Pope Benedict's Reflections on Trip to Poland

Pope Benedict XVI dedicated this morning's general audience to a special catechesis on his recently-concluded journey to Poland, "revisiting," together with the 35,000 faithful in St. Peter's Square, the various stages of his apostolic trip.

"My pilgrimage began under the sign of the priesthood," he said recalling his meeting with clergy in Warsaw. "It continued with an expression of ecumenical solicitude in the Lutheran church of the Most Holy Trinity. On that occasion I reiterated my firm intention to consider the restoration of full visible unity among Christian as a priority of my ministry."

The Holy Father then went on to refer to "the solemn Eucharistic celebration" in Pilsudski Square, a place, he said, "that has now acquired a symbolic value, having hosted many historic events," including Masses celebrated by John Paul II, the funeral of Cardinal Wyszynski, and "mourning ceremonies in the days following the death of my predecessor."

The Pope also mentioned his visits to the shrines "that marked the life of the priest and bishop, Karol Wojtyla:" Czestochowa, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and Divine Mercy.

"I will never forget the visit to the famous Marian Shrine of Jasna Gora at Czestochowa, ... heart of the Polish nation," he said, "where I again presented the faith as a fundamental attitude of the spirit that involves the entire person. ... From the Virgin of Sorrows at the Shrine of Kalwaria ... I asked support for the faith of the ecclesial community in moments of trial and difficulty. The visit to the Shrine of Divine Mercy ... gave me the opportunity to highlight how Divine Mercy illuminates the mystery of man. In the nearby convent, ... St. Faustina Kowalska received a message of faith for humanity, echoed and interpreted by John Paul II."

The Pope also mentioned "other symbolic shrines" of his journey: Wadowice, birthplace of John Paul II, where lie "the roots of his robust faith, his sensitive and open humanity, his love for beauty and truth, his devotion to the Virgin, his love for the Church, and above all his vocation to sanctity;" and Wawel cathedral "where he celebrated his first Mass."

Referring to his meeting with young people in Krakow's Blonie Park, the Holy Father quoted a phrase his predecessor used to like to repeat: "Stand firm in your faith." This, he added, "is the duty I left to the beloved children of Poland, encouraging them to persevere in their faithfulness to Christ and to the Church, that Europe and the world may not lack their evangelical witness. All Christians must feel the commitment to bear such witness, so as to ensure that humanity in the third millennium may never again know horrors similar to those ... of the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau."

In places such as those, the Holy Father went on, "the only response is the Cross of Christ: the Love that descended to the abyss of evil in order to save man at his very roots, where his freedom can rebel against God."

"He concluded: "May modern man never forget Auschwitz or the other 'factories of death' in which the Nazi regime sought to eliminate God and take His place. May he not be tempted to racial hatred, which is the origin of the worst forms of anti-Semitism. May he go back to recognizing that God is Father of all, and calls us all in Christ to build together a world of justice, truth and peace.

At the conclusion of his general audience the Holy Father said: "My thoughts go out to the beloved nation of East Timor, wracked by tension and violence which has caused victims and destruction. As I encourage the local Church and Catholic organizations to continue, together with other international organizations, their efforts to help those displaced, I invite you all to pray to the Most Holy Virgin that with her maternal protection she may sustain the efforts of the people working for the pacification of souls and the return of normality."

Meeting of Ecclesial Movements

At midday today in the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was held to present the 2nd World Meeting of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities which is due to take place in Rocca di Papa, south of Rome, from May 31 to June 2, on the theme: "the beauty of being a Christian and the joy of communicating this." The ecclesial movements and new communities are due to meet with Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square on Saturday June 3, the eve of Pentecost.

Participating in the press conference were Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, Bishop Josef Clemens, and Guzman Carriquiry, respectively president, secretary and under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

Archbishop Rylko affirmed that the meeting with the Pope on June 23 - the second such encounter following that of May 30, 1998 - "is an important sign of continuity with the Magisterium of John Paul II, who saw in these new groups precious gifts of the Spirit to today's Church, and a great sign of hope for humanity in our time."

After recalling how Benedict XVI's dealings with ecclesial movements "date back to the mid 1960s when he was still a teacher at Tubingen," the president of the pontifical council highlighted the fact that the Pope "sees in these movements 'powerful ways of living the faith'," and that "his theological contribution to defining the ecclesial identity of the movements is fundamental." Furthermore, the prelate added, "since his election as Pope, Benedict XVI has not ceased to show his concern for ecclesial movements."

Referring to the forthcoming meeting, organized by his Pontifical Council for the Laity, Archbishop Rylko specified that delegates from around 100 movements and new communities would be participating, along with representatives from dicasteries of the Roman Curia and an ecumenical delegation.

"At the heart of the conference's reflections," he went on, "is the question, an inevitable question for Christ's disciples: how to transmit the splendor of Christ's beauty to the modern world?"

The president of the pontifical council then emphasized that "in our own time, the experience of the beauty of being Christian has found, and continues to find, a particularly fertile soil in the ecclesial movements and new communities."

"Christians," he concluded, "must announce to the world that the Gospel is not a utopia, but a way towards the fullness of life; that faith is not a burden, a yoke to weigh down mankind, but a marvelous adventure restoring man to his full humanity and to all the dignity and freedom of the children of God; that Christ is the only answer to the desire for happiness we carry in our hearts. In a word, they must communicate the beauty that so many have found thanks to ecclesial movements and new communities."

For his part, Bishop Josef Clemens, explained some of the criteria governing the activity of the conference and the choice of relators.

"The three principal contributions," he said, "will be presented by Cardinals Christoph Schonborn O.P., Marc Ouellet P.S.S., and Angelo Scola. They will consider Christological questions (Christ, the most beautiful of Adam's sons), ecclesiological questions (the beauty of being Christian), and pastoral matters (ecclesial movements and new communities in the mission of the Church: priorities and prospects). Round table discussions will provide an opportunity to consider two fundamental aspects of the activity of movements and new communities: educational work, and bearing witness to the beauty of Christ in today's world."

"We have received numerous requests to join, but for logistical reasons the number of participants will be limited to little more than 300, representing more than 100 movements and new communities; in any case, more than double the number of ecclesial groups represented at the conference of 1998."

Bishop Clemens continued: "The organization of prayer vigils in Rome has been left to the initiative of the individual movements and communities. ... The Vicariate of Rome has made many of the city's basilicas and churches available, both in the center and on the outskirts." A list of the various initiatives may be consulted at: www.laici.org

The secretary of the pontifical council, then outlined details of the June 3 meeting with the Holy Father. "The liturgy will be preceded by a period ... of prayer and reflection," he said, "also evoking the earlier meeting with John Paul II ... in 1998, and the intervention on that occasion by the then Cardinal Ratzinger. ... A large choir composed of representatives from the various ecclesial groups will enliven this part of the meeting with songs. ... The choir will also welcome the arrival of the Holy Father and accompany him as he moves across St. Peter's Square."

At 6 p.m., the Pope will preside over the liturgy of Vespers. Three Psalms will be sung, and "at the end of each there will be a reflection or comment from a founder or leader of the movements and new communities. This will be followed by the Holy Father's homily."

It is expected that 300,000 people will participate in the event, most of them from Italy, although "30,000 faithful are on the move in Europe, of whom 4,000 from Germany. Five thousand participants are expected from Latin America, 450 from Africa, 300 from Asia and 100 from the Church in Oceania," the bishop said.

At 10 a.m. on June 4, Pentecost Sunday, the Pope will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square. A note from the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff invites all the faithful of the diocese of Rome and pilgrims present in the city to attend.

The Holy Father's Farewell to Poland

At the conclusion of the commemorative ceremony for the victims of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, the Pope travelled by car to Krakow-Balice airport, where a brief final ceremony was held before his departure for Rome.

Replying to an address from Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, the Holy Father recalled that, four years ago, when John Paul II left his homeland for the last time, he called on the Polish nation "always to be guided by sentiments of mercy, fraternal solidarity, and dedication to the common good, and he expressed the firm conviction that in this way [Poland] would not only find her proper place within a united Europe, but would also enrich this continent and the whole world with her tradition.

"Today," he went on, "as your presence in the family of European States is being constantly consolidated, I wish with my whole heart to repeat those words of hope. I ask you to remain faithful custodians of the Christian deposit, and to transmit it to future generations."

Benedict XVI thanked the Poles for their prayers for him since the moment of his election as Peter's Successor, adding: "I would like you to continue to remember me in your prayers, asking the Lord to increase my strength in the service of the Universal Church."

After thanking the president of the Republic of Poland, the civil and religious authorities, and everyone involved in the smooth running of his visit, the Pope concluded his remarks with the words of St. Paul: "Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

The papal plane took off from Krakow at 9.50 p.m., arriving at Rome's Ciampino airport at 11.30 p.m. From there, the Pope travelled back to the Vatican by helicopter.

Read the full text of the Holy Father's speech here

Pope Benedict Visits Auschwitz

Sunday afternoon, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI travelled by car from the archbishop's palace in Krakow to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, on the last stage of his apostolic trip to Poland.

