Egan Takes Guiliani to Task

I previously criticized Ted Kennedy for his receiving of Communion at the Papal Mass in Washington, Rudy Guiliani also received, and he is now being taken to task by Cardinal Egan. I'm a little surprised, usually the bishops don't say anything.

New York Cardinal Edward Egan says Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the pope's visit because he supports abortion rights.

Egan says he had "an understanding" with the former presidential candidate and New York mayor that he is not to receive the Eucharist. The Catholic Church teaches "that abortion is a grave offense against the will of God," Egan said.

The cardinal said Monday that Giuliani broke that understanding when he received the Eucharist during Pope Benedict XVI's visit earlier this month.

Egan says he will be seeking a meeting with Giuliani "to insist that he abide by our understanding."

I just love this comment from a Guiliani spokeswoman

Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, said Monday that he is willing to meet with the cardinal but added that his faith "is a deeply personal matter and should remain confidential."

Although I have to say I love her name.


Link

Maybe now that I have criticized Teddy and Rudy I'm back to being bi-partisan.

Beautiful Photos

AMP has some great pictures up from the mass at Yankees Stadium. This one in particular I thought was breathtaking.

Rush: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Truth

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now to the pope. Saturday in Yonkers, a youth rally at St. Joseph's Seminary. I said earlier that the pope knows more about American history than a lot of Americans do. He does love this country, and he knows more about what's happening here cultural, the challenges the country faces than a lot of Americans do. Here is a portion of his remarks, again Saturday in Yonkers, youth rally, 25,000 minimum at St. Joseph's Seminary.

POPE: Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth's place -- or better said its absence -- an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a "freedom" which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life?

RUSH: Now, this to me, I found this fascinating, when he was talking about the concept of freedom here. Let me, ladies and gentlemen, focus on this. He starts by saying, "Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere." What this means is, truth is arrived at in a black-and-white way. Good and bad, good and evil, arrived at in a black-and-white way. The relativists don't want there to be any bad; they don't want there to be any wrong. Therefore, there can't be any good. There just IS. You are free to do whatever you want, and anybody who condemns you is to be called on it. Now, the concept of freedom is not that. That is not what freedom is. Not in terms of our founding and not in terms of the way the pope was speaking about it here, because freedom -- you know, we are all born as young little savages.

I know our babies look cute, and they goo-goo around and they spit up and do all these wonderfully cute things that people love, but if they weren't socialized by parents -- if they weren't taught morality, if they weren't taught right and wrong -- they'd grow up savages. Many do. It is not a natural human thing to constrain one's self. It is not a natural human thing to restrain one's self. One has to be taught these things, and they're taught in a black-and-white way: right and wrong, good and evil, and that constitutes a functioning freedom. He's talking here about the moral relativism of nothing being wrong and nothing being evil. If you choose to do it, it's okay. And then he proceeded to spell out the destruction that lies ahead for people who chose this path, choose this path, or who are taught this path. "But what purpose has a 'freedom' which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life?" Because nothing has meaning. Because there was no truth. There was no good and evil. So people are desperately seeking for meaning, and you're not going to find it if you're unwilling to be open to truth; if you're taught to reject it because it's somebody's discrimination against you or somebody's judgmentalism against you. I thought this was... Well, most of what the pope said over the weekend was profound. It was in awe. I was in awe of the crowds. Here's another portion of his remarks. Same place, St. Joseph's Seminary Saturday in Yonkers.

POPE: Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. (applause) That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ's very being for others.

RUSH: There is more, and we'll get to it after this brief EIB obscene profit time-out.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The pope left for Rome last night from hangar 19 out at JFK. There were about 3,200 people out there for the departure ceremony, and he flew on an Alitalia Boeing 777, and it was dubbed Shepherd One, and Vice President Cheney was the government representative at the departure ceremony. We have two sound bites from the remarks of Vice President Cheney.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Your Holiness, on your first apostolic visit to the United States, you've encountered a nation facing many challenges, but with more blessings than any of us could number. You have met a people of resonating faith who affirm that our nation was founded under God, who seek his purposes and bow to his will. You have seen a country where the torch of freedom, equality, and tolerance will always be held high; a country where you, a herald of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a leader of the Roman Catholic Church, will always be welcome. (applause)

RUSH: Right on, right on, right on. Vice President Cheney continued.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: You have moved us in particular by your visit to Ground Zero. (applause) There you prayed for eternal light and peace upon the innocent victims of September 11th, 2001. And you asked that the rest of us may live so that all who died on that morning may not have been lost in vain. That is our daily meditation as well, and it remains our daily prayer.

