The Anchoress
“I have looked for you, now, you come to me.” (John Paul II, April 2, 2005 in extremis)
I love that. It is rich, packed with meaning. I love this picture, too.
Much of the coverage we are seeing on the cable networks has been wonderful, and much of it is very good, still. But we are seeing, now, little things, like Chris Matthews screaming at a young priest that celibacy is (basically) stupid (how come Buddhists never have to deal with that crap? Everyone calls them enlightened! )
As I said, most of the coverage is really good. But…if you’re watching closely, you can see that some reporters are getting antsy…they’re chomping at the bit and getting snarky here and there, pushing the “there is so much that has to be done to save the Church” meme. So…
Here is a question we must perhaps ask ourselves, we who loved Pope John Paul II or admired him: What shall we do in the coming weeks, as we watch some members of the press – who cannot help themselves – sneer and snarl? Michelle Malkin posts a series of depressing links, showcasing some of the mean-spirited stuff that has been out there for the past few weeks, and which is “newly” apparent with JPII’s demise. How are we going to deal with Jesuits who are already gassing away on the cable channels that “the next pope has to be a radical who is more broad-minded and tolerant and bring the church into the 21st century; it’s what the Catholic church needs! Catholics are going to DEMAND it!” (Thank you, what an original idea – to live the age throughout the faith, rather than living the faith throughout the age! No one has ever suggested THAT before!)
How are we going to endure it? Speaking only for myself, I’m already at the point where I am turning off the television, because I just can’t listen to another “knowitall” tell the world what the Catholic church has to do to win their approval and become respectable in the eyes of the world…or at least in the eyes of the worldly.
What shall we do? How shall we endure it, because it is very clear – mere hours after the Pope’s death – that the “progressive” elitists are going to shout long and loud in an effort to convince the world – and Catholics – that Wojtya was (like Ronald Reagan) “a nice man with high morals who just didn’t quite GET it…” and that no good can come to the world or the Church unless the next pope is the equivalent of…oh…say…Kofi Annan.
You know. RESPECTABLE, like that.
Well…we can all turn to EWTN and live inside the comforting bubble of “nice” broadcasting that allows us to look back with gladness and look ahead with hope. Nothing wrong with that, for a little while – tonight, for instance. Or, we can force ourselves to engage with the loud, angry folks who are not grieving – or reminiscing or contemplating – and who thus have enormous energy to bring to their effort.
It was naive to think they’d allow a decent time to elapse before starting in.
DO NOT BE AFRAID. Keep to prayer, and argue knowledgably, faithfully and with generosity and humor. Keep to what is true, from age to age. This age, full of rationalization and relativity, will pass – eventually. The truth must not.
I think I’m done live-blogging. Thanks all for reading! Please come back to visit, sometime! :-)
9:00PM Speaking of Rev. Graham, just rec’d this lovely email from an Evangelical Christian named Barbara, and post with her permission:
I also want to express how much I am moved by the brave and gracious way John Paul II is embracing his suffering and teaching us all how to die. In the wake of that tragic miscarriage of justice earlier this week in Florida, God is using John Paul II to teach us all to “Be Not Afraid”. As an evangelical whose theological view is much closer to Rev. Graham’s than yours and the Pope’s, I still can see how much John Paul II did in advancing the Kingdom of Our Lord and resisting evil in this fallen world. I have been crying continuously since Thursday night and I am frankly surprised by how much I will miss this great servant of God. He is on that great list of people I hope to meet in Heaven someday. God Bless him….
9:05PM Rev. Billy Graham, bless him – I call him a holy Man of God – is telling Larry King that he feels like he has lost a brother in losing JPII. How odd that both of these men were given the gift/burden of Parkinson’s Disease. A common burden to perhaps emphasize all the commonality between Christians. “He taught us how to suffer, and he taught us how to die,” says Rev. Graham. “He was a strong believer.” Sadly, Rev. Billy will not be well enough to attend the funeral (the Vatican invited him 6-7 months ago). His loss will be a heavy one, as well.
Meanwhile MSNBC seems to be having a cathartic release: after two days of unrelentingly “nice” words about the Pope, they are yakking on and on about all the problems he did not address, how the church is all but crumbling around us – you can almost sense their relief that they can get back to pushing their agendas. Abortion! Divoce! Yadda, yadda, snore.
9:00PM Christiane Amanpour just said…I’m gagging…she just said for about the hundreth time that the Pope “disapproved” of the Iraq war, but “supported the JUST war in the Balkans…”
Do I really have to get into it – again – that President Clinton did not have sacred UN approval before he commited troops (they’d be home by that Christmas, remember? Oh, they’re still there!) to that effort? Argh! I can’t watch CNN anymore, tonight.
