly contradicting the Church, and being in general slothful about the salvation of souls.

In this context the conclave began with a beautiful Mass in St. Peter's at which Cardinal Ratzinger gave a wonderful homily in which he laid out all the main (mostly ideological) problems facing the Church clearly and succinctly, naming and challenging the dictatorship of relativism as our key adversary. As an aside: many people said before the conclave that it might be time to have a pope from Latin America or Africa who could refocus the Church on the main issues facing the vast majorities of Catholic living in these areas. What the media and others meant by this was, it might be time to have a pope who focuses on the material realities of Africa rife with AIDS and South America with Poverty, ignoring the wellbeing of souls and changing Vatican “policies” on birth control and abortion, which of course are the cause of these problems. Their attempt was to be divisive and to those who think of the Papacy as a office of power it very well might have been. I myself had both an African and South American in mind, but on my part I thought of these two Cardinals purely based on their merits as teachers of the faith, not because of some sort of “soft-racism” or desire to change the Church's mission from saving souls to saving bodies. As I was saying Ratzinger gave a number of great homilies the days before the conclave, and having gotten a feel for the man I was sure that his personalism and charm made him a real candidate. However, his age, health, and the possibility that he might be seen as divisive made this a cautious optimism. So on Tuesday when I went down to St. Peter's square, after having just given a presentation on an article by Cardinal Ratzinger, I didn't expect to see white smoke just one full day into the conclave.

In the piazza I prayed a rosary, asking Mary to intercede for us with her spouse the Holy Spirit and her Son Jesus, that a holy pope might be chosen. I will not say that I did not have a short list of names that I wanted to hear announced as pope, in fact I even narrowed down the assumed name of the new pope to Benedict or Innocent, but I can honestly say that I was trying hard to be open to the papacy of whomever was announced. After my rosary I walked around, there were many, many, people in the square already. In one place the community of the Lamb was sitting on the ground praying the rosary. In another a group of seminarians were singing praise and worship songs from the States. Flags from around the world were blowing in the wind and the rain was holding off for the most part. I eventually joined the group of seminarians singing. Anyone who knows me might find this a little odd since I scream and bemoan the use of this sort of music, regularly, at Mass. However, outside of the Divine Liturgy I am much more open to new things, and I have secretly liked this type of music since my days of involvement in youth ministry. Anyway, this group of men in black were providing a powerful witness of love for Christ and his Church and so I decided to join them. At one point we were singing a song to Christ the King and at that exact moment the sky opened up and a ray of light hit the statue of Christ the King atop St. Peter's Basilica. Later, when discussing the days events, someone theorized that it was likely that at that moment they were announcing the results of the fourth ballot to the conclave and offering Ratzinger the Chair of Peter. Soon thereafter, smoke started to spew forth from the small exhaust pipe of the Sistine Chapel, at first grey, the more one looked at it the more you'd think it was white, but the bells weren't ringing. Among choruses of “Alleluia” and cheers from the crowd that we had a pope, about ten minutes after the smoke went up, the 20,000 lbs bell of St. Peter's started to move as did the other bells in the Carillon. Of course by this point the roar of the crowd and of the thousands rushing into the square blocked out most of the noise from the bell.

What was next seemed like a blur, the Cardinal Proto-Deacon came out and said “dear brothers and sisters,” in six languages, “annuciamus maximum gaude habemus papem.” At this point I was almost afraid to believe it, but logically it seemed certain that only Josef Cardinal Raztinger could have obtained the two-thirds vote so quickly. The Proto-Deacon continued, “emenetia Cardinale Josphus Sanctum Romanum Eccleasium Ratzinger,” who has chosen the name, “Benedetto XVI.” I was overjoyed at the name and the choice. Our group quickly started the chants: “Viva il papa! Viva!” and “Ben e det to!,” as well as singing songs of thanksgiving to God and the Holy Spirit. Not too long after Pope Benedict XVI came to the Balcony above the main gate to St. Peter's Basilica. I was convinced from that moment on that although he would be no John Paul II, the man was a Saint in his own right. That evening, I may have been the last person to do a presentation on the works of Josef Raztinger and also to get the first blessing of Benedict XVI! At our house chants and cheers of praise and thanksgiving to God could be heard all over the house. We rang our bells, and toasted the new pope all night long.