RUSH: And the pope, we had just one sound bite from his final words as he left the country.

POPE: My visit this morning to Ground Zero will remain firmly etched in my memory, as I continue to pray for the souls who died and for all who suffered in consequence of the tragedy that occurred there in 2001. For all the people of America and indeed throughout the world, I pray that the future will bring increased fraternity and solidarity as well as a mutual respect and a renewed trust and confidence in God, our Heavenly Father. With these words, I take my leave. I ask you to remember me in your prayers and I assure you of my affection and friendship in the Lord. May God bless America! (wild cheers and applause)

RUSH: (laughing) Is that not great? That is just great. Did you hear that applause erupt? Here's somebody... I mean, "God bless America" is said by rote all the time by people. It is interpreted as by rote, just perfunctory. When he says it, you know he means it. It sounds special.

END TRANSCRIPT

Link

Y'all come back now, y'hear

All in all a very awesome trip and for me several bloggorific days. In the days immediately leading up to and including the trip I blogged about the Papal Visit 20 times (21 including this one).

Come back soon!

Secret Service Agent Helps Boy Meet Pope

Secret Service agent Brad Borst carries Aaron Ruiz, 9, out of St. Patrick's. Ruiz, who has muscular dystrophy, was blessed by the Pope.

When Beverly Ruiz and her wheelchair-bound son arrived outside St. Patrick's Cathedral early Saturday they had no hope of getting inside.

But all that changed when 9-year-old Aaron, who has muscular dystrophy, caught the eye of one of the Secret Service agents safeguarding Pope Benedict.

Just moments before the historic Mass began, the federal agent singled out the mother and son and whisked them into the house of worship.

"After the Holy Father arrived and went inside, a man came up to us and said, 'We have a special place for you,'" Ruiz told the Daily News.

The Secret Service agent lifted Aaron out of his wheelchair and carried him up St. Patrick's steps. The agent then found a seat for the boy and his mother in the far right corner of the cathedral.

After celebrating Mass, Benedict walked over to Aaron.

"He came over and blessed him, and my son just smiled," Ruiz said. "It's just a miracle in itself, there's no way to describe it. It's just an absolute miracle that this happened in our lives."

Link
H/T Bettnet.com

One Last Post Before Mass

The mass at Yankee Stadium is just about to start. I'm hoping it resembles much more the mass at St. Patrick's than the one at National Stadium. Raymond and Fr. Neuhaus have said that the music is going to be much more classical than what we saw on Thursday.

I was a little concerned when I saw the bird kites flying a little while ago, hopefully that is kept all before mass.

Come to Papa

Ben that is.



H/T to Ma Beck at WardWideWeb

Ground Zero

I was watching the Pope at Ground Zero this morning before I left for class. I just about broke into tears when I saw the one injured emergency worker (I couldn't tell if he was a police officer or a fire fighter) try to kneel down to kiss the Pope's ring. If you missed it you can see it in this video, it happens right at 5:15.



For me this is one of the most touching moments of the whole trip.

Nevermind, Back to Disappointed in Ted

CORRECTION: Ted Kennedy DID Receive Communion at the Papal Mass
Priest made special trip to give communion to the outspokenly pro-abortion Senator several minutes before everyone else began to receive

LifeSiteNews reported that Senator Ted Kennedy dutifully did not receive communion during the papal mass at Nationals stadium yesterday. The photographs provided and the observations of the photographer certainly appeared to indicate that. However, LifeSiteNews received a copy of an email from another pro-life person, Daniel J. Skehan, who was near Kennedy at the function.