8:55 PM Ramesh Ponnuru writes that he is struck by all of the Evangelical Congressmen who are praising the pope. I keep getting press releases over email from evangelical congressmen mourning the death of John Paul II. Their praise is not just a tribute to the way he, to borrow the unfortunate phrase I’ve heard twice now on tv, “transcended his religion.” It is evidence of how the political struggle over abortion has reconfigured American religion, making possible first joint political action and then joint theological reflection that would have been unimaginable bef
ore.
I too think “transcended his religion” is an unfortunate phrase – it’s right up there with, “Condi is a credit to her race!” Clearly, there is still more work to be done to promote understanding between Christians. :-)
8:45 PM Eavsedropping while driving teenagers to bowling: How standard-issue 15 year olds see the death of a great pope, circa 2005:
C: So, like, my mother has been in front of the television for like, two days, and now she’s crying, and my father’s grumbling that there’s nothing to eat.
Driver: Well, a lot of people are very emotional about the pope dying.
Buster: At least your mother is just in front of the tv; my mother won’t get off the internet!
Driver: Would that be the mother driving you and your friends right now, or some other mother?
J: I watched some of it. I thought it was cool, to hear about how he brought down the communists. Is there like a Vice-Pope, who just steps into the job, now?
Buster: No, man, they have an election, and the cardinals all get locked up until they name someone new.
M: What’s a cardinal, is that higher than a Bishop? Wait. I thought the Pope was a bishop!
Buster: No, anyone can be a Cardinal, but only a priest can be a bishop. The Cardinal is like, sideways to the Bishop!
J: My mother says this is the next pope is gonna be a weird one and then only one more and then the world ends.
Driver: That’s a silly old prophecy that most people think is a forgery!
M: Hey, what’s prophecy, anyway?
Sigh. All of these kids are Catholic. We have to improve Religious Education. Perhaps we can start here, by explaining to our kids what happens now.
7:30PM Charlotte Allen at the Independent Women’s Forum has a nicely done piece which highlights some of JPII’s writings on women – it’s good to read, if only to counter the silly, braying “he didn’t do enough for women,” that we’re already hearing on the cable channels:
“…In fact, woman has a genius all her own, which is vitally essential to both society and the Church. It is certainly not a question of comparing woman to man, since it is obvious that they have fundamental dimensions and values in common. However, in man and in woman these acquire different strengths, interests and emphases and it is this very diversity which becomes a source of enrichment.
Sigh. I wonder if, with the passing of JPII, we have seen the last leader on the global stage who will dare to speak his part so unambiguously, clearly and forthrightly. In an age of spin and euphemistims, I fear not. Charlotte has more excerpts, so you’ll want to go read her
7:20PM I linked to this article earlier but hadn’t had a chance to read it fully. My brother Thom pointed out this interesting tidbit:
Stories circulated after he became pope suggesting that Wojtyla was married during World War II to a woman who was killed by a Nazi. The Vatican denied the reports.
The pope himself made a teasing reference to the rumors during his 1979 visit to Poland. He abruptly curtailed a reminiscence of his family by saying: “Well, that’s enough of the past. I’m not going into details. There are a lot of reporters around, ready to investigate. Matters of the heart and youth should be left to God, who calls human beings at different stages of their lives.”
John Paul has rarely discussed his vocation. In a visit to his birthplace in 1991, he recalled “that mystery I was taught by my mother who – joining a small child’s hands in prayer – showed me how to make a sign of the cross.” His father, he said, was also deeply religious.
As my son, Buster said upon reading it: “So he mighta been married! So, what? Just makes him that much more tragic, heroic, iconic and cool. And if he wanted to hold that private in his heart, it’s no one’s business! Whyda they hafta gossip?”
That’s my boy! :-)
7:10PM Poor Kathryn Jean Lopez wants so much to be able to watch the coverage of the passing of this great man, but she is getting very frustrated at things like this:
SAY IT AIN’T SO: Chris Matthews is in Rome. He just argued with a young theology-professor priest about clerical celibacy. I can only imagine what will come. I’ll try to avoid it.
LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP: Though he was “Kennedy” like in his ability to energize, this pope ticked American Catholics off because of he was so “conservative and inflexible,” according to the NYTimes.
I REALLY NEED TO TURN IT OFF: It was just pointed out to me that the aforementioned Christiane earlier said that John Paul II was “the first non-Catholic” to be selected pope. Then Shep Smith on Fox referred to St. Matthew’s Cathedral (in D.C.) as St. Patrick’s. Another reporter on CNN earlier called the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as Washington’s National Cathedral (the latter isn’t Catholic). Paula Zahn a few minutes ago called President Bush the “pope.” The list could go on. Cardinal McCarrick was called Fr. McCormick on CNN, also.
IT HASN’T BEEN AN HOUR: And CNN (Christiane Amanpour) is already talking about the pope’s backward views on condoms and celibacy.
Sigh. You mean reporters are supposed to do, like, RESEARCH and like…not bring their biases into things? I completely sympathize with Ms. Lopez. I want very much to watch the goings on, too, but I really don’t want to have to watch those-people-on-tv! But you know what? All these people are doing is further displaying their tastelessness and revealing themselves to be rather soul-less and single-minded prudes, as well.
Perhaps after a Guinness or an Irish Coffee I’ll be able to stand some tv!
More excellent reads, both blogs and articles: Beth, Cathouse Chat (I am loving all these non-Catholics who are saying such gracious things about Il Papa!) NY Times get’s two pluses for these pieces – a gorgeous turn by Robert D. McFadden, All-Embracing Man of Action for a New Era of Papacy and by Laurie Goodstein in her excellent, Catholics in America, a Restive People. However, the Times gets a stupendously HUGE minus for not taking the time to line up a few positive comments to go along with their collection of negatives, as Powerline displays. Right up there with CBS running the Schiavo obit two days early. Egad! NRO also has the whole Summary from the Vatican.
4:45PM President Bush pays JPII particular homage, and orders the flags lowered. NRO has the president’s remarks, and Mrs. Thatcher’s stirring remembrance as well.
There is some very fine reading (with great links) all over the internet. Malkin, Singleton, The Corner (keep scrolling), The President’s remarks, Ed Morrissey, Baldilocks, Mr. Wong has a sunny new Java Applet for JPII, Jackson’s Junction has videotape. Hugh has great links, as does Paragraph Farmer. A great bio, here. More as I find it. And yes, as ever, here is some cool gear.
If you are tired of the incessant chatter from the talking heads, and you have EWTN available to you, try heading over there. They’re showing St. Peter’s and more without talking over it. I must say CNN seems to be refraining immediately jumping into “second guessing” mode. They are staying with St. Peter’s and waiting for shutters and doors. MSNBC and FOX are in media madness, all talking over themselves. I was pleased to see Msgr. James Lisante correct someone of FOX who suggested that the Pope had distanced himself from the documents of the Second Vatican Council. Lisante rightly informed him that JPII had helped to WRITE those documents. Is the revisionist history already beginning? Dang!
I cannot believe I am already getting “anti-pope” and “Democratize the Church” crap in my email! Have you people NO respect, NO sensibilities outside your own tiresome political furies and agendas? Whatever you had to say, no matter how well you might have said it, it got trashed.
3:50PM Expect great things. I can’t help but believe that great things are going to accompany this death. The unprecedented, global, worldwide coverage will perhaps precipitate an unprecedented, global, worldwide waking up from our sleep of materialism and preening self-interest.
2:55PM Shep Smith is announcing on FOX that the AP is reporting the Pope has died. Godspeed, Papa.
Somehow, I knew that when the crowd heard it in St. Peters, they would applaud, as they did. Well done, good and faithful servant. God bless you, John Paul the Great. The Lion in Winter.
Meanwhile, I have moved to CNN, because FOX does not know how to just be quite, sometimes.
2:45PM At least 20 US soldiers wounded in an attack at Abu Ghraib.
2:30PM Found a coupla neat nun blogs, both by Daughters of St. Paul, who I’ve always admired…although I do wish they’d kept their nifty blue dresses! :-) (Like I’m sure they care what I think of their habits!) Anyway, I did appreciate this remark from one of the sisters: I really didn’t need to hear Joan Chittister this morning informing us that the Holy Father represents the theology of the 13th century… (And she represents…?) I like a lot of Chittister’s reflective work, but I can really do without the snideness.
Yes, Sister, thank you and I agree. The pope’s “theology of the 13th century” is actually the theology of Christ, which is timeless…but moreover, I wish folks could have seen Keith Olberman last night. Someone read to him a passage from JPII’s masterwork on the Theology of the Body, in which he writes about the importance of sexual fulfillment, and Olberman was both blushing and confounded. “There is no area he hasn’t touched on, seemingly,” he marvelled.
“Theology of the 13th century.” How tiresome. How 21st century. How beholden to a passing age.