In reflection the convergence that has happened in my life over the last month can only be called God's Providence, the work of the Creator Spirit. As I prepare myself for the coronation on Sunday, I look back thanking God for the good works he has done for me. An I ask him to use me, despite my failings to build on the momentum in the Church that have resulted from the life and death of John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict. I must say that if I ever questioned why I am a Catholic and why I am studying for the priesthood here in Rome, this would be my answer. Laudateur Iesu Chisto!

Part II: Divine Mercy and the Death of John Paul the Great

Throughout the week of our retreat we prayed for John Paul, and on Friday, after the retreat had ended, while we were celebrating the end of the retreat we heard that John Paul had died. (Of course as we now know he did not die Friday) Immediately we went to the Chapel and celebrated the Mass for the Decease Roman Pontiff, how embarrassing to anticipate the Mass for the Death of the Pope!! After Mass on the verge of emotional breakdown I left to go down to the Basilica to pray privately. I spent the night thinking the Pope dead, and I was shocked by how fearful I was for the Church (maybe in another blog I will speak of this). Anyway, I found out only the next morning that John Paul was still alive. Saturday we went to Paray-du-Mondale, where the Sacred Heart appeared to St. Margret Mary and where her body and her confessors bones were located. After our scare the night before I found myself profoundly moved at how appropriate it was for me to be at the site of the Sacred Heart apparition on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, as John Paul, my beloved spiritual father was dying. I was somewhat mad at myself for not being in Rome at the time but I think providentially being where I was united me to the Holy Spirit spiritually much more than I would have been in St. Peter's square. Of course that night, after night fall, liturgically on the morning of Divine Mercy Sunday, John Paul died.

Sanctae Johannes Paulus Magnus Pontifex Maximus
m. 2 IV 2005
Requiascat In Pace

It was appropriate for John Paul to die on the eve of the Second Sunday of Easter, rather than the day as some suggested he might, because he fell asleep in death in the darkness of Easter Morning only to be bathed in the Divine Light, the Divine Mercy, of the Rising Sun, of Easter Morning. This is also true for the Church, who in his death was cast into darkness, but was quickly reminded of the Light, of Christ Jesus' promise to Peter and the ten Apostles. The Sunday morning after he died I left Ars, with sadness lightly covering the joy that had been in my heart as a early spring snow fall occasionally lightly covers the budding spring flowers. As I heard more of the details of his death I was thankful that my prayers for him had been answered: from all accounts he died a saint's death. As the sun warmed by skin, the light snowfall of sadness gave way to some of the joy that was just beneath, however the day was on the whole quite somber. Retracing our steeps, our group, now much larger, returned through the mountains to Geneva. In Geneva, we took advantage of a brief layover to visit the Cathedral St. Francis de Sales had never been allowed to publicly entered—which had been renamed the Cathedral of the Swiss Reformation, or some nonsense of that nature, after it was stolen from the Church. Entering the ancient obviously Catholic Church, the emptiness inside was immense. In many of my blogs I often bemoan the fact that modern church architecture lacks a soul, but this beautiful Church was like a soul that lacked life. No altar, no blessed sacrament, very dead, very depressing, an example of the results of one of Satan's great victories against the Church.
(briefly) During the retreat the retreat master made reference to the great spiritual battle that we as priests, and those preparing for priesthood, are involved in. He pointed out that like those who haven't heard that the war has been lost, the Devil and his legions fight on, battling the Church, and occasionally winning battles despite the fact that the war is over and won by the Lamb. He noted the uncanny coincidence that in 1517 the protestants attack the Church and therefore the Spirit, i.e. the third pillar of the Creed; in 1717 the Masons spread syncritism and the seeds of modernism, attacking Christ as the only means of salvation and the second pillar of the Creed; and in 1917 the Marxists attacked God himself setting up the first officially atheistic state and undermining the greatest commandment (SHEMA ISRAEL) and the first pillar of the Creed of Nicea. Interesting, isn't it? Three dates, each two hundred years apart, and each building on the previous to undermine the faith handed down from the Apostles and Fathers of the Church. Father points out thought that throughout our priesthood, and, in fact, throughout the history of the Church the Church has always appeared the looser and often it has been written off, and yet it is still here, 2000 years after its foundation, hundreds of years after its enemies died, and will still be hear until the end of days, on the Day of Judgment when its Martyrs see their blood avenged. Being interested in the significance of numbers I also find it interesting that each of these three attacks where most likely started in a year ending in a six, but this might just be my imagination

(I digress) After celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours in the Cathedral, we went to St. Mary's Church where the pews were full and Mass was beginning. A smaller mostly Gothic church building, with more evidence of the artistic violence of the past century, but much more alive (i.e. a real church), was a great consolation to me.