The Pope walked into the Auschwitz concentration camp, passing under the words "Arbeit Macht Frei" (work makes you free) written over the gate. Once inside he was welcomed by the director of the Auschwitz Museum and by other civil and religious authorities. He visited the courtyard surrounding the Wall of Death, where prisoners used to be summarily executed, and met with former inmates. He also visited the cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe died, in the cellar of block 11.

The Holy Father then travelled by car to the center for dialogue and prayer, a Catholic institution established near the camp, upon which he bestowed his apostolic blessing. Returning to his car, he journeyed three kilometers to the camp of Birkenau. Upon arriving there, the Pope first paused before the 22 bronze slabs that symbolically commemorate the victims of the Holocaust in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. He also met with representatives of other religions and with a group of concentration camp survivors of various nationalities.

The Pope prayed for the victims and listened to the Kaddish, the Hebrew prayer of mourning, before delivering his address:

"To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man, is almost impossible - and it is particularly difficult and troubling for a Christian, for a Pope from Germany," said Benedict XVI.

"In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can only be a dread silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did You remain silent? How could You tolerate all this? In silence, then, we bow our heads before the endless line of those who suffered and were put to death here; yet our silence becomes in turn a plea for forgiveness and reconciliation, a plea to the living God never to let this happen again."

The Pope recalled the visit of John Paul II, who "came here as a son of that people which, along with the Jewish people, suffered most in this place and, in general, throughout the war. 'Six million Poles lost their lives during the Second World War: a fifth of the nation,' he reminded us. Here too he solemnly called for respect for human rights and the rights of nations."

"John Paul II came here as a son of the Polish people. I come here today as a son of the German people. For this very reason, I can and must echo his words: I could not fail to come here. I had to come. It is a duty before the truth, and the just due of all who suffered here, a duty before God, for me to come here as the successor of John Paul II and as a son of the German people - a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness and the recovery of the nation's honor, prominence and prosperity, but also through terror and intimidation, with the result that our people was used and abused as an instrument of their thirst for destruction and power."

"How many questions arise in this place!" the Holy Father cried. "Constantly the question comes up: Where was God in those days? ... How could He permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil? The words of Psalm 44 come to mind, ... This cry of anguish, which Israel raised to God in its suffering, at moments of deep distress, is also the cry for help raised by all those who in every age ... suffer for the love of God, for the love of truth and goodness."

"We cannot peer into God's mysterious plan - we see only piecemeal, and we would be wrong to set ourselves up as judges of God and history. Then we would not be defending man, but only contributing to his downfall. No - when all is said and done, we must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: ... Do not forget mankind, Your creature!"

"Let us cry out to God, with all our hearts, at the present hour, when new misfortunes befall us, when all the forces of darkness seem to issue anew from human hearts: whether it is the abuse of God's name as a means of justifying senseless violence against innocent persons, or the cynicism which refuses to acknowledge God and ridicules faith in Him."

"The place where we are standing is a place of memory, it is the place of the Shoah. The past is never simply the past. It always has something to say to us; it tells us the paths to take and the paths not to take. ... Some [of the] inscriptions [here] are pointed reminders. There is one in Hebrew. The rulers of the Third Reich wanted to crush the entire Jewish people, to cancel it from the register of the peoples of the earth. ... If this people, by its very existence, was a witness to the God Who spoke to humanity and took us to Himself, then that God finally had to die and power had to belong to man alone - to those men, who thought that by force they had made themselves masters of the world."

"Then there is the inscription in Polish. First and foremost they wanted to eliminate the cultural elite, thus erasing the Polish people as an autonomous historical subject and reducing it, to the extent that it continued to exist, to slavery. Another inscription offering a pointed reminder is the one written in the language of the Sinti and Roma people. Here too, the plan was to wipe out a whole people. ... There is also the inscription in Russian, which commemorates the tremendous loss of life endured by the Russian soldiers who combated the Nazi reign of terror; but this inscription also reminds us that their mission had a tragic twofold aim: by setting people free from one dictatorship, they were to submit them to another, that of Stalin and the communist system." The inscription in German serves as a reminder that "the Germans who had been brought to Auschwitz-Birkenau and met their death here were considered as ... the refuse of the nation."

"Yes, behind these inscriptions is hidden the fate of countless human beings. They jar our memory, they touch our hearts. They have no desire to instill hatred in us: instead, they show us the terrifying effect of hatred. Their desire is to help our reason to see evil as evil and to reject it; their desire is to enkindle in us the courage to do good and to resist evil. They want to make us feel the sentiments expressed in the words that Sophocles placed on the lips of Antigone, as she contemplated the horror all around her: 'my nature is not to join in hate but to join in love'."

Read the full text of his address here

The Holy Father's Mass in Krakow

Yesterday morning, two million people attended a Mass presided by Benedict XVI in Krakow's Blonie Park; the same place where, yesterday afternoon, he had met with young people. Polish cardinals and bishops, as well as members of the papal entourage, concelebrated with the Pope.

A representative of the Russian Orthodox Church, Fr. Igor Vyzhanov, also participated in the Eucharistic celebration, conveying to the Pope the greeting of Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all the Russias.

In his homily, the Holy Father referred to the recent Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: "Here on earth," he said, "we are called to look up to heaven, to turn our minds and hearts to the inexpressible mystery of God. We are called to look towards this divine reality, to which we have been directed from our creation. For there we find life's ultimate meaning."

After recalling how John Paul II used to celebrate Mass in the same park during his apostolic trips to his homeland, Benedict XVI said: "From here he could see Krakow and all Poland. ... Krakow, the city of Karol Wojtyła and of John Paul II, is also my Krakow! Krakow has a special place in the hearts of countless Christians throughout the world who know that John Paul II came to the Vatican Hill from this city, from Wawel Hill, 'from a far country,' which thus became a country dear to all."

The Pope then indicated that he had wished to come to Poland and to Krakow "to breathe the air of [John Paul II's] homeland. I wanted to see the land where he was born, where he grew up and undertook his tireless service to Christ and the Universal Church. ... Here I wish to ask God to preserve that legacy of faith, hope and charity which John Paul II gave to the world, and to you in particular."

Going on to refer to theme of his Polish pilgrimage, "Stand firm in your faith," the Holy Father pointed out that "faith is a deeply personal and human act, an act which has two aspects. To believe means first to accept as true what our mind cannot fully comprehend." Secondly, it means to "trust in a person, no ordinary person, but Jesus Christ Himself. What we believe is important, but even more important is the One in Whom we believe."

"When Karol Wojtyła was elected to the See of Peter in order to serve the Universal Church, your land became a place of special witness to faith in Jesus Christ. You were called to give this witness before the whole world. This vocation of yours is always needed, and it is perhaps even more urgent than ever, now that the Servant of God has passed from this life. Do not deprive the world of this witness!"

"Strengthened by faith in God, devote yourselves fervently to consolidating His Kingdom on earth, a Kingdom of goodness, justice, solidarity and mercy. I ask you to bear courageous witness to the Gospel before today's world, bringing hope to the poor, the suffering, the lost and abandoned, the desperate and those yearning for freedom, truth and peace. By doing good to your neighbor and showing your concern for the common good, you bear witness that God is love."

Pope Benedict concluded his address by calling on the faithful "to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world the treasure of your faith, not least as a way of honoring the memory of your countryman, who, as the Successor of St. Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness."

Following the Mass and before praying the "Regina Coeli," the Pope addressed some remarks to young people who, during his meeting with them yesterday, "expressed their adherence to Christ and to the Church.

"Yesterday," he said, "you presented me with the gift of your book of testimonies: 'I do not take them, I am free of drugs.' I ask you now as your father: remain faithful to this promise. It is a question of your lives and your freedom. Do not let yourselves fall victim to this world's illusions."

At the end of the ceremony, Benedict travelled by car to the archbishop's palace in Krakow where he had lunch. In the early afternoon, he bid farewell to the staff and collaborators of the archbishop, and to some of the members of the organizational committee of his visit.

Read the full text of the homily here

Build Your House on the Rock of Christ

On May 27th, having first visited Wawel cathedral in Krakow, the Holy Father travelled by popemobile to the city's Blonie Park - the site of many of John Paul II's celebrations in Krakow - where he met with young people.

Following a greeting pronounced by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, and testimonies from a number of young people, the Pope delivered an address to the 1,000,000 strong crowd that had gathered in the park to hear him.

"In the heart of every man," he began, "there is the desire for a house. Even more so in the young person's heart there is a great longing for a proper house, a stable house. ... There is a longing for a house you can be proud of. ... These longings are simply the desire for a full, happy and successful life. Do not be afraid of this desire! Do not run away from this desire! Do not be discouraged at the sight of crumbling houses, frustrated desires and faded longings. God the Creator, who inspires in young hearts an immense yearning for happiness, will not abandon you in the difficult construction of the house called life."

"How do I build that house called life? Jesus ... encourages us to build on the rock. In fact, it is only in this way that the house will not crumble. But what does it mean to build a house on the rock? Building on the rock means, first of all, to build on Christ and with Christ." It means "to build on a foundation that is called 'crucified love'."

Christ, Benedict XVI added, "knowing us better than we know ourselves, says to us: 'You are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you'." Building on the rock "means to build with Someone Who is always faithful, even when we are lacking in faith, because He cannot deny Himself; ... with Someone Who constantly looks down on the wounded heart of man and says: 'I do not condemn you, go and do not sin again.' ... Do not be afraid to lean on Christ! Long for Christ, as the foundation of your life!"

