I sent you a package at the USCCB. I hope you enjy the little gift and respond favorably to my ideas to help vocations and the priests.

I beg God to bless you for all you do. the pope told us to love a preist. I love many and you as well.

Marian

Gerry

Thank you for your detailed account of the Holy Father’s vsit to Washington D.C. I was able to follow some of the events of his visit on EWTN as well as Zenit news service. I am happy that I had a chance to see his visit now from your prespective. I was also very moved to read about the Holy Father’s visit with the victims of clergy sexual abuse. I am sure that it was an awkward moment for all, especially the Holy Father but I think that this is an imortant step in the healing of our Church. I have new hope now in our Church and my faith. God bless.

In Christ,
Felipe C. Barreda-Diago
Coral Gables, Florida

It brought great peace and joy to my heart to hear that the Holy Father met with abuse victims during his trip to the US. Thank you so much for making this happen. I’m sure that it was an experience which touched not only your heart but the Holy Father’s as well. I continue to pray for the Church and all the victims of abuse.

As St. Francis said, “We take our Cells with us.” And of course some of us have been told we belong in a cell…but I choose to forgive them anyway.

The peace of Christ!

It is so amazing how you were able to bring healing to the Boca Raton area as well as what you are doing in Boston, and PRAISE BE TO GOD! for being able to meet and pray with His Holiness, Pope Benedict 16th.

I only ask of you one thing, and that is to keep me in your prayers as I dicern and pray about my vocation and await my entry into the order of the Capuchin Franciscans.

GOD BLESS YOU!

Your friend and brother in our Lord Jesus Christ,

Travis White

Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures of Our Holy Father.
I listened to all his homilies this past week. What a true Shepherd he is to all of us. Very sensitive to all people. I was so glad that he met with the victims of abuse. I pray that they continue through their healing process. With the help of dedicated shepherds and our Holy Father and a caring, sensitive Cardinal as you, I know that their hurt will be healed. We must continue praying for that. We must also continue praying for the clergy who have abused the victims. They also need our prayers and support. With God’s guidance all the hurt will be healed.
You are in my daily prayers and you continue to minister to the wonderful people of the Archdiocese of Boston, and to all your priests, deacons, and religious.
You are a true Franciscan.
God’s blessings to you always

Pax et Bonum,
Bro. Edward-John Bick, pbsf

Blessed Marianne Cope Regional Community
Penitent Brothers of St. Francis

I was so please to see you last night at the Ma. State K of C
dinner.
It meant a lot to all of us that even those you were tired from
the visit from the Holy Father you were able to join us.

Please forgive me for thanking you again for setting up
the meeting of our hurting Brothers and Sisters, This
step has already done so much in starting the healing
process for them and all Catholics.

Bruce Caissie,Grand Knight
Mumford Council 365
Whitinsville Ma.

Derrick A. Flannigan
Seminarian, Archdiocese of St. Louis
Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
St. Louis, Missouri

We lay people are very lucky to have Pope Benedict as our leader. The Hierarchy in the US have restored our confidence in the church.

Our local bishop, Most Reverend George Murray SJ, is a breath of fresh air. I don’t think the church has ever been in better hands.

We followed with interest the Holy Father’s visit to the United States and we joined the nation in earnest prayer for the success of his mission. As Catholics in this part of the world, we were quietly proud and emotional about his message of Hope during this period of the Resurrection and we were especially bonded in prayer with the many who turned out in great numbers to welcome him to your country.

We now look forward to see the Holy Father at the WYD 2008 in Sydney – I am sure it will be the greatest gathering of young adults and pilgrims journeying together attesting our most valuable gift which is our Faith.

Your eminence, thank you for taking the time out to write as we follow with great interest your weekly writes-up.

May God bless you and the community of Boston and the United States.

Isake Komailevuka
FIJI

Your dedication and hard work in addressing abuses, their prevention, the pastoral healing of victims and – so recently – in helping to arrange the touching meeting of Benedict with victims is received with greatest gratitude, and thanksgiving for healing the spiritual damage done to all.

May Our Beloved Lord continue to bless your ministry, your blog and your diocese richly, especially with new vocations, conversions and the renewed indwelling among all your flock and clergy of the Holy Spirit in this Season of Easter leading to Pentacost.

Can you advise.

Thank you.

Your blog has always been a blessing, but today especially so. For so many of us, who will probably never meet the Holy Father (at least, this side of Heaven), your words and the wonderful photographs you’ve shared with us make us feel as if we are there with you. Thank you for this precious gift.

May God continue to bless you and your ministry!

Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures of the Papal visit. He is an extraordinary man and we are blessed to have him shepard us.

