It's not Leo DiCaprio I care to see windswept at the prow of a ship. This fellow does make me swoon, however.Popery
WYDSYD is underway now, but before his vacation ended, folks from the Taronga Zoo brought the pope samples of Australia's unique creatures. You've probably seen the pictures of what more than one tabloid is calling Benny & the Pets. Move over Bella, he seemed to like Darwin the koala best. Although Sebastian the python got a nice pat, too.
Official addresses:
- At Government House in Sydney, at his official welcome.
- Welcome to youth after his "boat-a-cade." I just get a kick out of his heavily accented English saying
What a delight it is to greet you here at Barangaroo.
For people of your age, however, any flight is an exciting prospect. But for me, this one was somewhat daunting! Yet the views afforded of our planet from the air were truly wondrous. The sparkle of the Mediterranean, the grandeur of the north African desert, the lushness of Asia’s forestation, the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, the horizon upon which the sun rose and set, and the majestic splendour of Australia’s natural beauty which I have been able to enjoy these last couple of days; these all evoke a profound sense of awe. It is as though one catches glimpses of the Genesis creation story - light and darkness, the sun and the moon, the waters, the earth, and living creatures; all of which are “good” in God’s eyes (cf. Gen 1:1 - 2:4). Immersed in such beauty, who could not echo the words of the Psalmist in praise of the Creator: “how majestic is your name in all the earth?” (Ps 8:1).As I expected, the headlines about the Pope issuing jeremiads on global warming are a bit overwrought. Rather, good apologist that he is (this has come up before), he takes youthful concern about justice and the environment and uses it as an entry point into the moral life. (He explains his own technique here.)
And there is more – something hardly perceivable from the sky – men and women, made in nothing less than God’s own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). At the heart of the marvel of creation are you and I, the human family “crowned with glory and honour” (Ps 8:5). How astounding! With the Psalmist we whisper: “what is man that you are mindful of him?” (Ps 8:4). And drawn into silence, into a spirit of thanksgiving, into the power of holiness, we ponder.
we discover that not only the natural but also the social environment – the habitat we fashion for ourselves – has its scars; wounds indicating that something is amiss. Here too, in our personal lives and in our communities, we can encounter a hostility, something dangerous; a poison which threatens to corrode what is good, reshape who we are, and distort the purpose for which we have been created. Examples abound, as you yourselves know. Among the more prevalent are alcohol and drug abuse, and the exaltation of violence and sexual degradation, often presented through television and the internet as entertainment. I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation “explain” that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely “entertainment”?And a little further on:
Dear friends, life is not governed by chance; it is not random. Your very existence has been willed by God, blessed and given a purpose (cf. Gen 1:28)! Life is not just a succession of events or experiences, helpful though many of them are.Forgive me, MSM, but that message is a little deeper than "cut back your carbon footprint."
It is a search for the true, the good and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy. Do not be fooled by those who see you as just another consumer in a market of undifferentiated possibilities, where choice itself becomes the good, novelty usurps beauty, and subjective experience displaces truth.
[snip]
God’s creation is one and it is good. The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable. Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises. Our hearts and minds are yearning for a vision of life where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. This is the work of the Holy Spirit! This is the hope held out by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Plus: u have mail from B16. I guess I have to stop being viscerally offended by text-speak now that it's magisterial. B16: 2 good 2B 4-gotten.
- Australia: Everywhere confessions. Non-papal WYD addresses: Card. Pell's homily for the opening mass. Chaput the Great at Theology on Tap. First Catechetical Session. Of course keep up with everything at Pope2008.com and ebenedict.org. Fun pix of the boat-a-cade. Five kinds of Catholic in Oz? (Perhaps 6: add "cheeky Catholics")
- China: Priest and layman arrested for making a pilgrimage to Sheshan still missing. Bao Tong, ex-Communist & one of China's most prominent dissidents, writes about the Olympics for Asia News.
- France: Therese of Lisieux's parents to be beatified. Announcement made at mass celebrating their 150th wedding anniversary.
- Great Britain: Not so fast, Damian Thompson. Wait and see.
- Iraq: No Iraqis were granted visas for wydsyd. Young people are gathering to participate by satellite, however.
- Tibet: PM of Tibet-in-Exile wants youth to listen to the Pope at WYDSYD.
- U.S. San Francisco officially condemns the Catholic Church, especially Cardinal Levada: unanimous vote by the city's Board of Supervisors. Even better, this survived an initial court challenge.
"It is merely the exercise of free speech rights by duly elected office holders,"
says the Circuit Court. Tony Snow's funeral was this morning at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Z. takes opportunity to remind us what a funeral is. (I had a friend who threatened as she was dying of cancer that if we canonized her instead of praying for her at her funeral, "so help me, I will sit up in my box and scare the wits out of the whole lot of you." Bet she would've, too.) Soccer star going to the seminary. - Faith & Family Magazine goes live and bloggy. And what is it about nuns and baseball? The only nun I knew growing up (as a non-RC) had a baseball obsession too. (Curt-sy)