When I returned to Rome I went immediately from the airport to St. Peter's square, suitcase in hand. Arriving, I found thousands of people standing around keeping vigil with the dead popes body. Everywhere I looked there were makeshift tributes and memorials to John Paul, from the governments “Grazie” posters that were plastered everywhere to, much more moving memorials made of: little scraps of paper (many plane and train tickets), candles, flags, and pictures. The next few days were surreal—on Wednesday I spent eight hours in line to see John Paul's body, not too bad considering that some waited 14-20 hours the next day. I found out only after I had viewed his body that I could have gotten in the back door with my ID, but it was an experience. I don't like crowds, claustrophobia, and so the experience that some had of waiting in line being fun was not my experience, but the wait did cause me to empathize with those in line. For this reason after, spending eight hours in line (4 am to 12 pm), having lunch I returned to St. Peter's to hand out water both Wednesday and then Thursday. This I much preferred since handing out water I was outside the queue but still able to talk with the people and help them out giving them water, helping them get out of the, then 16 hour line, to use the bathroom and then re-enter where they got out, and bringing notes, flowers, candles, etc. to the makeshift memorials which periodically got swept away only to reappear minutes later in the form of more flowers and candles. Shocked by the amount of love that John Paul engendered in these people, most (50% +) under 30 years of age, I remembered the Holy Cure of Ars who attracted 80,000 people a year to his little village for confession, catechesis, or just to catch a glimps of a saint. I have been at venues with large crowds before, often working them as crowd control, and I must say this line that came to pay their last respects to JPII was like no other crowd. They prayed, were kind and respectful to each other, helped each other out, and even their grumbling at long lines was good natured!! All day I conversed as best as I could in English, Italian, Polish, and French—trying to encourage those who were tired and make the time go by more quickly.

At night I came down to walk the streets around Saint Peter's, with my collar on I had pretty much unlimited access to the areas around the Basilica, and so I walked around and looked at the people who had come from Poland, but also from the rest of the world to say good bye to a saint. Most of them came without a place to stay in Rome and so all along the streets neat lines of sleeping bags, backpacks, and shoes replaced what was normally empty sidewalk. As I walked by one group of young people there with their priest, all on their knees around a improvised shrine to Our Lady and John Paul, I heard them praying the rosary and was brought to tears. During the days before the funeral the media pretended to play nice, i.e. complementing JPII while slipping little criticisms in where they could. One of these was that the majority of the people who came were Poles. This might be true, one to two million Poles did come down from the North, but also two to three million people from all over the rest of the world came, not to mention the three million Romans (like myself) who live in the city, many of whom also came. They also suggested that many who came disagreed with the popes views but came because of his celebrity status—again, I am sure that this was true in some cases, and in others, like the scores of people I saw fingering their rosaries, this is untrue. More importantly, I think, people came because John Paul offered an authentic Christian witness, he called people by his life to conversion and although in their freedom many did not choose to accept his witness, they recognized it as authentic, as the witness of a true Christian man! It is hard to be a Christian, to submit your life to God, to become detached from this world, mortifying your body and senses, and so many don't do it, especially in this age of media driven materialism—BUT to see someone authentically detached from the world and in love with God, gains the respect of many who might like to do the same but lack the force of will, truly the trust in God, needed. Ironic, though, that the death of this man caused millions to leave their TV, homes, cars, etc. behind and come to Rome essentially as “street people,” to pay homage to Pope John Paul.
Friday was the funeral mass. Our choir was invited to sing with the “people's choir” and so I thought I would have a seat for sure, however I found out Thursday night that there were not enough tickets for everyone on my house and so the ones we had would be given out by lottery. There where thirty tickets available, I got lot number 31! And so, frantically I called and email anyone I knew to see if I could find a ticket. Luckly, someone got a better offer and so I got his ticket. Seated inside the front gate to St. Peter's Basilica, behind the altar and to the right, we could see all the dignitaries arriving, Cardinal Ratzinger who in days to come would be elected Pope Benedict XVI came by as friendly as he normally is. I could see the whole Mass, including the procession, as well as the whole plaza and via Conciliatione and I was awestruck. The Mass, which they say 2 billion people watched, was beautiful and I believe that in years to come, that Mass as well as the witness of the five million mourners will bring great graces to the Church in Italy and in Europe. For the next nine days we mourned the loss of John Paul. Nine Masses were celebrated for his intention at Saint Peter's and every day the Church was full, i.e. about 10,000 people went to that one Mass, each day for a week and a half! Each day for nine days it rained, except on the seventh day when the sky was clear (I love the symbolism of numbers). I went to five of the Masses, skipping the others because of school and other obligations. As the week progressed I prayed more an more, not for the soul of John Paul, but for his intercession with the Father. I asked him to intervene on our behalf for the selection of a new pope. I feel certain that John Paul is at the right hand of the Father this day, and I bet that the Church will solemnly confirm this before my days in Rome are up.
I must admit it was a very odd feeling, not having a pope. In the States at least you got to say “in union with our bishop n.” in the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, but here in Rome we omitted both Bishop and Pope, praying “in union with all the clergy.” But not only that, going to St. Peter's and looking at the window, or looking at my pictures of JP on my wall, I got the distinct feeling that we many never see another his equal in the near future. The nine days were a sad time for me.