To build on the rock, the Pope went on, also means "building on Someone Who was rejected," and he recalled St. Peter's description of Jesus "as a 'living stone rejected by men.' ... The undeniable fact of the election of Jesus by God does not conceal the mystery of evil, whereby man is able to reject Him Who has loved to the very end. This rejection of Jesus ... extends throughout human history, even to our own time. ... Often, Jesus is ignored, ... He is declared a king of the past Who is not for today and certainly not for tomorrow. He is relegated to a storeroom of questions and persons one dare not mention publicly in a loud voice. If in the process of building the house of your life you encounter those who scorn the foundation on which you are building, do not be discouraged! A strong faith must endure tests. ... Our faith in Jesus Christ ... must frequently face others' lack of faith."

Yet to build on the rock, the Holy Father highlighted, also means "being aware that there will be misfortunes. ... Christ not only understands man's desire for a lasting house, but he is also fully aware of all that can wreck man's happiness. Do not be surprised therefore by misfortunes. ... An edifice built on the rock is not the same as a building removed from the forces of nature, which are inscribed in the mystery of man. To have built on rock means being able to count on the knowledge that at difficult times there is a reliable force upon which you can trust."

"What does it mean to build on the rock?" the Pope asked again. "Building on the rock also means to build on Peter and with Peter. ... 'You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.' ... If Christ, the Rock, ... calls His Apostle 'rock,' it means that He wants Peter, and together with him the entire Church, to be a visible sign of the one Savior and Lord. ... Do not be fooled by those who want to play Christ against the Church. ... Young people, you know well the Rock of our times. Accordingly, do not forget that neither that Peter who is watching our gathering from the window of God the Father, nor this Peter who is now standing in front of you, nor any successive Peter will ever be opposed to you or the building of a lasting house on the rock."

"The last word is a hopeful one," Pope Benedict concluded. "The fear of failure can at times frustrate even the most beautiful dreams. ... It can convince one that the yearning for such a house is only a childish aspiration and not a plan for life. ... You are all witnesses to hope, to that hope which is not afraid to build the house of one's own life because it is certain that it can count on the foundation that will never crumble: Jesus Christ our Lord."

Having completed his address, the Pope gave the young people the "Flame of Mercy," as a symbol of their mission to carry the light of faith throughout the world, and blessed the first stone of the John Paul II Center.

Read the full text of the address here

A Great Loss

A Priest of the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese killed in Texas water accident:

Father Todd Reitmeyer, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls serving in Faulkton, Seneca and Orient, SD was killed in a jet ski accident while vacationing in Texas on May 24.

Father Reitmeyer is a native of the Austin, Texas area who was ordained a priest here in 2003. He was currently home to visit family and friends during his vacation. The accident occurred on Lake Travis near Austin.
Father Reitmeyer was born on May 13, 1969 to David and Phyllis Reitmeyer in Virginia. His father was in the military so the family moved some, but eventually settled in the Austin, Texas area. His father suffered a stroke and died in 1992. He graduated from Texas A&M, and earned a Masters degree in counseling from Northwest Missouri State. His discernment of his vocation led him to meet Bishop Robert Carlson, and eventually Todd moved to South Dakota, living in Faulkton with then pastor Father Terry Anderson for several months before entering the seminary. He attended St. John Vianney Seminary in St. Paul, MN before studying Theology at North American College in Rome.

He was ordained on June 13, 2003 at St. Joseph Cathedral by Bishop Robert Carlson. His first assignment was as associate pastor at St. Michael, Sioux Falls. He then became administrator of St. Michael, Herreid, St. Anthony, Selby and St. Joseph, Eureka where he served from January of 2004 until June of 2005. For the past year he has served as administrator at St. Thomas, Faulkton and St. Boniface, Seneca, as well as sacramental minister for St. Joseph, Orient. He served as spiritual director for St. Margaret Fellowship, the association of Catholic home school families since August 2003.

Father Todd is survived by his mother Phyllis Steiger of Rochester, MN; two brothers, William of Austin, TX and Thomas of College Station, TX; his sister, Christina Sheely of Coldwater, MI, and many friends. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Church of Santa Cruz, Buda, TX on Tuesday, May 30, 10:00 a.m. A Scripture service will be held at the Church Monday evening at 7:30. He will be buried at Assumption Cemetery, Austin, TX.

A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls, at noon on Wednesday, May 31, celebrated by Bishop Samuel Aquila, apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Sioux Falls.

Fr. Todd was the blogger behind "A Son Becomes a Father". While I did not know him outside of our online world, his passing leaves a deep void.

Requiescat in Pace

The Address of the Holy Father at the Shrine of Divine Mercy

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am very pleased to be able to meet you during my visit here to the Shrine of Divine Mercy. I extend heartfelt greetings to all of you: to the sick, their carers, the priests engaged in pastoral ministry at the Shrine, to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, to the members of the "Faustinum" and to all those present.

On this occasion we encounter two mysteries: the mystery of human suffering and the mystery of Divine Mercy. At first sight these two mysteries seem to be opposed to one another. But when we study them more deeply in the light of faith, we find that they are placed in reciprocal harmony through the mystery of the Cross of Christ. As Pope John Paul II said in this place: "the Cross is the most profound bowing down of the Divinity towards man … the Cross is like a touch of eternal love on the most painful wounds of humanity’s earthly existence" (17 August 2002). Dear friends who are sick, who are marked by suffering in body or soul, you are most closely united to the Cross of Christ, and at the same time, you are the most eloquent witnesses of God’s mercy. Through you and through your suffering, he bows down towards humanity with love. You who say in silence: "Jesus, I trust in you" teach us that there is no faith more profound, no hope more alive and no love more ardent than the faith, hope and love of a person who in the midst of suffering places himself securely in God’s hands. May the human hands of those who care for you in the name of mercy be an extension of the open hands of God.

I would so willingly embrace each one of you. But since this is impossible, I draw you spiritually to my heart, and I impart my Blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Address at the Sanctuary

At the end of his meeting with the people of Wadowice, the Holy Father Benedict XVI traveled by car to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Kalwaria.

Below is the address given there:

Dear (Franciscan) Fathers,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

During his first journey to Poland, Pope John Paul II visited this Shrine and dedicated his address to the topic of prayer. At the conclusion he said: "I ask you to pray for me here during my life and after my death." Today, I wanted to pause for a moment in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, with gratitude, to pray for him as he requested. Following the example of John Paul II, I also turn to you, kindly asking that you pray for me and for all the Church.

I would also like to say, as has dear Cardinal Stanislaw, that I hope Divine Providence will soon concede the Beatification and Canonisation of our beloved Pope John Paul II.

Blessing in Latin

The Holy Father's Address at Wadowice

In the footsteps of John Paul II, a witness of faith;

Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

I am filled with emotion in the birthplace of my great Predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II, in this town of his childhood and young adult life. Indeed, I could not leave out Wadowice as I make this pilgrimage in Poland following in his footsteps. I wished to stop precisely here, in the place where his faith began and matured, to pray together with all of you that he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great German poet, said: "He who wishes to understand a poet, should visit his native land." This is also true for those who wish to understand the life and ministry of John Paul II; it is necessary to come to the city of his birth. He himself confessed that here, in Wadowice, "everything began: life, studies, the theatre and the priesthood" (Wadowice, 16 June 1999).

John Paul II, returning to his beginnings, often referred to a sign: that of the baptismal font, to which he himself gave special veneration in the Church of Wadowice. In 1979, during his first pilgrimage in Poland he stated: "In this baptismal font, on 20 June 1920, I was given the grace to become a son of God, together with faith in my Redeemer, and I was welcomed into the community of the Church. I have already solemnly kissed this baptismal font in the year of the millennium of the Baptism of Poland, when I was Archbishop of Kraków. I kissed it again on the fiftieth anniversary of my baptism, when I was a Cardinal, and today I kiss this baptismal font for the third time, as I come from Rome as the Successor of Saint Peter" (Wadowice, 7 June 1979). It seems that in these words of John Paul II is contained the key to understanding the consistency of his faith, the radicalism of his Christian life and the desire for sanctity that he continuously manifested. Here is the profound awareness of divine grace, the unconditional love of God for man, that by means of water and the Holy Spirit places the Catechumen among the multitude of his children, who are redeemed by the Blood of Christ. The way of an authentically Christian life equals faithfulness to the promises of holy Baptism. The watchword of this pilgrimage: "Stand firm in your faith", finds in this place its concrete dimension that can be expressed with the exhortation: "Stand firm in the observance of your baptismal promises." A witness of just such a faith – of whom this place speaks in a very special way – is the Servant of God John Paul II.