He wrote,

"Two of my sons and I attended the Papal Mass yesterday. We were seated in section 216, directly above the section in which Ted Kennedy was seated. Several minutes prior to the general distribution of communion a priest walked down to Ted Kennedy and gave him communion. There was some discussion amongst we in our section about the inappropriateness of his reception of the Host. Be certain, he remained seated not out of some self-enforced respect for the sacrament, but rather out of respect for his girth and mobility."

Our photographer friend was of course not focusing on Kennedy at the time and did not expect that he would be given this special advance reception of communion. Organizers of the event did not seem to at all be mindful of the public scandal of this occurence given that they made a special effort the ensure the Senator was given the host despite his very well known lack of communion with the Church on the issues of abortion, homosexuality and other serious moral issues.

We have corrected our original report.

Link

Pope Goes to Cardinal

Intentional Disciples

How absolutely wonderful.

The Pope is going to make a personal visit to Cardinal Avery Dulles in his bedroom while in Dunwoody seminary. It was not on his schedule. Cardinal Dulles is too ill to attend any of the events but no one deserves a private visit more.

Dulles, who is 89, is one of the great converts and theologians of the 20th century and gave his final annual McGinley lecture at Fordham on April 1. When I met him last April, he was still able to walk with a cane. Now he is wheelchair bound.

H/T Curt Jester

I Have A New Slighter More Positive View of Ted Kennedy

At times I have a hard time hiding my disgust by certain pro-choice 'Catholic' politicians. It just irritates me. And I knew the Papal mass was going to be a source of some aggravation to me because everyone knew that certain pro-choice politicians were going to be there and present themselves for communion. Lifesite has photos of Kerry and Dodd doing just that.





But they also include a photo of Ted Kennedy not presenting himself to communion.



They note...

It seems from his actions today, Senator Kennedy is, at least in public, refraining from Communion and thus refusing to create what the Church calls public "scandal".

I guess I shouldn't be praising him for doing something that he should do anyway (or not doing something he shouldn't be doing) but compared to his colleagues it is impressive (a sign of low standards?).

So now that I've said something nice about Ted Kennedy, does that make me bipartisan?

Word

Cardinal George

Monsignor David Malloy kisses the ring of Pope Benedict XVI as he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Tuesday, April 15, 2008. From left is Malloy; Bishop of Tucson Gerald Kicanas; Pope Benedict XVI; Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago; and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Watching the Pope's arrival yesterday I was all excited to see Cardinal George there, although I'm not quite sure why. Its not like they've never met before, but it was all kinds of awesomness to think Chicago was being represented.

Chicago is not on the pope's agenda, but Francis Cardinal George is among those who are hosting him.

The pope may be turning 81 Wednesday, but you'd never know from his stride and his smile. The new job may have made the former Joseph Ratzinger a new man.

"Our conversations used to be about doctrine, now he's talking about everything, more of a pastor, anxious to touch base with peoples' experience," Cardinal George said.

Cardinal George and Archbishop Gerald Kicanas, the vice president of the U.S. Bishops' Conference, both Chicagoans, greeted the Pope.

"To see his comfortability with people, his warmth and interest, you a sense of that immediately," Kicanas said.

Link

Rush in a Hurry

I get the Rush in a Hurry emails which gives a rundown of the day's show. I usually don't read it, I skim at best, but what caught my eye was the first paragraph...

Pope Benedict XVI Visits America: The entire White House ceremony will be on EWTN tonight at 9 EDT...DirecTV channel 370

I think its pretty neat that EWTN was mentioned because a) I tend to think that they have the best commentary out there on the Pope and b) it just advertised the network to a group of people who may or may not know about it.

Cool beans, thanks Rush!

Rush Limbaugh
EWTN

Now Thats a Cake!

Looks like something Charm City Cakes would do...

Chef Up To Her Elbows In Batter As She Bakes Pope's Birthday Cake

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Leslie Goldman-Poyourow was up to her elbows in heaps of flour, buckets of batter and plenty of pans on Tuesday.

Her job was to bake a cake -- a cake for the pope's 81st birthday.

"No pressure," she said.

She was working to create an edible version of the Vatican complete with St. Peter's Square.

More

Happy Birthday Papa Ben!

