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SPECIAL REPORT
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Pope Benedict XVI U.S. Visit 2008
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20-40 Vision is extremely happy
that the Pope's visit to the United States has renewed interest by Catholics who
have fallen out of the habit of being and staying involved habitually with the
Catholic Church.
The Pope's words often mirrored sentiments expressed here. One thing that Pope
Benedict XVI said that bears repeating is encouragement to the Catholics to
"love our priests," and nowhere is that sentiment expressed more strongly than
here.
Another subject which the Pope discussed is the absurdity, the shame, and the
regret that for so long, abusive priests were sheltered by the Church. While
20-40 Vision has a very low tolerance meter reading for such priests, Bishop
Lynch should be commended for even having a lower tolerance setting. One can
rest assured that in both Clergy and Staff, a "one strike you're out" policy is
the standing and best policy. Nowhere but out of the mouth of Jesus Himself is
official Church policy about abusive priests best described: "It
would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be
drowned in the depths of the sea {than to face Judgment Day after abusing
children} ... Their (Guardian) Angels in heaven always look upon the face of my
heavenly Father."
All the same, "love your priests," as the Pope encourages us to
do. The vast majority of them, despite indisputably quirky personalities in many
cases, do merit our love and support, and have no tolerance or support for their
contemporaries who unfairly or not, have called their own integrity into
question.
20-40 Vision was not overly impressed by the accessibility of matters related to
mass communications to the poor in America - those of us who do not have
high-speed internet or cable. Video files of the event were not made available
for downloading, but only for streaming on high-speed connections. This might
not be the way Jesus would have done it. See the latest on this trip
HERE. 20-40 Vision has
been contacted by several members of the Diocese and the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops and stands by our criticism that the Pope's visit should be as
accessible to those with dial-up modems and no cable as internet pornography
seems to be. It was not, and it is against the policy of Jesus to only be
accessible to the rich and affluent members of society. |
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