Monday, July 11, 2005

John Paul the Great to be Canonized at WYD?

If it were up to his aide, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, it would be so. This would be the fast track indeed. And one we probably ought to avoid. There is wisdom in the Church's current process of due diligence that prevents canonization from being reduced to a pope's saying "I know a saint when I see one." There is also risk to the Church's mission in circumventing that process by appearing to corroborate the charge that her decisions are arbitrary; risk in that it may slow conversions while faith wrestles with that untruth. Similarly, it is not clear why it ought to take longer for Bl. (Mother) Teresa to be declared a saint than John Paul. Also, as an American, it bothers be not a little that the Vatican could move so quickly on this matter, but was ploddingly diligent in its response to the sexual abuse crisis.

Yes, we know the late pope hopped the bullet train to the Heavenly Banquet, so we can be confident in the outcome of the process. Finally, there is nothing now stopping the faithful from venerating his memory and seeking his intercession, which I, for one, do daily.

No comments:

Post a Comment

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Because Life is Life
and not just on election day