German Shepherd

Long live the successor of St. Peter!

I read the fateful news this morning while returning my dirty teacup to the kitchen before Morning Prayer; I was surprised but not worried.

Being an Oblate of the Virgin Mary (though still postulant seminarian), I have grown an ever deeper affection for the office of the Holy Father, and, in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, a familiarity with his teaching and mission. The highlights of this I am experiencing in our Introduction to Liturgy class, in which we are reading his treatise The Spirit of the Liturgy (written prior to his election). Fr. McManus has identified and demonstrated how Benedict’s program, contrasted with that of John Paul II, has been to reform the Church from within (ad intra) in order that she become a better witness to the world (primarily through the Church’s members’ expression of their identity in the liturgy). His predecessor’s program was to embrace modern society and show it how to become better and lead it back to the Church (ad extra, with respect to the Church).

We await with joy Pope Benedict’s final encyclical letter, on the theological virtue of Faith, in this great year inspired by the same theme. Fr. Pignato, who taught my Fundamental Theology class last semester pointed out how critical it is that we understand our faith well and be able to articulate it to those who challenge us and that we are able to comment, reflect, and share about worldly events with a language that does not deteriorate our ability to express our faith alongside it. This means preserving the notions of absolute truth and man’s rational powers and moderate realist epistemology in the face of rampant relativism on all fronts and extreme epistemologies in both directions. This was a cornerstone of Benedict’s program, as well, in maintaining a medieval intellectual and philosophical position as applied constructively to our modern situation.

The Vatican News service has a couple articles on the timeline and portrait of Benedict’s papacy, for your further reading. The reaction of the Vatican Press official, the United States Bishops and the Bishops of England and Wales are also online via Zenit.

Considering some of the arguments (sometimes mere “mentions”) that have arisen over the past couple years as to which country may provide the next pope (that he will likely not be from the United States, but perhaps from Africa, perhaps from Latin America), I thought it might be helpful to the Church to have a Canadian pope. In my three trips to Montreal and Quebec since I entered the Oblates, I see a Church dwindling severely and vast treasures historical and architectural that we really should reclaim.

And lo, many commentators (CBC, France24 news) have placed Cardinal Marc Ouellet among the front-runners in the race. He is presently Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. While it may not, in the end, matter—as the man to fill the office will, indeed, fill the office—the popular reception of the pope is a concern today. And my stronger hope is that the reforms begun by our present Pontiff be continued with great resolve and gentle firmness, especially as concerns our liturgy and the strengthening of faith, hope, and love in our Church. And as Christian Unity is dear to my heart, I just found out that Cardinal Ouellet’s episcopal motto is Ut unum sint (that they may be one), the same as John Paul II’s encyclical on Christian unity. That is an exciting prospect!

So let us pray for our beloved German (Bavarian!) Shepherd in his final weeks for his strength and for the unity of the whole Church as her cardinals elect his successor and her people face such acidic ideologies each day, that they may be able to explain their faith, show great love, and ever live in the eschatological hope of which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ assured us.


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca