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Tom Monaghan, Gerry Faust and Dick Vitale?

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Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor Against "Christophopia"

I like the term and plan to start using it...Fulton Sheen called it Staurophobia "Fear of the Cross"...but the reality is that it really is Christophobia "Fear of a Savior"

From Diocese of Westminster:

I am becoming tired of the mockery of those who seem to regard faith communities, especially Christian ones, as intrusive and contrary to the common good. I label them Christophobic. They wish to close off every voice and contribution other than their own. Their inability to see the Christian seed in what is noble and good in Western culture chills the possibility of a true pluralism. Sometimes it spills over into the kind of anti-Christian bigotry that has appeared on some university campuses.

The great majority of people in our country do not want the erosion of a culture that is ultimately rooted in Christianity and its values. The presence in Britain of Muslims and other faith communities is leading to a renewed interest in Christian identity, boiled down if you like to the simple proposition that if a Muslim woman may wear a headscarf, a Christian woman should be able to wear a cross.

What is lacking in the new secular aggressiveness is the very Christian virtue of doubt. Only secularists such as Professor Dawkins seem to have no doubt when it comes to faith. We cannot build a truly human society on such narrow and rigid foundations.

Religion is not safe or easy. The new presence in Britainof an angry expression of Islam is a challenge; but the right response is not an angry dismissal of faith. We will not bring about a society at greater ease with itself by attempting to declare faith-free zones. British society is not a secular fortress needing to repel boarders, but a society permeated by belief as well as non-belief. The public space must be broad and permeable if it is to be truly public.

On my entry into seminary 56 years ago, my parish priest advised me to “Pray for perseverance”. I thought it rather unimaginative counsel at the time; now it seems to me quite inspired. For believers, the real task is to witness to God’s presence by lives of love and service, patiently persisting with those we disagree with.

Don't Think Gators Have a Chance?

On November 4th I was walking on 2nd Avenue in Nashville, TN. Why was I there? I had watched Florida play Vanderbilt earlier in that day in a game where Florida built a big lead (scored 25 points...the same amount of points that Michigan scored against Vanderbilt by the way) and then held on as Vanderbilt made a game of it. I stopped in front of an establishment where there was a crowd gathered. What were they doing? They were watching Illinois mount a charge, a last ditch effort to tie the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes. They failed, but the final score 17-10 should give everyone pause...if lowly and much maligned Ron Zook could almost do it...there is hope that Urban Meyer can watch that tape and come away with something.

I hate the BCS, by the way. It has ruined college football. Let's turn all these bowl games into playoff games (at the same sights) and make it all worth watching and caring about and in the end as in college basketball the rankings will mean nothing.

Interesting Experience of Turkish Journalist with the Pope

From The Journal of Turkish Weekly by Selma SEVKLI:

In time of Islamophobia, “clash of civilizations” and urgent need for dialogue after all, Pope’s visit to Turkey was critical both for Turkey and the rest of the world. Although I rose quite prejudice against Pope Benedict XVI after his speech at Regensburg University in Germany, I still wanted to see him and think about my opinions one more time.

As I worked for intercultural dialogue activities last year, I got to know many officials from religious minority communities. Therefore, I had the chance to attend the ceremony at Greek Orthodox Patriarchate on 29 November 2006. From beginning to the end, it was a lifetime experience for me.

We left Harbiye around 5.30 pm to go to the Patriarchate and realized that all the roads were closed. The police officers suggested us to take a different route which would make us delay even more. First their explanation was that the roads were closed for the Pope, we explained: “We are going to attend his ceremony” Surprisingly, showing our invitation letter was more than enough to open all the closed roads. We could have easily got the answer “Who cares, everybody is going somewhere important” All police officers I saw that night were extra careful and polite. Let me offer my thanks one more time as they completed their duty just perfectly.

The security was very tight around the patriarchate, we had to park 400 meters away, wait in lines, got searched. All these procedure got some of the people frustrated, for me just made the whole event more exciting. When we arrived in the yard, I saw 20 priests in line, with a long red carpet in front of them. There was a big screen monitor screening inside the church, welcoming signs on the walls and many people from different parts of the world. After waiting about 30 minutes Patriarch Bartholomew came in, welcomed everybody and soon after the Pope walked in. Bells ringed, cameras started shooting and the couple went into the church. Some rituals took place such as kissing the Testament, greeting the priests and the unique mass started. I walked in different levels of the church and looked at excited people, took pictures and videos. When the ceremony ended, most of the people left the patriarchate, but some started waiting in front of another building in the yard. I was told that there was another ceremony upstairs for priests only, closed to press and public. We chatted and waited outside the building, then famous Turkish journalist Leyla Umar and Patriarch Bartholomew’s lawyer Kezban Hatemi insisted to the officials about going in and meeting the Pope. As they are known for their close relationship to the Patriarch, their request was accepted and eight of us got the chance to get in.

The scene in the room was quite interesting. Priests were kissing the Pope and getting some holy gifts that I couldn’t exactly understand what. During that time, I was recording and just standing in front of the famous couple of the night. Then they started walking and the Pope got closer to me. I got confused about what to do, just looked at him and he gave his hand to me. I thought it would be disrespectful just to shake his hand as everybody was kissing, so I did the same with only one tiny different detail: After kissing his hand, I put it on my forehead as practiced in Turkish tradition. He smiled and I couldn’t say anything, but took my camera out and took another shot from a close distance. Then I had this weird feeling to describe as he left the room. I don’t know if he blessed or cursed, but it was a lifetime experience.