My great Predecessor indicated the Basilica of Wadowice, his home parish, as a place of particular importance for the development of his spiritual life and the priestly vocation that was manifesting itself within him. He once stated: "In this church I made my first Confession and received my first Holy Communion. Here I was an altar boy. Here I gave thanks to God for the gift of the priesthood and, as Archbishop of Kraków, I celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. God alone, the giver of every grace, knows what goodness and what manifold graces I received from this church and from this parish community. To him, the Triune God, I give glory today at the doors of this church" (Wadowice, 16 June 1999). The church is a sign of the communion of believers united by the presence of God who dwells in their midst. This community is the Church Pope John Paul II loved. His love for the Church was born in the parish of Wadowice. In it he experienced the sacramental life, evangelization and the formation of a mature faith. For this reason, as a priest, as a bishop and as Pope, he treated parochial communities with such great care. In the spirit of that same solicitude, during the visit ad limina Apostolorum, I asked the Polish Bishops to do everything possible to ensure that the Polish parish would truly be an "ecclesial community" and a "family of the Church".

In conclusion, let me recall once again a characteristic of the faith and spirituality of John Paul II, which is united to this place. He himself remembered many times the deep attachment of the inhabitants of Wadowice to the local image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the custom of daily prayer in front of her by the school children. This memory helps us arrive at the source of the conviction that nourished John Paul II – the conviction regarding the exceptional place that the Mother of God had in his life, a conviction that he himself, filled with devotion, expressed in the motto "Totus tuus". Until the last moments of his earthly pilgrimage he remained faithful to this dedication.

In the spirit of this devotion, before this image I wish to give thanks to God for the Pontificate of John Paul II and, like him, I ask that Our Lady watch over the Church which by the will of God has been entrusted to me to guide. I also ask all of you, dear brothers and sisters, to pray for me just as you prayed for your great fellow countryman. From the depths of my heart, I bless all of you present here today and all those who come to Wadowice to draw from the font of the spirit of faith of John Paul II.

Visit to Birthplace of Pope John Paul II

At 9.30 a.m. today, having celebrated a private Mass in the chapel of the archbishop's palace in Krakow, the Holy Father travelled by car to Wadowice, the home town of John Paul II.
The Pope visited the basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where Karol Wojtyla was baptized, before going on to see the house in which he was born. On May 18, 1984, in honor of the late pontiff's 64th birthday, the house was converted into a museum. Benedict XVI visited the apartment in which the Wojtyla family lived, which is now used as an exhibition space for photographs recording Karol Wojtyla's life as priest, bishop and Pope.
At 11 a.m., the Pope met with local inhabitants in Wadowice's Rynek Square, in front of the basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
Following a greeting from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow, the Pope delivered his address. "I wished to stop precisely here, in the place where his faith began and matured," he said referring to his predecessor, "to pray together with all of you that he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars."
The Holy Father then recalled how John Paul II would often refer to the baptismal font of the church of Wadowice where, on June 20, 1920 he received the Sacrament of Christian initiation, and for which he had "special veneration." This, said Pope Benedict, is "the key to understanding the consistency of his faith, the radicalism of his Christian life and the desire for sanctity that he continuously manifested."
"His love for the Church was born in the parish of Wadowice. In it he experienced the sacramental life, evangelization and the formation of a mature faith. For this reason, as a priest, as a bishop and as Pope, he treated parish communities with such great care. In the spirit of that same solicitude, during the visit 'ad limina,' I asked the Polish bishops to do everything possible to ensure that the Polish parish would truly be an 'ecclesial community' and a 'family of the Church'."
The Holy Father then recalled another "characteristic of the faith and spirituality of John Paul II, which is united to this place. ... The deep attachment of the inhabitants of Wadowice to the local image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. ... This memory helps us arrive at the source of the conviction that nourished John Paul II: the conviction regarding the exceptional place that the Mother of God had in his life, a conviction that he himself, filled with devotion, expressed in the motto 'Totus tuus.' Until the last moments of his earthly pilgrimage he remained faithful to this dedication."
"In the spirit of this devotion," the Pope concluded, "before this image I wish to give thanks to God for the pontificate of John Paul II and, like him, I ask that Our Lady watch over the Church which by the will of God has been entrusted to me to guide. I also ask all of you to pray for me just as you prayed for your great fellow countryman."
At the end of the meeting, the Holy Father travelled by car to the Shrine of the Virgin of Kalwaria. The shrine, dedicated to the Passion of Jesus and the Virgin of Sorrows, takes its name from the Calvary of Jerusalem. Its 15 kilometer-long Via Crucis is the only Way of the Cross to be included among UNESCO's world heritage sites. As a youth Karol Wojtyla used to make frequent pilgrimages there.
After visiting the shrine, Benedict XVI delivered a brief greeting to the community of Friars Minor living in the convent of the shrine, and to the faithful gathered there. The Pope recalled how, during his first journey to Poland, Pope John Paul II had visited this shrine and had dedicated his address to the topic of prayer. "At the conclusion he said: 'I ask you to pray for me here during my life and after my death.' Today, I wanted to pause for a moment in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, with gratitude, to pray for him as he requested. Following the example of John Paul II, I also turn to you, kindly asking that you pray for me and for all the Church."
During his return journey to Krakow, the Pope visited the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Langiewniki. He paused in prayer before the tomb of St. Faustina Kowalska where Karol Wojtyla frequently came to pray when he was a worker and later as a clandestine seminarian in the 1940s. Benedict XVI also visited the basilica where he met with 800 sick people.

Summary of Czestochowa Visit

At 5.15 p.m. today, Benedict XVI arrived by helicopter at the Polish city of Czestochowa to visit the Shrine of the Virgin of Jasna Gora, Poland's most famous Marian shrine, where John Paul II confided his pontificate to the Mother of God.
The image of the Virgin of Jasna Gora is decked with new vestments, in fulfillment of a vow to mark the 350th anniversary of the defense of her shrine against Swedish troops by Fr. Augustin Kordecki, and as an expression of gratitude for the life of John Paul II on the 25th anniversary of the birth of the "Solidarnosc" trade union. The image's golden crowns were blessed and offered by John Paul II on April 1 2005, the eve of his death.
At 6 p.m., having visited the convent of the shrine, which is under the care of the Pauline Fathers, the Holy Father met with religious, seminarians and representatives from Catholic movements and institutes of consecrated life.
In his address to the them, Pope Benedict began by affirming that "Mary, the Mother of the Lord, is among us. Today it is she who leads our meditation; she teaches us how to pray. Mary shows us how to open our minds and our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit, Who comes to us so as to be brought to the whole world."
"Mary sustained the faith of Peter and the Apostles in the Upper Room, and today she sustains my faith and yours," said the Pope. "Faith is contact with the mystery of God. ... It is the gift, given to us in Baptism, which makes our encounter with God possible. God is hidden in mystery; to claim to understand Him would mean to want to confine Him within our thinking and knowing, and consequently to lose Him irremediably. With faith, however, we can open up a way through concepts, even theological concepts, and can 'touch' the living God."
"In the Upper Room the Apostles did not know what awaited them. They were afraid and worried about their own future. ... Mary, 'she who believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's words,' ... taught perseverance in the faith. By her own attitude she convinced them that the Holy Spirit, in His wisdom, knew well the path on which He was leading them, and that consequently they could place their confidence in God."
"Many of you here present have experienced this secret call of the Holy Spirit and have responded. ... It was Jesus who called you, inviting you to a more profound union with Him."
"Do you remember," the Holy Father asked the religious, "your enthusiasm when you began the pilgrimage of the consecrated life, trusting in the grace of God? Try not to lose this first fervor, and let Mary lead you to an ever fuller adherence."
He cried: "Dear men and women religious, dear consecrated persons! Whatever the mission entrusted to you, ... maintain in your hearts the primacy of your consecrated life" which, "lived in faith, unites you closely to God, calls forth charisms and confers an extraordinary fruitfulness to your service."
Turning to address seminarians, the Pope recommended they reflect "on the way Mary learned from Jesus! From her very first 'fiat,' through the long, ordinary years of the hidden life, as she brought up Jesus, ... she 'learned' Him moment by moment. ... On your journey of preparation, and in your future priestly ministry, let Mary guide you as you 'learn' Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on Him. Let Him form you, so that in your ministry you will be able to show Him to all who approach you."
"The vitality of your communities," Benedict XVI told representatives of the new movements in the Church, "is a sign of the Holy Spirit's active presence! It is from the faith of the Church and from the richness of the fruits of the Holy Spirit that your mission has been born. ... Believe in the grace of God which accompanies you and bring it into the living fabric of the Church, especially in places the priest or religious cannot reach."
"You are nourished," he continued, "by different schools of spirituality recognized by the Church. Draw upon the wisdom of the saints, have recourse to the heritage they have left us. Form your minds and your hearts on the works of the great masters and witnesses of the faith, knowing that the schools of spirituality must not be a treasure locked up in convents or libraries.
"The Gospel wisdom, contained in the writings of the great saints and attested to in their lives, must be brought in a mature way, not childishly or aggressively, to the world of culture and work, to the world of the media and politics. ... The authenticity of your faith and mission, which does not draw attention to itself but truly radiates faith and love, can be tested by measuring it against Mary's faith. ... Remain in her school!"
"God is love," the Holy Father concluded, "These were the words that I placed at the beginning of the first Encyclical of my pontificate. ... This is the most important, most central truth about God. To all for whom it is difficult to believe in God, I say again today: 'God is love.' Dear friends, be witnesses to this truth."
At the end of the meeting, Benedict XVI returned by helicopter to Krakow where, after dinner, he appeared at the balcony of the archbishop's palace to greet people gathered in the street below, following a custom of John Paul II when he visited Krakow.
"I know," he told them, "that on the second of each month, at the time my beloved predecessor died, you meet here to commemorate him and pray for his elevation to the honors of the altar. May this prayer be of support to those who concern themselves with his cause [of beatification] and enrich your hearts with grace."
"Despite his death, he - young in God - is among us, he invites us to reinvigorate the grace of faith and renew ourselves in the Spirit."

Read the complete text of the Holy Father's address here

Summary of Mass at Pilsudski Square

At 9.15 this morning, the Pope travelled from the apostolic nunciature, where he had spent the night, to Warsaw's Pilsudski Square, also known as Victory Square, where he presided at a Eucharistic concelebration. It was in Pilsudski Square, on June 2 1979, that John Paul II began his first pastoral visit to his homeland.
Concelebrating with the Holy Father were Polish cardinals and bishops, as well as bishops from other countries and a large number of priests. The service was attended by 270,000 people, including Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, and other civil authorities.
Addressing the faithful gathered under the driving rain, Benedict XVI recalled in his homily how in the same square, "on the eve of Pentecost, Pope John Paul II uttered the significant words of the prayer 'Let your Spirit descend, and renew the face of the earth.' And he added: 'The face of this land'."
"How can we not thank God today for all that was accomplished in your native land and in the whole world during the pontificate of John Paul II? Before our eyes, changes occurred in entire political, economic and social systems. People in various countries regained their freedom and their sense of dignity."
Faced with people or groups who obscure Church tradition, "seeking to falsify the Word of Christ and to remove from the Gospel those truths which, in their view, are too uncomfortable for modern man," said the Pope, "every Christian is bound to confront his own convictions continually with the teachings of the Gospel and of the Church's Tradition in the effort to remain faithful to the word of Christ, even when it is demanding and, humanly speaking, hard to understand.
"We must not yield to the temptation of relativism or of a subjectivist and selective interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Only the whole truth can open us to adherence to Christ, Who died and rose for our salvation."
After highlighting how "faith consists in an intimate relationship with Christ," Benedict XVI made it clear that to love Christ means "trusting Him even in times of trial. ... Entrusting ourselves to Christ, we lose nothing, we gain everything. In His hands our life acquires its true meaning. ... To love Him is to remain in dialogue with Him, in order to know His will and to put it into effect promptly."
He added: "Yet living one's personal faith as a love-relationship with Christ also means being ready to renounce everything that constitutes a denial of His love. ... Faith as adherence to Christ is revealed as love that prompts us to promote the good inscribed by the Creator into the nature of every man and woman among us, into the personality of every human being and into everything that exists in the world."
The Pope concluded his homily by recalling that 27 years ago, "in this place, Pope John Paul II said: 'Poland has become nowadays the land of particularly responsible witness.' I ask you now," he added, "to cultivate this rich heritage of faith transmitted to you by earlier generations, the heritage of the thought and the service of that great Pole who was Pope John Paul II. Stand firm in your faith, hand it down to your children, bear witness to the grace which you have experienced so abundantly through the Holy Spirit in the course of your history."
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Holy Father returned to the apostolic nunciature, where he had lunch with members of his entourage.
Early this afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to Czestochowa where he will visit the most famous Marian shrine in Poland and meet with religious, seminarians and representatives from Catholic movements and institutes of consecrated life. He will then move on to Krakow where he is due spend the night in the archbishop's place.

Poland - Day 2 -

At 9:30 this morning, the Holy Father presided at a Eucharistic Celebration at the Piłsudski Square in Warsaw. Concelebrating withthe Holy Father were the Polish Cardinals and Bishops, Cardinals and Bishops of other countries, as well as numerous priests. The Polish President and numerous other government authorities were in attendance.

The text of the Holy Father's homily is below:

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord, "Together with you I wish to sing a hymn of praise to divine Providence, which enables me to be here as a pilgrim." Twenty-seven years ago, my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II began his homily in Warsaw with these words. I make them my own, and I thank the Lord who has enabled me to come here today to this historic Square. Here, on the eve of Pentecost, Pope John Paul II uttered the significant words of the prayer "Let your Spirit descend, and renew the face of the earth." And he added: "The face of this land." This very place witnessed the solemn funeral ceremony of the great Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, whose twenty-fifth anniversary occurs during these days. God united these two men not only through the same faith, hope and love, but also through the same human vicissitudes, which linked each of them so strongly to the history of this people and of the Church that lives in their midst. At the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope John Paul II wrote to Cardinal Wyszyński: "This Polish Pope would not be on the Chair of Peter today, beginning a new Pontificate, full of the fear of God, but also full of trust, had it not been for your faith, which did not bend in the face of imprisonment and suffering, your heroic hope, your trusting to the end in the Mother of the Church; had it not been for Jasna Góra and this whole period of the history of the Church in our homeland, linked to your service as Bishop and Primate" (Letter of Pope John Paul II to the Polish People, 23 October 1978). How can we not thank God today for all that was accomplished in your native land and in the whole world during the Pontificate of John Paul II? Before our eyes, changes occurred in entire political, economic and social systems. People in various countries regained their freedom and their sense of dignity. "Let us not forget the great works of God" (cf. Ps 78:7). I thank you too for your presence and for your prayer. I thank the Cardinal Primate for the words that he addressed to me. I greet all the Bishops here present. I am glad that the President and the Authorities of national and local government could be here. I embrace with my heart all the Polish people both at home and abroad.

"Stand firm in your faith!" We have just heard the words of Jesus: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth" (Jn 14:15-17a). With these words Jesus reveals the profound link between faith and the profession of Divine Truth, between faith and dedication to Jesus Christ in love, between faith and the practice of a life inspired by the commandments. All three dimensions of faith are the fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit. This action is manifested as an inner force that harmonizes the hearts of the disciples with the Heart of Christ and makes them capable of loving as he loved them. Hence faith is a gift, but at the same time it is a task.

"He will give you another Counsellor – the Spirit of truth." Faith, as knowledge and profession of the truth about God and about man, "comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ", as Saint Paul says (Rom 10:17). Throughout the history of the Church, the Apostles preached the word of Christ, taking care to hand it on intact to their successors, who in their turn transmitted it to subsequent generations until our own day. Many preachers of the Gospel gave their lives specifically because of their faithfulness to the truth of the word of Christ. And so solicitude for the truth gave birth to the Church’s Tradition. As in past centuries, so also today there are people or groups who obscure this centuries-old Tradition, seeking to falsify the Word of Christ and to remove from the Gospel those truths which in their view are too uncomfortable for modern man. They try to give the impression that everything is relative: even the truths of faith would depend on the historical situation and on human evaluation. Yet the Church cannot silence the Spirit of Truth. The successors of the Apostles, together with the Pope, are responsible for the truth of the Gospel, and all Christians are called to share in this responsibility, accepting its authoritative indications. Every Christian is bound to confront his own convictions continually with the teachings of the Gospel and of the Church’s Tradition in the effort to remain faithful to the word of Christ, even when it is demanding and, humanly speaking, hard to understand. We must not yield to the temptation of relativism or of a subjectivist and selective interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Only the whole truth can open us to adherence to Christ, dead and risen for our salvation.

Christ says: "If you love me ... " Faith does not just mean accepting a certain number of abstract truths about the mysteries of God, of man, of life and death, of future realities. Faith consists in an intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship based on love of him who loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:11), even to the total offering of himself. "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). What other response can we give to a love so great, if not that of a heart that is open and ready to love? But what does it mean to love Christ? It means trusting him even in times of trial, following him faithfully even on the Via Crucis, in the hope that soon the morning of the Resurrection will come. Entrusting ourselves to Christ, we lose nothing, we gain everything. In his hands our life acquires its true meaning. Love for Christ expresses itself in the will to harmonize our own life with the thoughts and sentiments of his Heart. This is achieved through interior union based on the grace of the Sacraments, strengthened by continuous prayer, praise, thanksgiving and penance. We have to listen attentively to the inspirations that he evokes through his Word, through the people we meet, through the situations of daily life. To love him is to remain in dialogue with him, in order to know his will and to put it into effect promptly.

Yet living one’s personal faith as a love-relationship with Christ also means being ready to renounce everything that constitutes a denial of his love. That is why Jesus said to the Apostles: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." But what are Christ’s commandments? When the Lord Jesus was teaching the crowds, he did not fail to confirm the law which the Creator had inscribed on men’s hearts and had then formulated on the tablets of the Decalogue. "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished" (Mt 5:17-18). But Jesus showed us with a new clarity the unifying centre of the divine laws revealed on Sinai, namely love of God and love of neighbour: "To love [God] with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mk 12:33). Indeed, in his life and in his Paschal Mystery Jesus brought the entire law to completion. Uniting himself with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, he carries with us and in us the "yoke" of the law, which thereby becomes a "light burden" (Mt 11:30). In this spirit, Jesus formulated his list of the inner qualities of those who seek to live their faith deeply: Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who weep, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake ... (cf. Mt 5:3-12).