Happy Birthday Holy Father!

Welcome!

U.S. President George W. Bush (R) walks as Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges the crowd upon arriving at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, April 15, 2008. The Pope is beginning a six-day trip to the United States, during which he will pray at Ground Zero in New York, address the United Nations and try to heal wounds from a sexual abuse scandal.
REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

I'm All Ready for Papa Ben!

I've got the DVR all set up now. Although I wasn't sure how long to set it for the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, EWTN didn't mention how long the coverage would be on that one.

Sorry DFUS

I feel bad, every time I make a post the poor folks at Discussionforums are subjected to it (they've got my blog doing the feed thing so every time I post here I'm also posting there).

That being said, here is the Papal Visit schedule from EWTN.

Television Coverage
ARRIVAL
Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Andrews Air Force Base and is greeted by President and Mrs. Bush, local dignitaries of the Church, and the apostolic nuncio.
Tuesday, April 15, 3:30PM Eastern
Encore April 15, 8PM; April 16, 4AM.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Pope Benedict XVI is received by President and Mrs. Bush at a White House welcoming ceremony, followed by a private meeting between the President and the Pope, and the dignitaries of the two states.
Wednesday, April 16, 10:00 AM Eastern
Encore April 16, 2PM & 9PM.

ADDRESS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES
Pope Benedict XVI gathers with the bishops of the United States for a prayer service and address at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
Wednesday, April 16, 5:00 PM Eastern
Encore April 16, 11:30PM. April 17, 4AM.

MASS AT NATIONAL STADIUM, WASHINGTON DC - LIVE
Pope Benedict XVI offers Mass at the new Nationals Park in Washington D.C.
Thursday, April 17, 9:30 AM Eastern
Encore April 17, 1PM; April 18, 12AM.

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Pope Benedict XVI will address hundreds of Catholic University heads and diocesan superintendents on the importance Catholic education at the Catholic University of America.
Thursday, April 17, 4:30 PM Eastern
Encore April 17, 9PM; April 18, 5AM.

MEETING WITH EDUCATORS AT POPE JOHN PAUL II CULTURAL CENTER
Pope Benedict XVI meets with representatives of various religions for a prayer service at the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington D.C.
Thursday, April 17, 6:00 PM
Encore April 17, 10:30PM; April 18, 6:30AM.

ARRIVAL NYC
Arrival at JFK International Airport.
Friday, April 18, 9:30 AM
Encore April 18, 4:00 PM and April 19, 1 AM

ADDRESS AT THE UN
Pope Benedict XVI will address the United Nations, after an early morning flight to New York.
Friday, April 18, 10:30 AM.
Encore April 18, 2:30 PM and 8PM; April 19, 2AM.

VISIT TO SYNAGOGUE & ECUMENICAL MEETING AT ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH, MANHATTAN LIVE
Visit to Park East Synagogue and prayer service with leaders from other Christian denominations at St. Joseph's, founded by German Catholics, in Manhattan.
Friday, April 18, 5:00 PM
Encore April 18, 9:30PM. April 19, 3:30AM.

MASS AT ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, NYC
Mass for priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick¹s Cathedral in the heart of New York City.
Saturday, April 19, 9:00 AM
Encore April 20, 1PM and 11PM.

MEETING WITH YOUTH AT DUNWOODIE SEMINARY
Pope Benedict XVI meets with thousands of young people from around the country; the event includes a rally/prayer service and a speech from the Pope.
Saturday, April 19, 4:00 PM
Encore April 19, 8PM; April 20, 4AM.

VISIT TO GROUND ZERO
Pope Benedict XVI visits the former World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero in New York City.
Sunday, April 20, 9:00 AM
Encore April 20, 11AM; April 21, 1AM.

HOLY MASS AT YANKEE STADIUM, NYC
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Holy Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York bringing his historic U.S. visit to a close.
Sunday, April 20, 2:00 PM
Encore April 20, 10 PM

DEPARTURE
Pope Benedict XVI leaves the US.
Sunday, April 20, 7:30 PM
Encore April 21, 2:30AM.

Archdiocese of Chicago Welcomes Pope Benedict