2:25PM What nonsense! Professor Frank Flynn is speaking on FOX NEWS right now, but he’s claiming
that JPII “backed off from Vatican II” in the latter part of his papacy. What an absurdity! He can’t intelligently back it up, either, he’s floundering on trying to explain it. That’s because he’s full of it. The problem is, people who thought “Vatican II” meant “anything goes, yeah baby, we’re gonna live the AGE instead of the faith” became disappointed because the pope made it clear that he was going to help impliment what was contained within the DOCUMENTS of Vatican II, that he was not simply going to endorse the travesties which progressive Catholics were trying to pass off as changes, “in the SPIRIT of Vatican II.” What is contained within the documents of the Second Vatican Council is much more traditional and straightforward than these folks would have you believe, and it has frustrated them beyond words that JPII didn’t let them get away with interpreting VCII to their whims. “The church cannot be an association of freethinkers,” John Paul said. .
2:20PM The scene at St. Peter’s Basilica is gorgeous. The lights on the buildings, the orderly crowd, praying below his window. I hope he can hear it. Earlier, we heard that in Krakow, the young people used to stand out the window of Karol Woytjla’s Bishop’s residence and call out, “Uncle! Uncle! Come speak with us!” And he would come out to the balcony and talk to them, casually. A good priest. A good father and shepherd. My son Buster, hearing the story, said, “it would be cool to stand below his window now and call up, ‘Papa, papa! We’ll speak to you!'”
Nice thought.
1:55PM The babes on FOX news just cracked me up, but also forced me to change channels to MSNBC. They were talking about the “fine line” JPII walks with women, how “he won’t allow them to be priests, but it’s not because he doesn’t like them…”
Indeed. The pope has taught about The genius of the feminine it’s simply that his instruction is deep, and distinctive and nuanced, and it does not fit the secular model of feminism. But it’s brilliant and it has helped many women embrace their gender in all its wonder and intent, as feminism never could. The pope dares to suggest that gender is not a mere accident of birth but a calling of life. You have a computer. You can google. As they say in Brooklyn, “you could look it up!” :-)
1:40PM The brilliant historian Michael Ledeen has posted this over at NRO’s The Corner:
We were in Rome when John Paul II was elected Pope, and, like most people, I didn’t know much about him. Most of the commentary at that time described the Conclave’s decision in political terms, and Karol Wojtyla was said to be a “detente Pope,” a gesture of peace toward the Soviets. I went over to Communist Party headquarters in Via delle Botteghe Oscure to ask them what they thought of it, and one of the real hardline Stalinists put it nicely: “well,” he said, “at least our Polish comrades won’t have him around to (and here he used a colorful Roman phrase that roughly means ‘give them a hard time.’). The Communist knew what he was talking about, and the scribblers and kibbitzers didn’t. For Catholics, John Paul II will obviously be an inspiration for generations, and even those of us who do not share his faith have been ennobled and inspired by much of what he said and did.
He writes more and it is all lovely and gracious. I am struck by just how many non-Catholics have managed to convey such a broad appreciation of the Holy Father. I have received many emails from Evangelicals, Jews and even agnostics, who are following the final journey of this pilgrim Pope, and who are finding themselves tremendously, surprisingly moved.
Perhaps this is one last gift from a shepherd who loves us: a gift of TIME, to say good-bye, to ruminate and really allow ourselves to FEEL our feelings, and to understand them. When my brother was dying, the time we shared with him as he died was precious and instructive because nothing else could demonstrate to us just HOW DEEPLY we loved him…or express to him how important he was to us. His dying and death were instructive. John Paul’s dying and death are instructive, too.
The pope’s death and dying is also a most eloquent statement against euthanasia, for when you “hurry death along” in order to “be compassionate” and “end suffering,” what you have really done is interrupted a great and necessary LESSON OF LOVE. More on that theme here.
Folks who read me regularly know I say this all the time – it was the great thing my brother taught me. The pope now instructs the world, and I pray the world pays attention and comprehends. It is how the Culture of Death might be defeated.
1:20PM I had to take Buster to work, so of course, the radio was on. We tuned into an all-news station, and I realized, once again, how completely out-of-touch too many (not all, but too many) members aof the press are with ordinary people. The woman broadcasting said, “in Rome, everyone is talking about John Paul II, even at the airport, even Fulbright scholars!”
I know she probably didn’t mean, “even SMART people are paying attention to the dying of JPII...” At least I hope she didn’t mean that. But if these folks are trained broadcasters who are supposed to be so much smarter than the rest of us, you’d think they’d not come off so stupidly, or that they’d be aware of how incredibly elitist they sound.