Habemus Papem!!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!! Praise be to the Lord on High and to the Lamb!
For he has guided his people in their time of sorrow, and given us a Shepherd. Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;habemus Papam:
Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum,Dominum JosephumSanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem Ratzingerqui sibi nomen imposuit Benedictum XVI



On the 19th of April in the year of Our Lord 2005 the Emmient College of Cardinals elected Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, Patriarch of the West, and Vicar of Christ. Accepting the elction His Emmenence Joesph Cardinal of the Roman Church Ratzinger asked to be known as Benedict P.P. XVI

Part I: Holy Week and the Week of Sundays

This may come off as a rambling, but hey I did warn you in the title!

I know I am a little behind the eight ball here, so to speak, but the Pope is dead. I will start with a few reflections of what had been going on in my life prior to this historic event. Lent was hard this year! I felt oppressed throughout the forty days, but then Holy Week came andmy burdens seemed lightened. I spent Holy Week here in Rome. On the Wednesday of Holy Week I served at the Holy Altar during mass with HE Cardinal Szoka and HE Cardinal Law (both of whom are now in the Conclave). Palm Sunday I went to the Mass in St. Peter's Square, where I recieved one of the Pope's last blessings, and then the Chrism Mass on Thursday Morning (which by the way is a great day to have the Chrism Mass on, and it will be the topic of another blog), the Holy Thursday Mass, the Good Friday Liturgy, and finally the Easter Vigil. On Holy Thursday I walked to the Seven Churches, and in prayer I was in awe of the fact that Jesus makes himself so weak, so frail, and so availible to us. (This is particularly seen in the recent outrages on EBAY) All in all the entire experience was very prayerful and, my brethren here in the house made it, quite joyful. On Easter Sunday, alone and apart from my family for the first Easter in my life, I and five brothers made our way to Ars in France for a retreat. There in the shadow of the Saintly Cure we were schooled in the cross that is the life of a priest. But for all the sufferings that the Saintly Cure endured, I am convinced by his witness that the fruits were sweeter than the difficulties were bitter. (TBCont..)

Continued from before...

Five of us left Rome Easter Morning, after spending the Vigil at St. Peter's. I normally dislike to travel on Sundays, never mind the Sunday of Sundays, but I made an exception for this pilgrimage. Filled with Easter joy my traveling companions and I greatly enjoyed the trip. We traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, the See which St. Francis De Sales was never able to enter publicly because of the Calvinists, and from there we took a train through the Alps into France to the ancient See of Lyon, where the great second century father of the Church, Ireneaus, led His flock.

