Posted on 05/17/2007 1:06:29 PM PDT by NYer
>Baltimore, May 17, 2007 / 10:39 am (CNA).- Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore has sent a written invitation to the Pope, asking that he pay a visit to Baltimore when he comes to address the United Nations in New York.
Though a date has not been established, Catholic News Service has reported that a UN trip is likely to take place next year.
The trip would be the pope's first visit to North America since his election in 2005. Cardinal Keeler invited Pope Benedict to visit the Basilica of the Assumption, the first cathedral in the United States, and the new Our Daily Bread Employment Center, which will be dedicated this month.
Created in 1789, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is the premier see from which other major U.S. dioceses were formed.
Fr. Joseph S. Rossi, professor of church history at Loyola College, said: "There is no more symbolic city in America than Baltimore, as far as Catholic heritage.”
He suggested that the Pope could round out a U.S. tour by acknowledging the growing Latino Catholic community with a stop in the South or West. Los Angeles, the largest archdiocese, would be the perfect bookend to his trip, he said.
In my fantasy, if the Pope did indeed go to L.A., I hope his first words to Cardinal Mahoney would be, in the words of Donald Trump, "You're fired."
Considering Maryland’s current governor is responsible for banning the word Christmas in some city agencies, I’d recommend the Pope stay away.
Maybe the Holy Father should pay the visit to Baltimore. Possibly he could have a word with Governor Lilmarty. The Governor is supposedly a Catholic. So, maybe the Pope might set him striaght on any number of things relating to Catholic teaching.
Highly symbolic.
Maybe he can help the Ravens get a ground game going again.
Well, I am a bit of a cynic, and the pat Catholic answer should be a “Well, it is my prayer that the Governor would respond to the Holy Father’s invitation to be one with the Universal Church,...blah, blah, blah.” But, no. I think it would fall on deaf ears for such a vacuous individual as Lilmarty. Regardless, it is an opportunity for the Holy Father to instruct others in the faith through our Governor.
I don’t think the Pope should bypass Maryland (and us) because of this silly nanny-state policy.
There are some other issues which the Pope could instruct the Governor, which might be beneficial to all Catholics. I believe such instruction would sting quite a bit more than the state’s asinine policies regarding Happy Inoffensive Secular Holiday.
Why did God make us?
He made us to love Him and to serve Him in this world and the next.
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