Dear brothers and sisters, faith as adherence to Christ is revealed as love that prompts us to promote the good inscribed by the Creator into the nature of every man and woman among us, into the personality of every other human being and into everything that exists in the world. Whoever believes and loves in this way becomes a builder of the true "civilization of love", of which Christ is the centre. Twenty-seven years ago, in this place, Pope John Paul II said: "Poland has become nowadays the land of a particularly responsible witness" (Warsaw, 2 June 1979). I ask you now, cultivate this rich heritage of faith transmitted to you by earlier generations, the heritage of the thought and the service of that great Pole who was Pope John Paul II. Stand firm in your faith, hand it down to your children, bear witness to the grace which you have experienced so abundantly through the Holy Spirit in the course of your history. May Mary, Queen of Poland, show you the way to her Son, and may she accompany you on your journey towards a happy, peace-filled future. May your hearts never be wanting in love for Christ and for his Church. Amen!

Summary of Airport Arrival

The Pope departed from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 8.50 a.m. today bound for Poland where he landed, following a flight of just over two hours, at the international airport of Warsaw-Okecie. Waiting to welcome the Holy Father were Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland, accompanied by his wife, Cardinal Jozef Glemp, primate of the Polish Catholic Church, and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Krakow.
After listening to the president's welcome speech, Benedict XVI affirmed in his own address that he had come to Poland "to follow in the footsteps" of Servant of God John Paul II, "from his boyhood until his departure for the memorable conclave of 1978." He also mentioned the theme of his trip, taken from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "Stand firm in your faith."
"This is no mere sentimental journey," the Pope added, "but rather a journey of faith, a part of the mission entrusted to me by the Lord in the person of the Apostle Peter."
Recalling the various stages of his forthcoming journey - Warsaw, Czestochowa, Krakow, Wadowice, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Krakow - he concluded: "Finally, I shall go to Auschwitz. There I hope especially to meet survivors of the Nazi terror who come from different countries, all of whom suffered under that tragic tyranny."
Earlier, during the flight from Warsaw to Rome, speaking to journalists accompanying him on his trip, the Pope described what happened in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau as "something monstrous."
While visiting the camps, he added, he will "think of the many dead," but will also seek "to understand how it was possible for man to fall so low and down tread others."
"Let us hope that, from Auschwitz, there arises a new sense of humanism and a vision of man as the image of God. Let us hope this will serve to prevent such things ever happening again."
At the end of the welcome ceremony, Benedict XVI travelled by popemobile to the cathedral of Warsaw, dedicated to St. John, where he participated in a meeting with clergy.

The Graduation Speech of the Year

I want to offer my personal congratulations to Ben Kessler who graduated this year from the University of St. Thomas. He gave what is probably the best commencement speech of the year.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported it this way:

A spring term that began with controversy at the University of St. Thomas ended the same way Saturday when a student used part of his commencement address to admonish people he considered "selfish," including women who use birth control.
The remarks by Ben Kessler, a well-known student recently honored by peers and faculty as Tommie of the Year, led to catcalls and boos during commencement at the Catholic university in St. Paul. Others booed those who were booing. Some students walked out on their own graduation ceremony.
Buzz about the incident dominated post-graduation parties, spread throughout the community and sparked a flurry of e-mails. By Monday, there were scattered requests to strip Kessler of his Tommie of the Year award and questions about why St. Thomas officials didn't try to pull the plug on Kessler's speech as the crowd's unhappiness intensified.
"He definitely ruined the day for pretty much everyone in the audience," said Darin Aus, who was awarded his bachelor's degree Saturday and stayed for the entire ceremony. "He made people mad enough to leave their own graduation."
Kessler, a celebrated football player with a deep Catholic faith, apologized Monday in a written statement distributed by the university.
"Instead of providing hope to all, I offended some by my words and by my decision to speak those words at commencement," he wrote.
He was unavailable for comment beyond the statement.
The university's president, the Rev. Dennis Dease, also expressed regret "that graduates and their families and guests were offended by Mr. Kessler's remarks." Dease said he told Kessler it was inappropriate for him to use commencement to express his opinions.
Kessler's speech was the latest in a series of controversies that has divided the campus. It began with university decisions last year that kept a lesbian choral director from traveling with her partner and kept an unmarried heterosexual couple from sharing a room on a student trip.
Those decisions, affirmed last month in a new university travel code, led to a fear among some staff and students that those who aren't Catholic or whose lives don't reflect Catholic doctrine aren't welcome. St. Thomas officials said that wasn't true but defended the travel policy position vigorously as consistent with Catholic values.
Commencement offered the chance to put all the divisive issues aside. As is the custom, the student-selected Tommie of the Year speaks at graduation.
"The speech started out pretty normal," Aus said. Then, he said, Kessler began talking about his disappointment at fellow students after a spring dance when a food fight became intense enough that security was summoned.
"His disappointment kind of snowballed," Aus said.
Kessler also alluded to the unmarried professors caught up in the travel policy battles, calling them selfish. And he then called women who use birth control selfish.
He also called himself selfish and said he needed to be a better person, said university spokesman Doug Hennes.
Some defended his remarks, while others said he had no business raising hot topics on a day dedicated to students and families celebrating years of hard academic work.
Aus and other students were upset that St. Thomas officials didn't stop the speech.
"If someone were to start talking about their beliefs on gay rights, I guarantee you someone from the administration would have put an end to it right away," Aus said.
After Kessler's speech, Thomas Rochon, the university's chief academic officer, told the crowd it takes courage to express one's convictions. Aus and others saw it as Rochon validating the remarks. But Hennes said Monday that wasn't the case.
Kessler was a defensive tackle on the St. Thomas football team and had a 4.0 grade-point average. He majored in philosophy and business, was an undergraduate seminarian at the university and plans to become a Roman Catholic priest.
"It takes a tough person to play football," Kessler said in a Pioneer Press profile last fall. "Well, what kind of priests do we want to have? We want someone who is internally strong and externally strong. That's the kind of priest who can change society."

I do not see anything offensive about the speech. Any student attending a Catholic university should expect to hear solid Catholic doctrine and moral teaching. Unfortunately that it not always the case with regard to the students and the institution.

You can watch the video here. Warning: there is foul language.

Poland - Day 1 (Cathedral)

At the conclusion of the ceremony at the airport, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI traveled to the Cathedral in Warsaw, which is dedicated to St. John. At the Cathedral he presided over a meeting of the clergy.

Following an indroduction by Cardinal Primate Józef Glemp, the Holy Father delivered the following speech:

"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you ... For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine" (Rom 1:8-12).

Dear priests, I address to you these words of the Apostle Paul, because they perfectly reflect my feelings and thoughts today, my wishes and my prayers. I greet in particular Cardinal Józef Glemp, Archbishop of Warsaw and Primate of Poland, to whom I extend my most cordial congratulations on his fiftieth anniversary of priestly ordination this very day. I have come to Poland, the beloved homeland of my great Predecessor Pope John Paul II, in order to inhale, as he used to do, this atmosphere of faith in which you live, and to "convey to you some spiritual gift so that you may be strengthened by it." I am confident that my pilgrimage during these days will "encourage the faith that we share, both yours and mine."

I am meeting you today in the great Cathedral of Warsaw, every stone of which speaks of the tragic history of your capital and your country. How many trials you have endured in the recent past! We call to mind heroic witnesses to the faith, who gave their lives to God and to their fellow human beings, both canonized saints and ordinary people who persevered in rectitude, authenticity and goodness, never giving way to despair. In this Cathedral I recall particularly the Servant of God Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, whom you call "the Primate of the Millennium." Abandoning himself to Christ and to his Mother, he knew how to serve the Church faithfully, despite the tragic and prolonged trials that surrounded him. Let us remember with appreciation and gratitude those who did not let themselves be overwhelmed by the forces of darkness, and let us learn from them the courage to be consistent and constant in our adherence to the Gospel of Christ.

Today I am meeting you, priests called by Christ to serve him in the new millennium. You have been chosen from among the people, appointed to act in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. Believe in the power of your priesthood! By virtue of the sacrament, you have received all that you are. When you utter the words "I" and "my" ("I absolve you ... This is my body ..."), you do it not in your own name, but in the name of Christ, "in persona Christi", who wants to use your lips and your hands, your spirit of sacrifice and your talent. At the moment of your ordination, through the liturgical sign of the imposition of hands, Christ took you under his special protection; you are concealed under his hands and in his Heart. Immerse yourselves in his love, and give him your love! When your hands were anointed with oil, the sign of the Holy Spirit, they were destined to serve the Lord as his own hands in today’s world. They can no longer serve selfish purposes, but must continue in the world the witness of his love.

The greatness of Christ’s priesthood can make us tremble. We can be tempted to cry out with Peter: "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man" (Lk 5:8), because we find it hard to believe that Christ called us specifically. Could he not have chosen someone else, more capable, more holy? But Jesus has looked lovingly upon each one of us, and in this gaze of his we may have confidence. Let us not be consumed with haste, as if time dedicated to Christ in silent prayer were time wasted. On the contrary, it is precisely then that the most wonderful fruits of pastoral service come to birth. There is no need to be discouraged on account of the fact that prayer requires effort, or because of the impression that Jesus remains silent. He is indeed silent, but he is at work. In this regard, I am pleased to recall my experience last year in Cologne. I witnessed then a deep, unforgettable silence of a million young people at the moment of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament! That prayerful silence united us, it gave us great consolation. In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light particularly to those who are suffering.

