Dear Mr. Shea,
I always enjoy your articles! I loved your article “The Pope as Flag.” I consider myself a conservative Catholic, or better to say, a faithful Catholic. I believe in church teaching and follow it, when I stumble I ask for the Lord's mercy, go to confession and march down the road that brings me much happiness. I loved what you said in your article. I must admit, at first I thought “hoorah” now something will be done about these dissenting American Catholic Priests and Bishops, then I realized it's my duty to pray for them and for healing in our Church. My perspective however has never changed about Pope Benedict and I think he's a great shepherd. I think his Papacy is probably one of the most difficult as he has to follow right behind JPII. But, my very favorite part of the article was when you said how the conservatives were singing Hosanna's then 2 weeks later complaining.
As we see, Our Beloved Pope is following right along in the footsteps of Christ. The people praised Him as he rode in on an ass and jeered Him as He was led to Calvary. I pray for our Pope every day, that God will give him strength and courage to shepherd us. I had the pleasure of meeting then Cardinal Ratzinger February 17, 2005. I was able to shake his hand speak to him and receive a blessing. He is a wonderful and warm man. On February 13 I was at St. Peter's Square when Pope John Paul II made an unscheduled visit to his window, he did the Angelus and gave us a Papal blessings. How lucky can one person be?
Thank you for the strong message you sent in this article.
God Bless You.
In Christ,
Sherrie Beals
Dear Sherrie:
You are one blessed individual, getting to meet both these great men.
It's not wrong to want to see reform in the Church. Benedict himself has spoken of the urgent need of it. My own complaint is with those who seek reform in ways contrary to the spirit of Christ. Stalinist “purges” are not the way. It's good that you are willing to be patient and let the Spirit do as He wills.
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
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