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Bishop says pope came as educator and friend
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER
– Bishop Álvaro Corrada, SJ, said Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 visit
to the United States was “a very important moment for the church” in
this country.
“I think, first of all, his mere presence among us was important,” said
Bishop Corrada, who traveled to Washington, D.C., and New York to take
part in the papal events. “He is the third pope to visit the United
States, following Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, who visited us
three times.
“I think the presence of the pope to this country builds a direct
linkage between the Holy Father, the successor of Peter, and the church
in the United States, which is still a very young church, a very
dynamic church, and a very influential church. When the pope comes to
this country, he comes to see us, Catholics in the United States, to
meet us, to get to know us, and to let us get to know him.
“This is a pope that not many people know yet,” Bishop Corrada said.
“He has been pope for only three years, and he followed Pope John Paul,
who for so many defined the papacy and who we all felt we knew. When
Benedict was elected, there were many preconceptions about him, and
many questions. For many, he was unknown.
“Now,” said the bishop, “we have seen him, we have heard him, we have
been in his presence and he has been in ours. Now I think we can say we
know him.”
But along with the symbolism of presence, Bishop Corrada said Pope Benedict’s visit was one of much-needed substance.
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Promoter of Justice says pope's admission ‘huge’
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER
– Those involved in responding to and working to prevent sexual abuse
in the church said Pope Benedict XVI may well have started a new
chapter in that ugly part of the church’s history with his April 15-20
visit to this country.
Pope Benedict never shied away from the
issue. He addressed it directly in public settings four times, starting
during his flight over on the papal plane, and continuing through two
Masses and a meeting with the U.S. bishops, where he told the bishops
the issue “was sometimes badly handled.”
In perhaps his most
important confrontation with the scandal, he met privately with several
victims of sexual abuse by priests. No cameras were present, no texts
were released. What is known about the meeting has come from those
victims who chose to speak about it.
And that, said Father Gavin Vaverek, pastor of St. Mary Church in Longview and diocesan Promoter of Justice, “is huge.”
As
promoter of justice, Father Vaverek is the diocese’s “first responder”
to any allegation of abuse, coordinating the diocese’s response,
reaching out to victims, launching whatever investigation would be
required. He also headed up the effort to formulate the diocese’s
Ethics and Integrity Program, which requires that all church workers
and volunteers engaged in ministry to children undergo the required
training before engaging in that ministry.
He was, he said, gratified and encouraged by Pope Benedict’s words and actions.
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St. Joseph to add kingergarten class in fall
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
MARSHALL – St. Joseph School Early Learning Center in Marshall will add a kindergarten this fall.
The
Early Learning Center opened last fall with a preschool program for 3-
and 4-year-olds, returning Catholic education to Marshall after an
absence of six years.
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Pope preaches of hope based on faith, human dignity
NEW
YORK (CNS) – From the White House to the U.N. General Assembly hall and
from ground zero to the Washington Nationals' baseball stadium, Pope
Benedict XVI preached a message of hope built on faith and a joint
commitment to defending the dignity of the human person.
He acknowledged the "evil" of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, met
privately with a group of victims and encouraged the U.S. bishops to
continue their work to restore trust in the church and its ministers.
Celebrating Mass April 19 in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral with
thousands of priests and religious, the pope urged the Catholic Church
in the United States to move past divisions and scandal toward a "new
sense of unity and purpose."
It is time, he said, to "put aside all anger and contention" inside the
church and embark on a fresh mission of evangelization in society.
Repeatedly during his April 15-20 stay in Washington and New York, he
made it clear that he believed the "genuinely religious spirit" of the
American people had not been extinguished and could be strengthened.
Tailoring his message to each group he met, Pope Benedict urged the
people of the United States to resist the temptations and trends of
modern society, maintaining their traditional values, defending human
rights and reaching out with solidarity.
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Educators view papal visit as validation, challenge
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER
– Pope Benedict XVI’s April 17 address to Catholic educators in
Washington, D.C., was both a validation of and challenge to Catholic
education in East Texas, said Jim Franz and Dr. Charles LeBlanc.
Franz is principal of Tyler’s Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic Middle and
High Schools, and LeBlanc is superintendent of schools for the Dallas
and Tyler Dioceses. In July, he will move into a new position as first
president of the Tyler Catholic schools. Both were among the more than
400 educators who met with the pope.
“It was a very positive, enlightening experience,” said Franz. “I
wasn’t really sure what to expect at first. There’d been so much
speculation in the media about what he would or wouldn’t say, and I
think there was an expectation that it would be almost confrontational,
that Pope Benedict would come in and sort of ‘lay down the law’ to a
bunch of Catholic educators who’d gotten out of hand. But that wasn’t
it at all.
“Because he himself is an educator,” said Franz, “it was just the
opposite. He was very respectful of what we do, and very appreciative
of our efforts. I think he truly understands the critical role Catholic
education, whether at the primary, secondary or collegiate level, plays
in not just the church in this country, but all of society. He
addressed us as a community, and he spoke to us very much as a member
of that community.
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Texans recall pope's eyes, rosaries everywhere, sudden silence
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER
– Catholics in and from the Diocese of Tyler who witnessed firsthand
Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 visit to this country are still reeling
from the experience.
“It was awesome, in every meaning of that word,” said Jill Killam, a
parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church in Emory who traveled to
Washington and New York with a group from Dallas in the hope of seeing
the pope.
The group had no tickets to any of the papal Masses, “and we figured
we’d just go up and stand outside the various places he would be just
so we might see him,” Killam said. “It was incredible just being part
of those crowds, in praying and singing with people from all parts of
the country and in realizing we were all being drawn together by this
one man, who is the representative of Christ on earth.
“And I think that’s one of the first things that struck me,” Killam
said. “We hear so much about how our society is turning its back on
religion, about a growing hostility to religion and people of faith in
this country, but wherever the pope went, there were enormous,
enthusiastic crowds of people praying openly, exhibiting our faith
freely, and proudly. No one tried to stop us, no one even harassed us.
For me, it was an incredible moment of really understanding what
freedom of religion means, and what a gift it is.”
She also was struck by the enthusiasm of the crowds.
“We expected to see a lot of protesters,” Killam said. “You know, they
always turn out for something like this. And we did see some, but not
nearly what I’d expected. What I did see were huge, vast crowds of
people cheering and chanting his name, holding signs of welcome and
rosaries – so many rosaries!
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PROFILE Catholic faith is constant and there's a comfort in that – the Mass is the Mass in Tyler or in Iraq
By SUSAN DE MATTEO
TYLER – Faith, family and country are not mere words to Jordan Meads, but concrete realities.
Jordan,
26, is one of four children and the only son of Byron and Nita Meads of
Tyler, parishioners of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,
where he was baptized. He is a former altar server and attended St.
Gregory Catholic Elementary School in Tyler through the third grade,
when his family moved. He also attended Catholic schools in Little
Rock, Ark., and Shreveport, La., though he graduated from a public high
school in Sudbury, Mass.
And he is Capt. Jordan Meads of the
United States Marine Corps, a 2003 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy
in Annapolis and a two-tour veteran of the war in Iraq.
“I
always knew that I wanted to serve in the military at some point in my
life,” said Jordan. “I wanted to wear that distinction. I’d grown up
with grandparents and great uncles (who had served in) the World War
II, Korea and Vietnam era, and I always held them in high regard for
that.
“To my knowledge, I don’t think we have any war heroes as
such in the family, so it’s not like I was coming from a long line
where military service was expected, but that service was definitely an
aspect of my childhood. Plus I was a Boy Scout, and Boy Scouts really
raises you right if you decide to go into the military.”
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