On the other hand, Bernard Higgins at A Certain Slant of Light has some very smart thoughts. Because he is, in fact, much smarter than most.
It’s approaching 4:00 pm in Rome and, remarkably, Pope John Paul II remains alive. I thought when I arose this day that he would be gone from us. The man is remarkable. The man is strong as a bull and as courageous. The assassin met his match in this man, as did the Nazis and a string of illnesses. He has overcome so much in his life — the tryanny of men and their malevolent philosophies, the tyranny of disease and its life-sapping grip. He has stood tall before God and before men, and his humanity and mercy have gently left their ineffable mark on this world. Another like him will be long coming.
He seems like King Lear, shouting back at the tempest that is death’s approach:
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanes, sprout, Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurous and thou
ght- executing fires, Vaunt – couriers to oak – clearing thunderbolts, singe my white beard!”
But, perhaps not. We mere mortals rage against death. But this good, saintly man accepts it now, choosing his own bed in his living quarters at the Vatican in which to greet it. He awaits the next passage in his life, this time to enter the Kingdom of God and to know His love through all of eternity.
You’ll want to read all of Bernard’s remarks.
11:50AM Ed Morrissey points out that even as the pope lay dying, China is harrassing Catholics in that country.
The Vatican said Saturday that Chinese authorities have carried out a new series of arrests of officials from that country’s non-government controlled Catholic Church. The most recent arrest occurred Wednesday, when a priest was picked up in Hebei, the same diocese whose bishop was arrested Jan. 3.The statement said security forces also detained the 86-year-old bishop of Wenzhou, Monsignor James Lin Xili, on March 20 and two days later a lay official of the diocese.
China refuses to allow Catholics, and Christians of other denominations, to practice their faith unless they do so in the state-approved manner.
Ed suggests that we remember the Christians in China who are struggling to practice their faith. Good idea.
11:40 AM Just saw Chris Matthews on MSBNC – bawling again. Is there a reporter on television who cries as much as Chris? He’s such a sloppy, sentimental Irishman! :-) I can say that, being a sloppy, sentimental Irish woman! He actually said some very good things – talked about how JPII, in his dying of Parkinson’s is “showing us how to do it, how to handle illness with grace and dignity, how to die.” He mentioned that Michael J. Fox also suffers from Parkinson’s, but did not mention that Rev. Billy Graham is also dealing with the same illness.
I think it might have been worthwhile to mention that Pope JPII, dealing with Parkinson’s never went on Larry King to argue that embryonic stem cells should be used to help find a cure for who suffer from illness.
9:15AM Jackson’s Junction has some good tape from the latest Vatican statement and from Scarborough Country. You’ll like. I was moved to hear that the pope said this: “I have looked for you, now, you come to me.”
When my brother was dying, he would sometimes say such things…and he never seemed to be saying it to us, his family, who were nearby, but to someone unseen.
2:30AM A really good Timeline, complete with document links.
2:20AM Was it just me? I don’t know. Possibly I’m tired, but it seemed to me that Keith Olberman found himself somewhat confounded, then impressed and finally rather awestruck as he reported on JPII, as he spoke to people who knew him or met him and related stories, as he learned about the very difficult and fraught-with-danger life the Pope has lived, since he was 10 years old and the Nazi’s strafed his street. Or, since he was 10 years old and (as related by a Jewish childhood friend) found himself moved to defend his Jewish friend from anti-semitism in the neighborhood. Olberman seemed amazed. He kept going back, over and over again, to this bit of news, that JPII, with the help of his sec’y last night wrote the following note to those surrounding him: “I am happy, and you should be as well, let us pray together with joy.” Olberman must have read it, asked about it and talked about it 50 times last night. Keith Olberman. Confounded. Sweet! :-)
Saturday 1:44AM Baldilocks has a really, really GOOD retrospective of JPII and his effect on communism – she points to his first return to Poland in 1979 as a significant turning point, and I don’t disagree. This linke to a PBS documentary on JP and the fall of Communism is also outstanding.
