As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Archbishop Dolan gave the homily at the annual Roman Catholic Red Mass in Washington D.C. Sunday for the Supreme Court Justices. He opened with an anecdote about John Paul II and how he changed somebody's life. Now I know I can be a complainer of sorts, but it seems that JPII is the content of a lot of Dolan's homilies. My own personal prejudice is that people are more moved by examples that are common to them. JPII, according to our official church doctrine, was ontologically changed at ordination and thus, stories about him do not always move me as much.
Our church is (I think for worse) in the age of JPII. There used to be pre-Vatican II priests and Vatican II priests, and now there are JPII priests. Unfortunately, I can't find it right now, but the Saint Francis Seminary web page used to have bios of all the seminarians that included a paragraph of their influences. Almost every single one mentioned JPII. Yes, I know, JPII was moving to them, but they're considering priesthood. The average person in the pew is not considering priesthood (and 50% of them are told not to consider it). But shouldn't our focus as a church be on Jesus and how the "lay" person can follow in his footsteps. I'm not interested in following in JPII's footsteps.
In any case, my two cents: Venerable Archbishop and JPII priests, please use examples and anecdotes those of us in the pew can relate to a bit more (someone who is not ordained or part of religious community). Thank you.
A Faithful Catholic