Love & Prayers,
Mary O.

So far, I wish the sexual abuse crisis did not revisit, as it has been a painful trigger for me. I think that it was gracious of the Pope to acknowledge such atrocity, but there are no words to undo what happened to these people as the Pope so eloquently said. Only God can heal such horrific spiritual wounds.

I am also not sure how I feel about the five hand-selected people that got to speak to the Pope about their experience, what about the other 1000s? I can only imagine that they felt completely left out, and I wonder if this meeting only served to make the church look good.

I am sorry that I sound so bitter; I know that I am, and I pray for God’s help with this. Life is hard as it is. There are so many distractions and temptations, coupled with our own human weakness. Sometimes you do wonder where God is in the midst of the many tragedies in our world.

I also sympathize with priests. It is unfortunate that they have to walk on eggshells as I can only imagine so many do. I feel deeply for the ones who are troubled and left unaided until all hell breaks loose. Where was the kind intervention, the gentle hand, understanding and compassion? From my view, there was none.

If I can sum it up, the simple message that I received from the Pope is that the respect of human dignity is what will bring true peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding, and healing which the world so desperately needs. Maybe we need to first practice this within our church?

Heartfelt thanks for your efforts to bring Pope Benedict together with the clergy abuse survivors. YOU HAVE TRULY DONE GOD’S WORK HERE. Lord willing, these and other survivors may finally gather the strength to move on with their lives. One day, perhaps they may even find it in their hearts forgive the Church that so brutally betrayed them in body and spirit.

We will be increasing our donation the the Appeal this year as a show of support for all you’ve done. It’s a good beginning – but just that – a beginning. We agree with the victims that clergy who were complicit with this scourge on ANY level should be asked to resign. I pray that God gives you the strength and courage to move this agenda forward.

God bless you, Cardinal Sean -
Michelle Gauthier

It has been an amazing visit by the Holy Father. God forgive me, but I was worried that the people of the United States would not embrace him and his ministry. I actually was concerned that this bookish, rather shy man would be held up to ridicule. Guess I need to work on that sin of Pride, huh?

God bless you, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, and God bless and keep the Holy Father (Please, God, keep him here with us for many years). We have all been blessed in this visit. I suspect it will continue to resonate in our beloved country for years to come.

Rosemary Shaw

Thank you for providing such wonderful pictures of his visit to the US. As one who grew up Catholic but has drifted away many years ago, I was very touched by listening to him over the last few days. May I humbly ask that you pray for me as I try to find my back to the Lords Church?

Your leadership, along with others, was a key to what Pope Benediict acted upon relative to the sexual abuse issue, which was so dominant during his visit.

His grave concerns have been noted by many people we have spoken with. A number of them have been from various backgrounds. They respectfully like what they see and hear.

Thus the Church of Boston and throughout your Province will benefit from what you have accomplished.

Your friends in Christ–Sheila & Joe

It was an EXCITING couple days in DC! It was a blessing to be at the mass with the Holy Father. I saw you from a distance and I was excited to read your reflections on these last few days. I look forward to next week’s entry as well!

pax et bonum,
friar Matt

Thank you for taking the time to give us such a detailed and moving picture of your first days with the Holy Father. I have been touched and experienced healing toward the Church by the actions, words and evident compassion of Pope Benedict. I was not expecting this…..in fact, just the opposite was true.

But I was wrong and I am so filled with joy and renewed hope for the church. If you read this before meeting with the Holy Father again, please tell him that American Catholics, especially those of us who have been deeply distressed by so many things in the church, are once again hopeful and grateful to him for his kindness, sensitivity and compassion.

I have much more that I would like to say, but it is too long for this forum. I hope someday to see you at a Mass and hear you speak. I believe we met many years ago at the Capuchin monestary in Milton, MA in the ealy 70′s for a brief time. I have never forgotten that meeting and when you were chosen as Bishop of the Boston Archdiiocese, I was very, very happy.

I have gone on much too long, but I hope to write to you again when you return from these extraordinary days. I will keep you and Pope Benedict in my heart and in my prayers. These past few days have given me a renewed faith that the Spirit is alive in our Church.

Peace,
Dannielle
Kingston, NH

You hit a home run with all bases full in Washington, D.C. and you are about to win the game at Yankee’s stadium
in New York City by celebrating with clergy and faithful the bi-centennial of the Archdiocese of Boston.

What you have accomplished by making it possible for victims of sexual abuse and mental anguish to meet the Holy Father is nothing short of miraculous.

There is a lot still to be done so that faith and hope is reborn in the hearts who suffered so much. As baseball fans say at the beginning of a game …

Play ball !

Al Martinez
Bedford, Texas