11:00PM Time for sleep. Okay, okay, so even the dying pontiff has more stamina than I! But I’m going to leave you with a great article from last year, printed in the Israel National News
“I can tell you something that the rabbi of Warsaw told me just this week – something very wondrous that resulted from this meeting. He said that after we met, he received dozens of calls from Poles who wished to confess their role in killing Jews during the Holocaust. The rabbi rebuffed them, though, saying he wasn’t a priest for confession. But one man insisted and said he couldn’t sleep at night, and told him that that at age 11, his uncle came from the front wearing an army uniform and wanted to show him how to shoot. So just for fun, he [the uncle] took 50 Jews and shot them on the spot. He, the 11-year-old, threw the bodies into some kind of hollow in the ground and covered them. For 62 years, he told no one, figuring that the Jews are not important. But when he saw on television how the Pope received the Chief Rabbis with such honor, calling them ‘my older brothers’ in front of the whole world, he said he realized that he did a great sin, and he therefore called the rabbi and said he wants to show him the ‘burial’ spot, and that he wants to atone by helping bring them to proper Jewish burial. This is something that came directly out of our meeting.”
“There are certainly plenty of tensions in Church-Jewish relations from what has happened over the years,” Rabbi Metzger said, “but the current Pope is the best one in history, in terms of the Jews.”
I was raised by people who taught me to honor my Judaic roots and heritage, and was never aware of tensions between Catholics and Jews. It is unimaginable to me. Thanks to mrp in a thread at polipundit for the link.
10:52PM Mr. Wong has a Java Applet up for the pontiff.
10:50PM Someguy at Mystery Achievement has some thoughts: on JPII and suffering:
The Christ of the Gospels reaches out and embraces suffering as His destiny, His vocation – and is vindicated in that self-sacrifice at Easter. That is what John Paul II has been do
ing this past month: bearing witness to the truth that suffering embraced in obedience and love can be redemptive.
10:40PM There is someone named Fr. Vincent O’Keefe gassing with whoever it is on FOX news right now, and he sounds EXACTLY like a Kennedy! At first I thought it was Ted! I didn’t know that Boston Irishers still sounded like that! :-) They mention that the pope was only 58 years old when he was elected. The same age Bill Clinton and President Bush are, now.
10:27PM Don Singleton has some gorgeous photos of JPII over here. And Hugh Hewitt (third time I’ve linked to him today) has a lovely email from a young woman who explains why the pope has so resonated with the young people. (Scroll down for it).
I learned through him about how the culture of death had hurt me, and how God wanted me to be not afraid.
I understand what Mort Kondracke does not: it is because the Pope held strong against contraception, against women in the church, against married priests, etc. that the young have thrived under his spiritual guidance. He has taught us that the modern world (and socialism/communism in particular) has so elevated human power that most modern cultures now do not have any appreciation for the ordinary miracles around us. They have inverted all of the values of life. He knew that the young inherently understood that, were victims of it, and he told us that our faith would change that culture back to one of life. – “Allison.”
Well said, kid.
10:06PM these women and these women and these are all feeling a mixture of sadness, gratitude, joy and loss. These whacky men and women are, too. I am, too, of course, I just felt like linking to ’em.
9:50PM James Lileks is getting offended on behalf of Catholics, “and I’m not even a Catholic!” he exclaims:
Right or wrong, well-reasoned or poorly I’m tired of reading blogs and bulletin boards and noting that it’s OK to joke about one dead person, perfectly fine to kick the Pope when he’s about to give up the ghost, but a breach of human decency to be less than reverential about the passing of a comic who specialized in dope humor. That sort of thing is expected on the internet, but what makes me weary is the blogligation to have an opinion about it and bang it out so the whole world knows I stand four-square against bashing near-dead Popes.
[…]
I was at Barnes and Noble today, and there was Lewis Black’s new book: “Nothing’s Sacred.” Lewis is cradled in the arms of Michelangelo’s Pieta:
Oh, you brave fellow, you. Okay, Lewis; nothing’s sacred. I expect you to dress up as Mohammed on your next book, grabbing your crotch with one hand and making heavy-metal horns with the other. Nothing’s sacred? If you say so…Get out of Mary’s lap, you foolish man.
I edited a great deal. You’ll want to go read it. He’s SUCH a great writer!
9:40PM Rebecca at Doxology has some personal thoughts that you might appreciate.
9:35PM Matt from Stones Cry Out has a nice quote from Rev. John Mark Reynolds, re JPII:
“I am no Roman and never shall be. However, this gallant knight, this friend of Reagan and the unborn, has been one of the greatest men to ever sit in Peter’s chair.
God be with you brave defender of the right. Soon God will vouch safe to give you a vision of Himself unmediated by pain in that Undiscovered Country from which no man must return.”
8:15PM I never link enough to Doug over at Bogus Gold. I like what he’s written here, because I think it is true for many of us. It is certainly true for me.
This pope is the one who taught me to recognize human life – and human dignity – even among those the rest of my society tells me I need not do that for. He’s the one that opened my eyes to the glory of God, and the essential and unsullied human dignity present in those others describe as “non-persons.”
8:05 PM Hugh Hewitt – bless him, the man never seems to rest – links to a site I never knew existed, but I wish I’d known it – it’s dedicated to what many refer to as John Paul’s as yet under-appreciated masterwork on the Theology of the Body. It looks to be very good and helpful.
7:35PM if you’re just coming in from work and wondering what you’ve missed on television coverage, well, you missed a beautiful mass and rosary, but Political Teen has lots of video grabs of the rest of it. He also shows The Pope Blog which I’d never seen before but looks good!
7:15 PM A good time to re-read what I think is one of the all-time-great bits of writing on JPII, by Peggy Noonan, who recounts her meeting (along with other pilgrims) with John Paul the Great. Some of her best and most affecting writing.
7:05 PM Katie Rowland recalls a nice moment in LA, when JPII went over and embraced guitarist Tony Melendez after Tony, who was born without hands, had played guitar for the Pope…with his feet. Tony, of course, were he born today in Holland, would be treated to Infant Euthanasia…assuming he hadn’t been aborted from a sonargram.
6:50PM A four year-old Christian kid wants to tell heaven to get ready for JPII! Very cute:
I told her what I was watching is here The Pope lives, that they will close those windows (was showing her the lit up windows on the TV) and that tells people he has Gone with God. Her response was….well hold on…and she grabbed our phone….she says we need to call him. I tried to tell her we can’t call him, I don’t know his phone number, plus when people are sick they don’t like to normally talk on the phone. She then said…well we need to call the people that are there with him and tell them to give him some medicine so he can be healthy again. So we went on to talk about how sometimes you can’t get medicine to make you healthy, that sometimes you are sick because your body wants to allow you to go to heaven. So then she said, well we should pray that God is ready for him, because if the Pope is going to heaven then they better be ready for him.
6:10PM I have to go take Buster to work. Will be back asap. :-)
6:06PM Ed Morrissey has a very lovely Godspeed and Farewell for JPII:
When John Paul II took over the Papacy in 1978, the first non-Italian Pope in more than four centuries, he came from a land that had suffered under the domination of two different kinds of tyrannies for over 40 years. The Communist oppression under which the new Pope had lived created a love of liberty and justice in the amazingly vital John Paul. He survived an assassin’s bullet in what seemed to be a season of miracles; Ronald Reagan had barely survived a similar attack just weeks earlier. Both men would emerge as strong as ever, and together they would apply the pressures needed to destroy the communist nightmare of Eastern Europe and free millions who lived behind the Iron Curtain.
John Paul II commanded no armies and had no weapons on hand except for his love of God and compassion for humanity. Many disagree with the Pope’s positions on the issues of the day, but no one can deny the essential goodness and humility that he exemplified. He did not distance himself from his flock, even when he became so ill and so disabled that we wondered if his calling would end his life. He loved his Church so much that he could not keep himself from celebrating Mass on his regular schedule until finally his health simply would not permit it.
Just lovely. You’ll want to read it all. Please don’t forget to offer up a prayer for the First Mate, tonight.
5:55 PM Was just thinking about Rev. Billy Graham, whom I admire very much as a great Man of God. He too is suffering with exactly this disease, Parkinson’s, though not so publicly, as JPII. How odd that both of these extraordinary men would be given the same burden, the same cross to bear. Perhaps it is a symbol of the growing commonality the Catholics and Evangelicals are finding among each other. It was Rev. Billy, I think, who said, “how you discuss another’s creed says everything about your own…” he, like John Paull II, wanted to see the Christians come together, not tear each other apart.
5:43PM: Hugh Hewitt has a very helpful and comprehensive link to America Magazine, which features everything you could want to know about papal transitioning. Thanks for the link, Hugh.
5:15 Buster is amused to hear CNN remark that the Pope wanted to be an actor, and that the world stage suited him. Buster is a ham. He is intrigued. “Hmmmmm…maybe instead of running for president, I will be Pope.”
I told him he hasn’t got even the smallest GLIMMER of a chance to be pope. I don’t need the Holy Spirit to tell me that! :-)
5:10PM Cory at Insane Troll Logic writes a beautiful and moving personal account The Man that Saved My Life…. H/T Bernard Higgins.
4:55 PM Vanderleun has AN EXCERPT FROM 1995’s EVANGELIUM VITAE (The Gospel of Life). Worth reading.