The faithful expect only one thing from priests: that they be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God. The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction or politics. He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life. With this end in view, when a young priest takes his first steps, he needs to be able to refer to an experienced teacher who will help him not to lose his way among the many ideas put forward by the culture of the moment. In the face of the temptations of relativism or the permissive society, there is absolutely no need for the priest to know all the latest, changing currents of thought; what the faithful expect from him is that he be a witness to the eternal wisdom contained in the revealed word. Solicitude for the quality of personal prayer and for good theological formation bear fruit in life. Living under the influence of totalitarianism may have given rise to an unconscious tendency to hide under an external mask, and in consequence to become somewhat hypocritical. Clearly this does not promote authentic fraternal relations and may lead to an exaggerated concentration on oneself. In reality, we grow in affective maturity when our hearts adhere to God. Christ needs priests who are mature, virile, capable of cultivating an authentic spiritual paternity. For this to happen, priests need to be honest with themselves, open with their spiritual director and trusting in divine mercy.

On the occasion of the Great Jubilee, Pope John Paul II frequently exhorted Christians to do penance for infidelities of the past. We believe that the Church is holy, but that there are sinners among her members. We need to reject the desire to identify only with those who are sinless. How could the Church have excluded sinners from her ranks? It is for their salvation that Jesus took flesh, died and rose again. We must therefore learn to live Christian penance with sincerity. By practising it, we confess individual sins in union with others, before them and before God. Yet we must guard against the arrogant claim of setting ourselves up to judge earlier generations, who lived in different times and different circumstances. Humble sincerity is needed in order not to deny the sins of the past, and at the same time not to indulge in facile accusations in the absence of real evidence or without regard for the different preconceptions of the time. Moreover, the confessio peccati, to use an expression of Saint Augustine, must always be accompanied by the confessio laudis – the confession of praise. As we ask pardon for the wrong that was done in the past, we must also remember the good accomplished with the help of divine grace which, even if contained in earthenware vessels, has borne fruit that is often excellent.

Today the Church in Poland faces an enormous pastoral challenge: how to care for the faithful who have left the country. The scourge of unemployment obliges many people to go abroad. It is a widespread and large-scale phenomenon. When families are divided in this way, when social links are broken, the Church cannot remain indifferent. Those who leave must be cared for by priests who, in partnership with the local Churches, take on a pastoral ministry among the emigrants. The Church in Poland has already given many priests and religious sisters who serve not only the Polish diaspora but also, and sometimes in extremely difficult circumstances, the missions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions. Do not forget these missionaries, my dear priests. The gift of many vocations, with which God has blessed your Church, must be received in a truly Catholic perspective. Polish priests, do not be afraid to leave your secure and familiar world, to go and serve in places where priests are lacking and where your generosity can bear abundant fruit.

Stand firm in your faith! To you too I entrust this motto of my pilgrimage. Be authentic in your life and your ministry. Gazing upon Christ, live a modest life, in solidarity with the faithful to whom you have been sent. Serve everyone; be accessible in the parishes and in the confessionals, accompany the new movements and associations, support families, do not forget the link with young people, remember the poor and the abandoned. If you live by faith, the Holy Spirit will suggest to you what you must say and how you must serve. You will always be able to count on the help of her who goes before the Church in faith. I exhort you to call upon her always in words that you know well: "We are close to you, we remember you, we watch."

My Blessing upon all of you!

At the conclusion of the meeting with the clergy, the Holy Father offered prayers at the tombs of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Cardinal August Hlond.

Ascension Thursday

I am in one of the minority of American dioceses where the feast of the Ascension is celebrated today.

I watch the Mass attendance on Holy Days of OBLIGATION fall each year, even among Catholics who attend Mass every Sunday. What has happened to our sense of obligation?

I suspect that it has a lot to do with the obligation being removed when the feasts fall on Saturday or Monday. Having feasts transferred to Sunday hasn't helped either. The Church needs unity.

Summary of Ecumenical Meeting

At 5.30 p.m. today, the Holy Father traveled to the presidential palace in Warsaw, where he paid a courtesy visit to Lech Kaczynski, president of the Republic of Poland. During the visit he also greeted the prime minister, and the two presidents of the country's parliament.
Following his meeting with the Polish president, Benedict XVI moved on to the Lutheran church of the Most Holy Trinity where he met delegates from the seven Churches that form the Polish Council for Ecumenism (PRE): Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, Methodists, Baptists, Old Catholic Mariavite Church, Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland, Evangelical Reformed, and Polish Catholic. Since 1970, the PRE has supported theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, and met with John Paul II in Poland during his pastoral visits to the country.
In the church of the Most Holy Trinity, site of numerous ecumenical encounters, John Paul II presided over an ecumenical service for unity on June 9, 1991.
Addressing those present, Benedict XVI said: "Together with you I give thanks for the gift of this encounter of common prayer. I see it as a stage in the implementation of the firm purpose I expressed at the beginning of my pontificate, to consider a priority in my ministry the restoration of full visible unity among Christians."
The Pope went on to refer to the "responsibility" inherent in announcing the message of Christ. A message which "must reach everyone on earth, thanks to the commitment of those who believe in Him and who are called to bear witness that He is truly sent by the Father. ... The task of Christ's disciples, the task of each of us, is therefore to tend towards ... unity, in such a way that we become, as Christians, the visible sign of His saving message, addressed to every human being."
The Pope recalled the words pronounced in the same church by John Paul II: "The seriousness of the task prohibits all haste or impatience, but the duty to respond to Christ's will demands that we remain firm on the path towards peace and unity among all Christians."
"Since that encounter, much has changed," Pope Benedict continued. "God has granted us to take many steps towards mutual understanding and rapprochement." In this context, he mentioned "the publication of the Encyclical Letter 'Ut Unum Sint;' the Christological agreements with the pre-Chalcedonian Churches; the signing at Augsburg of the 'Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification;' ... the ecumenical memorial of twentieth-century witnesses of faith," and the great ecumenical initiatives in Poland.
"We note much progress in the field of ecumenism and yet we always await something more," said the Pope, going on to focus on two specific issues: "The charitable service of the Churches," and "married life and family life."
"We cannot forget," he said, "the essential idea that from the outset constituted the very firm foundation for the disciples' unity: 'within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life.' This idea is always current. ... Accepting contemporary charitable challenges depends in large measure on our mutual cooperation. ... I note with appreciation that in the community of the Catholic Church and in other Churches and ecclesial communities, various new forms of charitable activity have spread and old ones have reappeared with renewed vigor. They are forms which often combine evangelization and works of charity. It seems that, despite all the differences that need to be overcome in the sphere of interdenominational dialogue, it is legitimate to attribute charitable commitment to the ecumenical community of Christ's disciples in search of full unity. We can all collaborate in helping the needy, by exploiting this network of reciprocal relations which is the fruit of dialogue among ourselves and of joint action."
On the second issue, the Pope noted how, "in today's world, in which international and intercultural relations are multiplying, it happens increasingly often that young people from different traditions, different religions, or different Christian denominations, decide to start a family." This is often "a difficult decision that brings with it various dangers concerning perseverance in the faith, the future structuring of the family, and the creation of an atmosphere of unity within the family. ... Nevertheless, thanks to the spread of ecumenical dialogue on a larger scale, the decision can lead to the formation of a practical workshop of unity."
The Holy Father concluded by expressing his appreciation to the Bilateral Commission of the Council for Ecumenical Issues of the Polish Episcopal Conference and to the Polish Council for Ecumenism, "which have begun to draft a document presenting common Christian teaching on marriage and family life and establishing principles acceptable to all for contracting interdenominational marriages, indicating a common program of pastoral care for such marriages

Summary of Clergy Meeting

At 12.30 p.m. today, the Pope participated in a meeting with clergy in the cathedral of Warsaw, which is dedicated to St. John.
Opening his address, the Holy Father recalled the figure of Servant of God Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, known in Poland as "Primate of the Millennium" who, "abandoning himself to Christ and to His Mother, knew how to serve the Church faithfully, despite the tragic and prolonged trials that surrounded him."
After calling on the assembled priests to "believe in the power of your priesthood," Benedict XVI said: "Let us not be consumed with haste, as if time dedicated to Christ in silent prayer were time wasted. ... There is no need to be discouraged on account of the fact that prayer requires effort, or because of the impression that Jesus remains silent. He is indeed silent, but He is at work."
"In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light particularly to those who are suffering."
The Holy Father emphasized how "the faithful expect only one thing from priests: that they be specialists in promoting the encounter between man and God. The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction or politics. He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life."
"In the face of the temptations of relativism or the permissive society, there is absolutely no need for the priest to know all the latest changing currents of thought; what the faithful expect from him is that he be a witness to the eternal wisdom contained in the revealed Word. Solicitude for the quality of personal prayer and for good theological formation bear fruit in life."
"Christ," said Benedict XVI, "needs priests who are mature, virile, capable of cultivating an authentic spiritual paternity."
After recalling how John Paul II, "on the occasion of the Great Jubilee, ... frequently exhorted Christians to do penance for infidelities of the past," he said: "We must therefore learn to live Christian penance with sincerity. By practicing it, we confess individual sins in union with others, before them and before God.
"Yet we must guard against the arrogant claim of setting ourselves up to judge earlier generations, who lived in different times and different circumstances. Humble sincerity is needed in order not to deny the sins of the past, and at the same time not to indulge in facile accusations in the absence of real evidence or without regard for the different preconceptions of the time. ... As we ask pardon for the wrong that was done in the past, we must also remember the good accomplished with the help of divine grace."
The Church in Poland today, the Holy Father said, "faces an enormous pastoral challenge: ... The scourge of unemployment [which] obliges many people to go abroad. It is a widespread and large-scale phenomenon. When families are divided in this way, when social links are broken, the Church cannot remain indifferent."
He concluded by exhorting the priests to "serve everyone; be accessible in the parishes and in the confessionals, accompany the new movements and associations, support families, do not forget the link with young people, remember the poor and the abandoned."
At the end of the meeting, before leaving the cathedral, the Pope paused in prayer before the tombs of two late primates of Poland: Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981) and August Hlond (1881-1948).