(nota brevis: I was shocked by the number of Arabs in Lyons and the secularized despairing look of those who were not, truly France is falling away from the faith quickly)

Traveling through the mountains my heart was lifted up by the beauty of God's creation. The peaks rising up more majestic than the greatest towers of man pointing mans mind toward the transcendent power that created them, valleys low and yet teaming with vigorous trees ever green and a plethora of life reminding us of the promise of life offered even to those in the valley of darkness, white water rivers carving their way through solid rock canyons reminding us of the power of water (especially in Baptism); all spoke of the goodness of our risen lord Jesus the Christ. I remember that at the Vigil I was moved to tears at the sound of the alleluia, now traveling through the redeemed world my heart and lips overflowed with this word. As is traditional in Polish families, on Holy Saturday I had eggs, sausage, bread, etc., blessed and this blessed food was what we ate throughout Easter day. Away from my family for the first Easter Sunday ever this fellowship was quite comforting. After another brief train ride and taxi we were in Ars. My week in Ars made a great impact on my spiritual life. The French countryside reminded me of Emmitsburg, Maryland, the spiritual capital of the U.S. (in my humble opinion) and my proximity to Jean Marie Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests (which it is my great desire to be) was inspirational. As a side note: Emmitsburg with its farmland, rolling hills, and minor basilica is almost bizarrely similar to Ars. Throughout the week I was overjoyed by the good things God had done for me—after a long and oppressive lent, and a cold winter, the radiance of Christ Crucified and Risen seemed to radiate in everything. As I mentioned Holy Week in Rome was awesome. Holy Week helped me recall what the spirit of the Liturgy really was; one of the most striking parts of Holy Week was the beauty and symbolism of the liturgies. (I haven't forgotten parts two and three of my promised three part Liturgy blog, although it has been put off for some time.) From the grand procession on Palm Sunday, to the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday Morning, etc. this Holy Week seemed to fit together better than any other in my life and lift my soul on high.

Anyway, coming off of this spiritual high, and the great joy and spirit in which we traveled to Ars, our arrival in Ars was like gazing across a beautiful landscape and then having the sun set sending a vibrant splash of color, light and darkness, across the serene scene. The retreat in Ars was on the priesthood, about what it meant to be a priest, what it required to be given up and what it required to be taken up, and what place the priesthood had in the history of salvation. All this, of course, was done in the spirit of John Paul the Great's 1986 Holy Thursday letter to priests in which he proposes Vianney as a model of the priesthood. However, despite the fact that St. JM Vianney was the intended focus, as it became clear that the Holy Father was in extremis as we say I couldn't help but see and meditate on the similarity between the simple parish priest, the Holy Cure, and the man who only desired to be a simple parish priest, the Holy Father. We focused in our conferences on being with the people, on preaching and catechesis, on confession, on prayer, on self-sacrifice, etc., and in each of these areas I saw the Holy Father. This is of course not surprising since from early on JPII admired the Holy Cure, and since they both sought sincerely to model their own lives after their mutual master Jesus. Still struck by how good God is to make Himself so available to us through the flesh and blood of Christ in the Sacred Species, the Eucharist, in every tabernacle of the world. I came to realize that both of these great saints John Paul the Great and Jean Marie Vianney were only able to work the miracle they did through utter abandonment to Jesus on the Altar through His great Mother Mary. Taking this example to heart, I found myself desirous, in fact overwhelmed by the need, to prostrate myself before God and cry out De profundis, from the depths of my soul, to God to to help me. To use me like they used the Saints, to help me recognize my lowliness and emptiness at all times, and to fill up my nothingness with His being, with His love, and with His strength.

