April 19, 2008

By Julia Duin - NEW YORK — Pope Benedict XVI today celebrated the third anniversary of his election as pope with a solemn Mass for 3,000 at St. Patrick"s Cathedral in Manhattan, where he made the fifth reference of his trip to the priestly sex-abuse scandal that has engulfed the American church.

During his homily at the morning Mass to bishops, priests and religious orders, the pope encouraged those who had remained faithful to their vows despite the tarnishing of the priesthood's image as a result of the scandal that has victimized at least 12,000 young people, mostly adolescent and teenage boys.

"I simply wish to assure you, dear priests and religious, of my spiritual closeness as you respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenges that this situation presents," he said. "I join you in praying that this will be a time of purification for each and every particular church and religious community and a time for healing.

"I also encourage you to cooperate with your bishops who continue to work effectively to resolve this issue," he said.

In stark contrast to his predecessor John Paul II, who rarely mentioned the scandal, Benedict has raised it repeatedly on this trip in both word and deed: expressing his shame on the flight to the U.S., chiding the American bishops for their mishandling of the crisis, mentioning the indescribable damage the scandal has done during his homily at Nationals Park, meeting with several Boston abuse victims at the Vatican Embassy, and this morning's homily.

The service was followed by a joyous parade up Fifth Avenue and afternoon speeches to young people on the grounds of a Yonkers seminary.

Dressed in gold, red and white vestments, the pope in his sermon used the cathedral"s Gothic architecture to illustrate several points about his listeners" special callings. Referring to the stained-glass windows, he said priests and religious need to be filled with an interior "mystic light."

"This is no easy task," he admitted. "The light of faith can be dimmed by routine and the splendor of the Church obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed, too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality."

Still, he called on them to have an "ever deeper faith in God"s infinite power to transform every situation, to create life from death and to light up even the darkest night."

He also hinted at divisions among his flock in a call for unity among the leaders of American Catholic Church.

"For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed the Second Vatican Council has been the experience of division between different groups, different generations, different members of the same religious family," he said. "We can only move forward if we turn our gaze together to Christ.

"In the light of faith, we will then discover the wisdom and strength needed to open ourselves to points of view which may not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions. Then we can value the perspectives of others, be they younger or older than ourselves, and ultimately ‘hear what the Spirit is saying" to us and to the Church."

Today's ceremony was the first time a pope has celebrated Mass in St. Patrick"s, a venerable New York institution founded in 1858. Just before the pope marched down the aisle, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, briefly appeared in the pulpit, calling the occasion "a historic day for New York."

Protesting the pope: sex-abuse survivors, evangelicals, atheists

Nicole Neroulias
The Journal News

NEW YORK - As Pope Benedict XVI prayed for unity at St. Patrick's Cathedral this morning, his presence temporarily brought together protesters including abuse survivors, atheists, fundamentalists, communists, and clowns.

These diverse bands, some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles for the occasion, picketed for hours on Fifth Avenue, shouting conflicting messages from behind police blockades as the pope celebrated Mass a few blocks away.

Only the 30 assembled sexual abuse survivors and their supporters identified themselves as Catholics, but most said they could no longer bring themselves to attend church and said their only desire to see the pope was to ask him to do more to remove clergy involved in the sex abuse scandal.

"There are still pedophile priests in ministry," said Bob M. Hoatson, of West Orange, N.J. "There are bishops who covered all this up, and there are bishops who abused who have not been held accountable."

Hoatson, 56, said he had survived years of abuse after joining the Christian Brothers in New Rochelle, the subject of a lawsuit in state Supreme Court. He and other survivors said they appreciated Benedict's remarks this week expressing sorrow about the abuse and the fact that he met with some victims - more than Pope John Paul II had done, they noted - but said they needed to see more actions than words.

"His comments are promising," said Mark Lyman, 43, of upstate Stillwater, N.Y., who said a priest abused him during his teen years. "I'm skeptical, but I do have some hope that his visit may change things."

A few feet away, three dozen atheists said they just wanted the pope to stop trying to bring religion into the public sphere, to respect America's separation of church and state.