I left the Patriarchate in peace. I don’t know if the Pope is sincere about dialogue but to me it was de facto apologize about his statements while considered his whole trip. People were afraid about him praying in St. Sophia, he didn’t. Instead, he prayed towards Kaba in Blue Mosque. He tried to talk in Turkish, met many Turkish officials (even though his primary reason to visit Patriarch Bartholomoew), and in the end he said that he left his heart in turkey.

I believe that it is hard to change mentalities but reasonable to switch strategies. But it would be unfair to judge the Pope at the moment. We will see and learn through time what has changed in Vatican and if sincere dialogue is possible.

More Praise for Pope's Trip to Turkey

In a world starving for intelligent leadership--it sure is nice (and has been over the past 27 years) to have someone at the top of the Church who is both intelligent and a leader--not a follower.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"He came here with a lot of baggage, and I didn't know whether he would be able to overcome that," said Binnaz Toprak, a political scientist at Istanbul's Bogazici University.

"But in the end the pope presented himself not only as a religious leader but also a diplomat," Toprak said. "The Turkish public will be pleased that we made a nice show of Islamic tolerance and Turkish hospitality, and [the pope] gave an image to the world that he is in favor of dialogue."

The pope's effort to repair relations with the Islamic world was the focus of most of the media interest, but the trip to Turkey was originally conceived as an instrument for re-energizing the dialogue with Eastern Orthodox churches. Begun during the papacy of Pope Paul VI in the 1960s, this is seen by the Vatican as a long-term project to resolve a very old problem.

The split between the two ancient branches of Christianity, the Great Schism, occurred in 1054 after years of disputes. Over the centuries, culture and geography have widened the rift.

Not about theology'

"The divide between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy is not about theology. The differences are coming from historical memories, and you can't overcome those by sitting down at a table and talking," Wauck said. "You have to build a different set of historical memories, and this has to be done over a long period of time."

Pope Benedict, in one of last week's meetings with Patriarch Bartholomew, called the divisions among Christians a "scandal to the world"--the Vatican's strongest words yet on the subject--and pledged to work toward full reconciliation.

The pope and the patriarch were together for at least a few hours on three of the four days the pope spent in Turkey. They embraced, they celebrated the liturgy together and they embraced some more, all part of the process of building a new set of historical memories.

And in the process, a different side of a shy and sometimes stern German pontiff was revealed.

Noting Pope Benedict's prolific literary output, his love of language and his "carefully crafted Teutonic paragraphs," John Allen, the Vatican specialist for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote that the Turkey pilgrimage could "mark the moment the wordsmith pope learned to talk in pictures."

Pope Returns to Rome

The defining moment? In the Blue Mosque at prayer...

Pope's Plea: Freedom for the Church in Turkey

From Asia News Italy:

Another call for freedom for the Church which accompanies Muslims and an exhortation to Turkey’s small Christian communities to live together in love. This was the final message of the Pope’s visit, delivered this morning to around 2,000 people who participated in mass celebrated by Benedict XVI in Istanbul, his last engagement before leaving for Rome.

Young people stood in the small courtyard of the nineteenth-century church of the Holy Spirit, the Latin cathedral of Istanbul, cheering at the arrival of the Pope and Patriarch Bartholomew, chanting their names. On one wall, there was a poster with their images. There, upon his arrival, the Pope freed three white doves and then blessed a statue of John XXIII, the “Turkish Pope”, as Pope Roncalli was described when he was elected, in memory of the 10 years he spent in this country where he is still remembered with respect and affection. The statue, intended for the Church of St Anthony, stood not far from that of Benedict XV, erected by the Turks in 1919 in memory of his appeals against the World War, with the inscription: “To the great pontiff of the global tragedy, benefactor of all peoples, regardless of nation or creed, as a sign of gratitude, the East.”

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, and the Syro-Orthodox Metropolitan Fuluksinos Yusuf Cetin, attended the religious rite; all met Benedict XVI yesterday. The meeting with Bartholomew, who entered the church by the Pope’s side – and who participated in three celebrations with Benedict XVI in two days – was the main reason for the voyage. This, however, did not stop public opinion from focusing above all on ties with Islam.

Benedict XVI dwelt upon these ties in the packed church. He said: “Your communities walk the humble path of daily companionship with those who do not share our faith, but who declare ‘to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God’ (Lumen Gentium, n.16). You know well that the church wishes to impose nothing on anyone, and that she merely asks to live in freedom to reveal He who she cannot hide.”

The celebration had an inter-ritual character, in that Catholic communities of different languages and rites took part. Monks with cowls and Metropolitans in their great mantles stood by the altar. For all of them, there was a papal exhortation to fraternity, which rounded up the homily: “Always be open to the spirit of Christ and hence be attentive to those who thirst for justice, peace, dignity, for consideration for themselves and for their brothers. Live among yourselves according to the word of the Lord: ‘by these they will know you are my disciples, if you love one another’.”