In Ars I chanted the Liturgy with the Benedictine Sisters, who sang like angels, and spent time before my Lord both in the Most Blessed Sacrament and in His creation. I walked for hours through the pristine farmland surrounding Ars, walking from the Basilica to neighboring twelfth century churches, praying to and praising God. In front of the pulsing heart of Jesus in the monstrance, I gave thanks to God for His goodness to me and offered Him, who gave me his life giving body and blood as food, my body and blood in service to His greater glory, asking him to work in me what I could not do myself. I also enjoyed Ars. There was a spirit in Ars, a spirit of Vianney, which the sisters in particular kept alive. The sisters spent time catechizing all the groups of children that visited, arranging for Holy Mass to be celebrated, or for Adoration, etc. The town people in Ars were very friendly and seemed to have a love for the Holy Cure now dead 150 years. Near the John Paul II seminary there was a farm were each day we watched the wonder of life. Though we had no TV the animals put on a show for us each day that was far superior to any cartoons. We also had the privileged to see a horse born, a reminder of the true pain and suffering in love that mothers undergo to bring life into the world. We also had the privileged to pray next to Vianney's pulpit, catachetical chair, and confessionals and even to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, each day, beneath the body of the Saint using his own chalice. The Holy Mass was celebrated extremely well each day, using both Latin and English, and facing the ad orientum. I found myself caught up in the beauty of the Mass, only slightly distracted by the numerous French who joined us throughout the Mass. One such visitor, a member of the Society of Christ the King (an order which celebrates the indult Mass of 1962) remarked that he was sure that we were religious of some sort and was shocked to hear we were diocesan. I could sing the praises of Ars and of our retreat forever, but in the interest of meager brevity I will conclude.

A respons to Polly Toynbee, a writer for the Left wing British paper the guardian, in response to a op-ed in which she blames JPII for the deaths of millions from AIDS in Africa:

I sensed a certain degree of emotivism in you article "Not in my name," which claims to speak for "rationalists who thought they understood this secular, sceptical age."

Many of your points may be valid, living here in Rome I know that many of the people who came were here because of the herd effect. However, I spent two days caring for and giving water to those who waited for as much as 14 hours in line to see the Holy Father's corps and I must attest that vast numbers of them were praying the Rosary, singing religious songs, and giving an awesome witness of Christian charity. Your quite right that ignorance of history and theology played a role in attendence of some of the world leaders in attendance, but with the vast numbers of Orthodox and Muslims present, as well as other groups, you must admit that part of what made that gathering of world leaders possible was not simply indifference but the ecumenical and inter-religous efforts made by John Paul.

This being said, what I really take issue with is your main premise the John Paul is somehow responsible for the deaths of millions. I believe you make a vague comparison between him and Stalin. There is a saying in the Church, "the Church doesn't impose it proposes." By this I mean, wereas Hitler, Stalin, and your own Queen Elizabeth I literally put people to death--in John Paul's case he proposes the Gospel and people choose to live or not to live by it (the Pope did not threaten to put their head on the Tower of London or something of that nature). Ironically, it was ussally those who choose not to live by the Pope's proposals who in the end died, both physically and spiritually.

Simple logic would hold that if the Pope's teachings were followed by all then few would die from AIDs, etc.

The Church and the Holy Father taught:
1) That sexual relations within marriage, and only within marriage, that were open to the
unative and procreative dimensions of the marital act, are good.
2) That contraceptives were dangerous to ones relationship with God and others.
3) That people even within marriage had to exercise their rationality concerning the
prudence have a child given an individuals circumstances.

Following these three clear teachings of the Church very few people would die from AIDS, and women who are at risk could make a conscious choice with their husbands not to get pregnant thus protecting their health. In fact following the Church's teachings is by far a safer course of action than using condoms, which have a about a 87% method failure rate and a 56% user failure rate for the AIDS virus, not to mention other viruses and infections for which "safety" varies. Following the Church's teachings also forces men to realize that women are other human persons, and not just things to be used for pleasure.

If you propose that somehow he forced people not to use condoms, then I ask why didn't he force them to follow the other two teachings

You also suggest that what is wrong with these teachings is that they are not reflective of the human condition. By this I assume you mean that humans are animals who can't help but "doing it," as a young college student passing me on the street today said to his friend. This however seems to be logically at odds with your claim to represent rational people, if some people are rational then all are rational (in nature), they all can take in information, make generalizations, and make choices based on those judgements. If this is the case then anyone can clearly see that the Church's was is the only sure way. The Church's teachings have always promoted the use of reason, but true reason which doesn't view the world materialistically but interpersonally. What you seem to be defending is a tired old skeptical rationalism, which denies all else but the material, but there is more to life than the material, in fact 99% of what matters in this world is not matterial but interpersonal.

One thing your right about: for Christians suffering is redemptive--something that while not desired is lovingly accepted--after all we boast only in Christ and Christ Crucified. Suffering is accepted by Christians because it is truely part of the human experience, a part which helps us become detached from the world and focused on "the other." What Christians fear is not bodily suffering but spiritual suffering, because we know that this world and its agonies are passing away. But I don't think you get that, and I think that it makes you mad to see people acting interpersonally rather than inter-materially.

