<p>and I’m jewish (non practicing)</p>
<p>I watched the St Patrick’s mass this am and now the youth rally.
It’s nice to see so many people sharing a common bond.</p>
<p>Especially liked the music and singers (the girl singing right now is amazing).</p>
<p>I went to the DC service. It was wonderful.</p>
<p>The Pope was really enjoying himself today–saw some big smiles. Do we know how to party or what? </p>
<p>Guess he doesn’t get out (of the Vatican) much any more.</p>
<p>I also went to the mass in DC. What a wonderful uplifting experience that was.</p>
<p>what I don’t understand ( and i am not Catholic) is why it is OK for the Dalai Lama ( I am more Buddhist) to meet with school children in Seattle but not the Pope.
I think they are both influential and positive and it is important for both to meet with public.</p>
<p>I just find the pope disingenious- he talks about the priest abuse scandel, while those very men are still in the priesthood and no one higher up ever paid for that</p>
<p>I don’t find him positive and I am Catholic…yes, believe it or not…his ties to Opus Dei are frankly scary and his desire for things to revert back to pre-vatican 2 is also scary</p>
<p>He can meet with whomever he wants, but the pomp and circumstance is offputting…what is with the reversion to the attire that is more suited towards kings of old?</p>
<p>they say tradition, but it is much more than that…</p>
<p>maybe our president should wear what George Washington did…</p>
<p>Everything the Pope does is very carefully thought through and it has a point, up to the hat on his head</p>
<p>The church is going backwards in time in many ways, is having fewer and fewer people wanting to enter the priesthood and sisterhood, many are not following all the “rules” and the Pope embraces a very orthodox practice of Catholocism, and I am not talking conspiracy here, but one that has a much less open view towards charity, communion, etc.</p>
<p>I watched the Pope’s visit this week with much interest. I was a fan of the prior Pope ( I am Catholic/Polish), but was lukewarm on this guy. I was impressed that he met privately with 4 people who had been molested by priests. What impressed me was that he didn’t hide behind layers of church protection - he took the responsibility on himself. I hope that we see more responsibility from the church towards these victims and no more hiding allowed and shuffling priests from parish to parish. My high school spawned one of the priests accused and convicted of molestation, and my parish of origin fought a case of a youth counselor who abused kids (not a priest) but who was protected by the diocese. I am running on, but this scandal has affected me personally. </p>
<p>As a New Yorker I was also somewhat stunned that the people at the mass today at Yankee Stadium milled about after he was gone. New Yorkers like to hurry to wherever they are off to next generally - especially to get out of a crowded parking lot. The participants seemd to not want to break the spell of the Pope’s presence.</p>
<p>my two censt for now</p>
<p>SO how many people that protected and covered for these molesters have had to answer for it…how many are in power right now as bishops? and how does meeting with 4, just 4, make any difference, in any practical sense, except to put on a show?</p>
<p>I would have much more respect if he cleaned house of the upper echelon that covered for these priests for decades, but that hasn’t happened, either with this pope or the last</p>
<p>those priests were shuffled by those above them, who knew full well what was going on, and what happened to those young people is as much their fault, as the priests who did the abusing</p>
<p>This meeting was for show, and the talk, for show…it was good press to be sure, but 4…he met with 4?</p>
<p>I see it as a deflection of other things going on in the church- the return to pre vatican 2 practices, and with his cadre of bishops, and the influx of very right wing bishops in the church</p>
<p>and it worked</p>
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