Atheists and abuse survivors alike complained the group assigned to the slot between them - a handful of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist sect based in Topeka, Kan., shouting Benedict would "burn in hell" - made all protesters look like extremists.

"We're pretty genteel compared to them," said Mario DeOliveira of Yonkers, shaking his head at the group's "Molester Mafia Boss" placard and holding his own up higher: "Pope: My Tax Money Paid For Your Visit."

The tone lightened when a small band of clowns bicycled around the block, honking horns and holding up signs calling the pope a "big clown" himself.

Identifying themselves only by stage names like "Pinkie," they explained they wanted to show how laughable the Vatican's positions on safe sex, homosexuality and abortion have become in modern times.

Their jokes failed to elicit chuckles from the largest protest group today: more than 100 Pentecostal Christians who marched solemnly up Sixth Avenue, escorted by New York City police officers. The members didn't comment on their cause, preferring to sing their anti-pope message in Spanish: "Only Jesus Christ saves."

In the end, none of the groups seemed to faze the thousands of enraptured Catholics who stood for hours along Fifth Avenue, hoping for a glimpse of their spiritual leader heading uptown from the cathedral.

Bill Rosanelli, a high school theology teacher from New Jersey, laughed as he took pictures of the atheists, then joined his wife and daughter around the corner.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion," he said. "If they want to protest, they protest. But I don't even bother with them."

As the popemobile finally came into sight on Fifth Avenue shortly before 1:30 p.m., the crowds cheered at the waving white figure, then turned away with huge smiles, clutching digital cameras and chattering excitedly into cell phones to friends and family members back home.

By Jessica Fargen / Pope Benedict XVI in America  |   Saturday, April 19, 2008  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

NEW YORK CITY - Making history with every stop, Pope Benedict XVI preached peace at the United Nations and healing at a city synagogue, all while thousands of pilgrims danced and chanted “Beneditto” in the streets of the Big Apple.

Through it all yesterday, the 81-year-old pontiff worked the marbled halls and sacred rooms with the pomp only a sitting pope can command.

“Your visit today to Park East Synagogue, a historic occasion that will be recorded in history forever, is a reaffirmation of your . . . good will,” said Rabbi Arthur Schneier during the Holy Father’s visit.

It was a short, yet historic moment from a religious giant once a reluctant member of the Hitler Youth.

At the United Nations, the pope insisted that human rights - not force or politics - must overpower war and poverty as the global economy reaches all corners of the earth.

“Each state has the overarching duty to protect its population against serious and repeated violations of human rights as well as consequences of humanitarian crisis due to natural causes or resulting from man’s activities,” the pontiff said.

 He stressed conflict resolution as a means to peace in his address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Outside the United Nations, hundreds of people waited in the bright sunshine for hours to catch a glimpse of the papal motorcade, some dancing, singing and playing drums and guitars as they stood along First Avenue. Street venders sold $5 Benedict signs, 8-inch-by-10-inch photos of the German pontiff, flags and pins from shopping carts. Some sold T-shirts by the armful. 

But Benedict, with two full days left on his six-day visit to America, remains under siege by clergy sex abuse demonstrators lining the streets outside every papel event.

Benedict, who made history on Thursday when he met with Boston clergy abuse victims in Washington, D.C., could not shake clergy abuse victims and their supporters, who followed him to Washington, D.C., and protested outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral just minutes after he departed the United Nations.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests held a protest outside the cathedral, where this morning Benedict is expected to say the first papal Mass ever inside the historic church. SNAP members held black-and-white photos of priest abuse victims, many of them from Massachusetts and New York.

“We need to protect the next generation of children,” said Paul Kellen, a member of SNAP who lives in Medford and held a photo of Patrick McSorley, a Boston abuse victim who died of a heroin overdose.

Steve Sheehan, 74, of Brighton said he hopes Thursday’s historic meeting with clergy abuse victims will have lasting effects.

“I’m glad that happened,” he said while standing on 50th Street, adding “What I’m afraid of is that might be the end of it.”

SNAP plans to hand out fliers at subway stops near St. Patrick’s Cathedral today and outside Yankee Stadium during the Holy Father’s Mass tomorrow.