The Pope in Poland - Day 1

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI arrived at Warsaw/Okęcie international airport today at 11 a.m. He was met by the President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, numerous civil and political authorities, as well as Cardinal Józef Glemp, Archbishop of Arcivescovo of Warsaw, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków, Archbishop Józef Michalik, President of the Polish Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, Apostolic Nuncio, Bishop Piotr Libera, Secretary General of the Polish Conference of Bishops, and by Monsignor Paolo Rudelli, Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature.
After greeting President Kaczyński, the pope delivered the following address:

Mr President,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
My Brother Cardinals and Bishops,
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am happy to stand in your midst today on the soil of the Republic of Poland. I have very much wanted to make this visit to the native land and people of my beloved Predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II. I have come to follow in the footsteps of his life, from his boyhood until his departure for the memorable conclave of 1978. Along this journey I would like to meet and come to know the generations of believers who offered him to the service of God and the Church, as well as those who were born and matured for the Lord under his pastoral guidance as priest, Bishop and Pope. Our journey together will be inspired by the motto: "Stand firm in your faith". I mention this from the outset, in order to stress that this is no mere sentimental journey, although it is certainly that too, but rather a journey of faith, a part of the mission entrusted to me by the Lord in the person of the Apostle Peter, who was called to confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith (cf. Lk 22:32). I too wish to draw from the abundant fountain of your faith, which has flowed continuously for over a millennium.

I greet His Excellency the President, and I thank him heartily for his words of welcome on behalf of the Authorities of the Republic and the Nation. I greet my Brother Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops. I also greet His Excellency the Prime Minister and the members of the Government, the representatives of the Diet and the Senate, the members of the Diplomatic Corps with their Dean, the Apostolic Nuncio in Poland. I am pleased that the Regional Authorities are present, along with the Mayor of Warsaw. I also wish to greet the representatives of the Orthodox Church, the Augsburg Evangelical Church and the other Churches and Ecclesial Communities. My greeting likewise goes to the members of the Jewish community and the followers of Islam. Lastly I offer a heartfelt greeting to the whole Church in Poland: to the priests, the consecrated persons, the seminarians and all the faithful, especially the sick, the young and the little children. I ask you to accompany me in your thoughts and prayers, so that this journey will prove fruitful for all of us, leading us to a deeper and stronger faith.

I said that in this visit to Poland my route would be inspired by the life and pastoral ministry of Karol Wojtyła and by his own itinerary as a pilgrim Pope in this, his native land. Consequently, I have chosen to stay mainly in two cities dear to John Paul II: Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and Kraków, his archiepiscopal see. In Warsaw I shall meet the priests, the different non-Catholic Churches and Ecclesial Communities, and the State Authorities. I trust that these meetings will bear abundant fruit for our shared faith in Christ and for the social and political life of today’s men and women. A brief visit to Częstochowa is planned, as well as a meeting with representatives of men and women religious, seminarians and members of ecclesial movements. The loving gaze of Mary will accompany us as we join in seeking a deep and faithful relationship with Christ her Son. Then I shall travel to Kraków, and from there to Wadowice, Kalwaria, Łagiewniki and Wawel Cathedral. I am very much aware that these are the places that John Paul II most loved, for they were associated with his growth in faith and his pastoral ministry. There will also be a meeting with the sick and the suffering in what is perhaps the most fitting place for such an event - the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Łagiewniki. I shall certainly be present when the young people assemble for the prayer vigil. I shall gladly join them and I look forward to rejoicing in their witness of a young and lively faith. On Sunday we will gather at Błonie Park to celebrate a Solemn Mass of Thanksgiving for the Pontificate of my Predecessor and for the faith in which he always confirmed us by his words and by the example of his life. Finally, I shall go to Auschwitz. There I hope especially to meet the survivors of the Nazi terror who come from different countries, all of whom suffered under that tragic tyranny. Together we will pray that the wounds of the past century will heal, thanks to the remedy that God in his goodness has prescribed for us by calling us to forgive one another, and which he offers to us in the mystery of his mercy.

"Stand firm in your faith" - this is the motto of my Apostolic Visit. I would hope that these days will serve to strengthen all of us in faith - the members of the Church in Poland and myself as well. And for those who do not have the gift of faith, but whose hearts are full of good will, may my visit be a time of fraternity, goodness and hope. May these enduring values of humanity lay a firm foundation for building a better world, one in which everyone can enjoy material prosperity and spiritual joy. This is my prayer for all the Polish people. Once again I thank His Excellency the President and the Bishops of Poland for their invitation. I cordially embrace Polish people everywhere and I ask them to accompany me in prayer along this journey of faith.

Head of Caritas Christi Forced to Resign

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and the leadership of the region's Catholic health care system early this morning forced the resignation of the hospitals' president, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, over allegations that he had sexually harassed several women.

At around 1:30 a.m., after a five-hour meeting of the hospital's board of governors, the archdiocese said that Haddad had resigned from the positions of president and chief executive of Caritas Christi Health Care System.

The archdiocese said that the hospital's board had voted to fire Haddad but offered him ten month's of salary and benefits if he resigned instead. His compensation is believed to be worth more than $1 million a year.
O'Malley called the events that led to Haddad's departure "very unfortunate and serious."

"Our actions this evening recognize that all complaints of sexual harassment will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly," O'Malley said this morning.

Read the rest of the article here.
(Boston Globe)

The Ordination Class of 2006

Almost 80 percent of the men slated for ordination in 2006 completed a college degree before entering the seminary and 30 percent had attained a graduate degree.

The average age of the Class of 2006 is 37, with 22 percent under 30, and four percent over 60.

Almost a third of the men were born outside the United States.

The data were gathered by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat for Vocations and analyzed by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), the Catholic Church research group based at Georgetown University, Washington.

Responses to the survey were submitted by 233 seminarians from 98 of the 195 dioceses and 24 of the more than 200 religious orders of men in the United States. The data on this year’s ordination class was released by the USCCB Vocations Secretariat, May 1, as part of an annual report.

A separate survey response was submitted by 144 diocesan vocations directors and heads of 44 religious orders who estimated 359 potential ordinands. Given that about 25 percent of the dioceses and 90 per cent of the religious orders did not respond to the survey it appears that the number of ordinands remains steady. According to the Official Catholic Directory (OCD), the number ordained last year was 438. In 2004, it was 454; in 2003, 472. OCD numbers for 2006 will not be available until next year.

The largest archdiocesan/diocesan class was in the Archdiocese of Newark, the ninth largest archdiocese/diocese with 17 men slated for ordination. The next largest was the Archdiocese of Washington, 12 ordinands; Archdiocese of Denver, 11 ordinands; and the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, 10 ordinands. In Salt Lake City, Utah, where Catholics make up eight percent of the population, there are four ordinands.

Findings from the survey also indicated

- The percentage of ordinands who are Asian (13) is higher than the U.S. Catholic Asian population overall (2). The percentage of Hispanics (12) is lower than U.S. Catholic Hispanic population (28). The percentage of African Americans (one) is lower than the U.S. Catholic African American population (4).

- Of ordinands born outside the United States, the largest percentages came from Vietnam (5), Mexico (5) and the Philippines (3). Seventy percent of all the ordinands were born in the United States.

- The percentage of foreign-born ordinands increased from 24 percent in 1998, to 30 percent in 2006.

- More than half the ordinands attended a Catholic elementary school.

- About 75 percent of the ordinands reported having full-time work experience before entering the seminary, most often in education.

- Almost ten percent had served in the U.S. Armed Forces, more than a third of them in the Navy.

- Six percent of the ordinands are converts to Catholicism.

- More than one-third of the ordinands attended a World Youth Day.

- More than half had served as an altar server, lector, Eucharistic minister, or participated in a parish spiritual retreat.

- Two-thirds of the ordinands were initially invited to consider the priesthood by a priest.

Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota, Chairman of the U.S. Bishops Committee on Vocations noted the class profile.

“These are quality men,” he said. “They started out in the seminary with strong educational backgrounds and underwent thorough theological education and spiritual, human and pastoral formation throughout their seminary experience. The variety of backgrounds reflects the variety found in the current Catholic community which will welcome them in parishes nationwide. The generosity of these men needs to be met by the entire community promoting and encouraging their sons to become ‘fishers of men.’ God has blessed us once again and we pray for continued blessings.”

The complete report is available here