In response to a young libertarian

In response to the following article by Teenaged Commentator Kyle Williams:


Where's the moral consistency in America? Saturday, April 09, 2005 by Kyle Williams
In an ironic time in America, "Sin City" is atop the box office while cable news channels broadcast wall-to-wall coverage of mourning Pope John Paul II's death. Is this a contradiction, or merely ignorance? Maybe it is insincerity. This pope was ...


_______________
Kyle,

Your article about the contradictions in American society was interesting. Your observation that there is a contradiction between what people say and what they do is quite correct. I worked in Washington for three years for the GOP and for the US Senate and my experience was that more often than not those "republicans" who always talked about morality often were outright hypocrites. Very few of them were living what they preached. However, I think there is a distinction to be made, some people know what is right, and yet are not virtuous enough to do it, while others do not know what is right and so they do whatever is pleasurable. Most
Christians--who know what is right because it is written in Sacred Scripture, and handed down to them by their parents and the Church through tradition--live with a certain degree of this hypocracy and contradiction in their lives. This is the reality of original sin, for you it might be that you are occasionally uncharitable to a brother or sister, a friend, to your parents, etc, despite the fact that you know that your were called by Christ Jesus to love one another as he loved you. For others who grew up in varying situations, such as those who were forced to endure the ludeness of public schools or whose parents deposited them in front of the TV since they were three years old, this may involve watching "pornographic" films and shows (i.e. prime time TV) while being staunchly against pornography. We are learning creatures, and while not excusing sin, we must be aware that sin and evil become easier as we become habituated to it, as we become addicted to it. Someone who knows that premarital intercourse is wrong, intellectually, may champion abstinence, but if they have engaged in it once it becomes infinitely more difficult to not do it again simply because at the biological level your body is designed to become chemically addicted to your wife (or husband). This is why governments must legislate morality. I am not suggesting that we force people to be good Judeo-Christians, but that we help people to be good men, and women. A good Christian man is first and foremost a good man, because Jesus, who we model our life after was the perfect man.

"The problem with the theology of Christian reconstructionism is not its morality, but rather its desire to impose morality on others – and this is an important distinction. I'm not saying there isn't right and wrong – there is – but I am saying it is wrong to impose moralism on others."

You know this is the same arguement that Sen. Kerry used to defend why he is "personally against" abortion, but votes to protect it. If something is wrong for a good Christian then it is equally wrong for any person because God does not give Christians a unique law but restates the natural law clearly. Thus in the duty of charity that we owe our neighbor, it is our duty as an individual and as a society to help people be good men and women. What is essential to being a good man is following the natural law--a law that is available to all, but is clearly restated in Revelation because man so often claims ignorance of it. Following the same schema as the Decalogue natural law teaches us: respect for our parents (i.e. the rights and duties associated with raising a family); the dignity of Human life (i.e. no murder, abortion, suicide, or euthanasia, and a preferential option for the poor); the dignity of marriage as a means for procreation and unity (i.e. no divorce or interference with the marital act such as contraception); respect for the duties and rights associated with property (i.e. no theft and share means with the poor); the primacy of truth (i.e. no perjury); the danger of lust (i.e. no pornography); and the danger of jealousy. As you see some of these proscriptions are easier to put into law than others, but they all must find some place in law because beyond being punitive law ought to be educational. In your article you say that its wrong to enforce morality--but you don't mean this because I am sure that you are ok with morality being enforced as regards murder and theft. "In a free society, the standards of protection are based upon the ability of citizens to secure their property. " What you mean is that you have bought into the libertarian
(utilitarian) notion that matters of sexuality harm no one and so you can't legislate against them. In reality however, sexuality is the most powerful human drive, and a disordered sexuality leads to an undermining of the whole natural law. When sexuality, and intercourse, become about pleasure and not about love, true Christian love, agape in the greek and caritas in latin, then anything goes because other people become things to be enjoyed and used. Historically, pornography led to infidelity, which led to a break down in trust between men and women, this in turn led to divorce, contraception, and entually abortion, it also often led to murder based in lust and jealousy, abortion led to a culture of murder, which in turn leads to euthanasia and eugenics. Today there are "scholars" in the United States who argue that parents should have the right to kill their child for two years AFTER they are born and in the Neitherlands doctors are able to murder children under twelve who they deem undesirable because of defects or illness. Lets not forget also that the breakdown of the family leads to poverty and therefore the greater likelyhood of crimes against persons and property, disrespect for parents, disrespect for parental duties, and the erosion of parental rights. JRR Tolken in his writtings about "Middle Earth" prior to his famous novel "The Hobit" wrote that in the begining the world was sung into existence, this is of course an analogy for creation, whether he admits it or not. Similar to Tolken's "sub-creation," as he called it, real Creation was accomplished by God's Word which "sung" all of existence into being and ordered everything in perfect diversity. Just as in a Opera if one instrument plays a wrong note or one voice sings off tune the whole is distorted, if you pull at (break) one of the commandments you do damage to them all.