4:20PM Michelle Malkin has a good post which discusses who are the “frontrunners” to succeed JPII, including links. Remember the old saying, though, “The Cardinal who enters the conclave a Pope usually comes out a Cardinal…” JPII, himself, was not considered a “frontrunner.” The Holy Spirit has a habit of confounding expectations. Michelle also links to a beautiful photoessay by FOX.
Michelle also includes this quote: We are coming to the end of a century which began with confidence in humanity’s prospects of almost unlimited progress, but which is now ending in widespread fear and moral confusion. If we want a springtime of the human spirit, we must rediscover the foundations of hope. Above all, society must learn to embrace one more the great gift of life, to cherish it, to protect it, and to defend it against the culture of death, itself an expression of the great fear that stalks our times.
– Pope John Paul II, Oct. 2, 1998, “Ad Limina” address to the Bishops of California, Nevada, and Hawaii
4:10PM FOX News:”The pope was a genuine threat to the Soviet Empire,” well, yes. I’m flipping between FOX and CNN. I give CNN the edge.
4:05 PM Buster just reminded me of a news story he’d read while he was doing his paper. When JPII was arriving at Mile High Stadium for the International Youth Day, the crowd in the Stadium were hollaring and chanting, “JPII, we love you…” and the pilot reported later that the energy below them was so intense, huge and palpable, that it struck his chopper and made it difficult to land. Cool story. Rockstar Pope.
3:50PM Hugh Hewitt is blogging the Pope’s death and doing it splendidly. He has excellent remarks of his own, and he links to some splendid writing (not shopping venues, like me!). Check out this: No Man Lived More Fully from Red State. Hugh also points out John Allen who I agree with Hugh, is maybe the best, most reliable American journalist on anything to do with the Vatican.
A commentor named Cryingshame, on Democratic Underground gives an esoteric explanation of the meaning of the Bronze Doors, which close upon the death of the Pope. It’s pretty interesting.
3:42PM I am impressed, I must say, to hear Shep Smith encouraging someone to quote and explain one of JPII’s poems: “Sliding into death, I keep my eyes fixed on one death, one resurrection, you alone O Lord, can retrieve my body from the earth…”
3:40 PM My brother Thom just sent this link to me – way cool tee shirts and posters of JPII in shades, and a tee shirt that says “Be not afraid…” Buster is shopping.
3:35:PM As a Catholic, I must say how grateful I am to read (via email and so many Evangelical blogs) such wonderful and moving tributes to the Holy Father from Christian and non-Christian friends. I think you would be very surprised to know how very much it means to Catholics to know that so many non-Catholics appreciate this great man, and that your generosity in your appreciation. Truly. I am so happy – as I have said before – to see Evangelicals and Catholics find so many means by which they are joined by commonality, these days.
3:25PM: Archbishop Foley is mentioning how the Pope so often would tell the world: DO NOT BE AFRAID. He says that while the Pope watched the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, he held and embraced a crucifix to himself. We live in an age where the concept of suffering having value is being lost. The pope has taught us much in this regard. Cardinal Mohoney (not my favorite) is recounting how whenever you met him or he began a meeting, JPII would say – in the local language of wherever he was – “Praised be the name of Jesus Christ!”
3:15 PM I was just reading someone’s child’s comment that “The Pope was cool!” Indeed he was. I always loved the cover of this book, showing the young Bishop Wojtyla in shades, with a beret and black overcoat. First time I saw it I thought: What is Bono doing on the cover of a book about the Pope? Yes. JPII, very kewl.
2: 25 PM My son Buster just noticed a dove flying about St. Peters. We will not see his like again.
2:15 PM Here’s a nice little bit of trivia: When JPII dies, according to tradition, the carmelengo will take a small silver hammer and lightly tap his head and say, “Karol Wotyja are you there?”
Then he will tap him again and say, “Lolek, are you there?”
“Lolek” is the nickname his mother had given him. When a man is named pope, one of the first things he is asked is by what nickname his mother called him. He is asked this because in old days, when it was not always possible to tell if one was dead or deeply comatose, it was believed that if one was called by the sweet name of one’s babyhood, one might respond to it.
It is an old idea, of course, and it might be “silly” today – clearly, we will KNOW when the pope dies…and yet, I think it is sweet and lovely, that at the moment of the man’s death, he will be called by the name his loving mother gave him. This article says the pope will not be hammered according to the new, streamlined plans…but who knows…it’s still kind of lovely.
2:00 PM: The Litany of Mary is a meditation by which we ask Mary to pray for us, and we call her by all the various names she is known: Mystical Rose…Ark of the New Covenant…it’s lovely, but it also contains some serious Theology/Mariology.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In