Loving Benedict & other Catholic things

Benedict XVI, speaking sweetly and gently, on his upcoming trip to America

As I am mostly sleeping due to my most recent attack of “killer anemia” – which had been well-controlled for a good while – a friend popped to deliver a package of toffee, some of the incredible toffee I’ve written about here. The package was a free sample from the folks at the Toffeehouse who graciously (and classily) thanked me with a whole pound of what they call “the dangerous stuff” – and it really is dangerously delicious and easy to pig out on – little bites of heaven!

As we munched we talked about the upcoming visit of Benedict XVI to DC and NYC. Neither of us got tickets in the lottery, so we won’t be seeing him. I have a contact at Catholic University of America who is going to look through the tsotches for sale and buy me a “pope in a soap on a rope” if he finds it (meant for a gift – I could never shower with the Holy Father!) and my friend mentioned that she’d only recently come to liking Benedict. “I believed the media at first,” she said, “I thought he’d be a disaster. But I’ve been reading his Jesus of Nazareth, and I love him; he’s so down-to-earth.”

I feel that way, too, about Benedict. As I’ve written before:

[Benedict] is warm, pastoral, approachable, quite paternal, and as easy to glean as a dear old uncle sharing fellowship over a cup of tea.

John Paul was a mighty pipe organ, dramatic, transcendent, soul-rattling – almost overwhelming. He brought you to your knees, before God in hushed awe. Benedict is a piano being played by a musician who plays for love of the music, and he draws you into his sphere, to sing along in praise.

Oriana Fallaci – self proclaimed “Christian Atheist” said she came to love then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger through reading him, as related in this piece by Tunku Varadarajan:

I feel less alone when I read the books of Ratzinger.” I had asked Ms. Fallaci whether there was any contemporary leader she admired, and Pope Benedict XVI was evidently a man in whom she reposed some trust. “I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true. It’s that simple! There must be some human truth here that is beyond religion.”
[…]
The scant hopes that she has for the West she rests on [Benedict]. As a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI wrote frequently on the European (and the Western) condition. Last year, he wrote an essay titled “If Europe Hates Itself,” from which Ms. Fallaci reads this to me: “The West reveals . . . a hatred of itself, which is strange and can only be considered pathological; the West . . . no longer loves itself; in its own history, it now sees only what is deplorable and destructive, while it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure.”

“Ecco!” she says. A man after her own heart.“Ecco!” But I cannot be certain whether I see triumph in her eyes, or pain.

And now Rocco at Whispers in the Loggia brings us yet another woman who read her way into loving Benedict.

Linda Cacpal, religious education coordinator at St. Elizabeth Parish in ‘Aiea, wasn’t always a fan of Pope Benedict XVI.

I decided I needed to know more about him because I didn’t like him, as Cardinal Ratzinger,” explained the ‘Aiea woman, 55. “I was a grad student then (earning a master’s of divinity) and my view of him was very rigid. It must have been the Holy Spirit telling me, ‘You cannot go on as (religious education) coordinator and not liking the Holy Father.”
[…]
Now with two tall columns of books at her desk — many by or about Benedict — she recalled doing her first Google search of his name in July 2005.
[…]
Not long after, she was at Kahala Mall, waiting to meet a friend, a gift card from Borders burning a hole in her pocket. She walked to the store and inquired about writings by Ratzinger.

“First name?” the clerk asked, tick-tick-ticking at the keyboard.

When he heard her response, his face lit up, she said, and he responded: “Oh, Papa! Right over here.”

That started her softening stance. Then, she picked up “Milestones & History of Christianity.”

“I really started to like him,” she said. “His style of writing, his whole life, he can write poetically, positively, graciously.”
[…]
Much came through the writings that spoke to her, namely, how he tried to resign, but Pope John Paul II wouldn’t let him: “He’s a good Christian soldier. His words and actions express what he writes. He always talks about the cross being the most radical symbol of love.”

Capal is a dialysis patient who is going to treck from Hawaii to NYC to see Benedict – she could surely use prayers. You’ll want to read the whole thing.

Sissy Willis is another woman who loves Benedict, and while showing us a teddy bear I madly covet, she writes:

We stumbled onto him while googling the identification of that limited edition Hermann Spielweren Pope Benedict XVI teddy bear the other day, the one whose warmth, humanity and cuddliness reminded us the Holy Father himself.

Cuddly Benedict…whenever I see the man I want to make him a cup of hot tea and ask him what he’s been reading, lately. He is much more beloved than acid-penned Tina Brown ever anticipated.

Ten of the Dominican Nuns at Summit, NJ will be leaving the cloister to attend his Mass in NYC:

For the 6 sisters in the novitiate the opportunity to attend the Holy Father’s Mass, to be with him and show him our support, is just awesome beyond words! They never dreamed that in giving up all things to follow Christ, He truly does reward with the hundredfold!
One sister in the community said, “It’s not that we are going to SEE the Holy Father. If that were the case, we would stay home and see a lot more on television. We’re going to BE with the Holy Father, to pray with him, to show him our love and support, to unite with a part of the Mystical Body of Christ in this corner of the world, and to be a witness to the joy of consecrated life.”

He’ll be praying at Ground Zero, which is sure to offend some.

DC Metro has yanked a Bobblehead Benedict ad that I thought was pretty funny. It was yanked more for product licensing concerns than anything else, but Jules Crittenden has other thoughts.

The Washington Post – gearing up for Benedict – seems shocked to find real Catholics who actually practice their faith. The press has its share of Pauline Kael’s, doesn’t it?

Deacon Greg highlights a program that is bringing Catholics home

It’s back to bed for me.