"However, standards of morality can only be based on a sense of religious worldview." Here you are wrong. Just because the majority of people who talk about morality today are Christians doesn't mean that Christians are the only people interested in morality. Morality is not primarly based on a religious worldview, but rather on a human worldview. Aristotle, who did not believe in the Greek gods and was not exposed to Christainity or (most likely) Judaism, in his works promoted all of the commandments. Aristotle was able to see the commandments in nature because he lived the truely human life, the life that was focus on the search for truth the search for God. Does this mean his ethics were error free, no, without recourse to Revelation he made some mistakes, but his example and the example of other virtuous pagans demonstrate that morality is a fundamentally human endeavor. Not forgetting the most important commandments, the first three commandments about God are also natural laws, which were the first to be dispatched, they demonstrate mans natural capacity and yearning for God. You shall have only one God points us to the fact that we ought not make ourselves, material things, or ideologies our god, but rather search for the True God. True for the Jew or Christian this command identifies the True God, but even for an unbeliever like Aristotle this natural law is important because logically speaking there can be only one god, which can't be a created thing. You shall not take His name in vain shows us that we ought not use the term God frivolously as the pagans and atheists do, because the quest for god is so central to what it means to be human. Finally keep holy the sabbath shows us that we ought not be consumed by work, but rather that each man need leisure time in which to seek out God, as Aristolte also notes.
It is not surprising that in the late 1900s in intellectual circles God was being forgotten, and that soon thereafter other gods were appearing in his place: i.e. atheistic rationalism, materialism in its communist, socialist, fascist, and capitalist forms, as well as hedonism, scientism, etc. The result is, I fear that each of the commandments have been violate more often in the past century than in the 19 that preceded since the birth of Christ.

When I was your age I toyed with the libertarianism that I sensed in your article. If you will take a bit of advise that road leads no-where except to sin, vice, and error. I believe that in the world we live in, more so than ever, we need to have a limited government, but we can not give up on the promotion of basic morality through the law. If we do the law will eventually become a farce, a farce used against Christians. You are dead on that we need to teach people how to be more authentic in their Christian faith. As a Catholic I see that quite clearly, we have 1.1 billion faithful, 60 million in the States, including the Kennedy and Kerry families, but at least half of these do not know their faith well or do not live it. However, don't buy this nonsense about it being wrong to impose your morality on others--there is no such thing as YOUR morality, things are either moral or not, for all people at all times. It may be wrong to impose your customs on others, since custom changes, but morality does not and that is the big difference. Ultimately in the most gray cases people must make their own decisions based on their own consciences but the law should provide them with a certain measuring stick.

The Pope is Dead Long Live the Pope

On the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday Our Holy Father

the man born and baptized Karol Woytila

went to his Maker

Johannes Paulus Magnus Pontifex Maximus
m. 2 IV 2005
Requiascat In Pace

I firmly believe that his soul is at the right hand of God and so I ask his intercession:

John Paul, our father, pastor, and vicar of Christ
Intercede for us to my Lord and Your's and to His Father and Our Father
That through the witness of the Church the faith may be rekindled in Europe
Ask Him to grant the conversion of Italy and all of the European Continent
and the Unity of All Christians
By means of his many graces and through the sending forth of His Holy Spirt
For His greater glory. Through Mary to Jesus.

Amen