The Warrior sent our Catholic Beat Writer, Remington Tonar, to New York City for Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the United States. He begins this piece by giving an account of the Papal trip and then assumes a first person perspective when reporting on his experience in New York City.

“Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them…and they were all cured” (Acts 5:15-16). In early Christianity, people crowded the streets to see Saint Peter, hoping to be cured or blessed by touching him, or even by standing in his passing shadow. Not much has changed in two-thousand years, as Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic visit to America demonstrated. The pope, who is the 265th successor of Saint Peter, brought hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful from all over the nation to Washington, D.C. and New York during his apostolic visit to the United States.

His Holiness, along with the Bishops of the United States, chose “Christ Our Hope” as the theme for this historic visit, which marks Benedict’s first visit to the United States as pope. In his advance message to the United States before his arrival, the Pope noted that his mission in coming to America was to, “proclaim this great truth: Jesus Christ is hope.” This visit of hope comes in the wake of the much publicized sex abuse crisis, which has ravaged and devastated the Catholic Church in America, and amidst a culture of increasing secularism. The Pope told reporters onboard what has been dubbed Shepherd One, the Papal airplane, that he was “deeply ashamed” of sex abuse by priests and that he would, “do everything possible to heal this wound.”

His Holiness landed in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday April 15, where he was met at Andrew’s Air Force Base by President Bush. It was the first time Bush greeted a head of state outside the White House. Here, he was greeted by multi-lingual renditions of Happy Birthday, to celebrate the Pontiff’s 81st birthday on the April 16. After a short meeting with the President, the Pope retired for the evening. On his birthday, Wednesday, he journeyed to the White House for a more extensive meeting with Bush, and he was greeted by 12,000 guests on the South Lawn. Following this reception, the Pope met with the Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. In his address to the Bishops of the nation he acknowledged the deep fervor for faith in the U.S., and prompted them to continue their fight against materialism, relativism and secularism. He also encouraged the Bishops to be proactive in combating sex abuse, and affirmed some of the new programs adopted to help combat abuse, but noted that, “the policies and programs you [the bishops] have adopted need to be placed in a wider context.” He tied these words into the need to educate children on authentic and moral Christian sexuality and the need to fight pornography and the “crude manipulation of sexuality” that plagues American youth today.

The following morning the Pope celebrated Mass at Nationals Park for almost 50,000 in attendance, telling the faithful in his homily to be a “leaven of evangelical hope in American society, striving to bring the light and truth of the Gospel to the task of building an ever more just and free world for generations yet to come.” Also on Thursday, the Pope visited the Catholic University of America, and addressed Catholic educators from around the nation. In his speech he noted that, “first and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God.” Beyond this, the Pope also affirmed that Catholic identity does not depend on statistics, nor can it “simply be equated with orthodoxy of course content.” Rather, Catholic identity should be measured by more, “namely that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith.” The Holy Father concluded by making it clear that while academic freedom is vital and important, using academic freedom to teach things contrary to the faith causes one to “obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission.” Thus, the Pope said, “teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice.”

Marquette’s own president, Rev. Robert A. Wild, S.J., was in attendance. Wild spoke with The Warrior and outlined some of the highlights of the Pope’s address. Wild applauded the Pope’s encouragement of those present to not be complacent in the search for truth, which manifests itself in Jesus Christ. He highlighted faith as an integral part of Marquette’s mission believing that Marquette does a good job of executing that mission of authentic Catholic faith.

“There are areas that we can do better in,” admits Wild, but the “search for truth is not an easy business,” and it is something that Marquette continues to strive for.

The Pope also held an interreligious prayer service on April 17 and met with leaders of the Washington, D.C.. Jewish community.

On April 18, the Pope traveled to New York City, where he addressed the United Nations in both French and English, speaking of the need to protect religious freedom and human dignity. The Pope also held a meeting of leaders from different Christian denominations at St. Joseph’s Church in New York where he expressed his desire for Christian unity and reaffirmed the existence of objective truth, as well as the need for not only spiritual, but doctrinal unity.

“A clear convincing testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus,” the Pope noted, “has to be based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching: a teaching which indeed underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the sacramental life of Christians.”

A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

While the Pope was busy spreading his message of hope in New York, I was in the back of a full twelve passenger van traveling to see the Pope on Saturday, April 19. With us were Marquette students Scott Emerson and Matt Shireman, as well as other people not affiliated with the University. We embarked Thursday afternoon and spent that night in South Bend, Indiana, and arrived in New York City late Friday night and settled in at the Crotona tutoring center in the Bronx for the evening. The next morning we awoke early for Mass and then, after a short breakfast, made haste to St. Joseph’s Seminary where the Pope would be speaking later that afternoon in a rally of seminarians and young faithful from across the nation. During that time, His Holiness was celebrating Mass for clergy and religious at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

When we arrived, the field behind St. Joseph’s Seminary was mildly populated; Secret Service, state and local police were heavily present. We found a place on the lawn about thirty feet from the stage where the Pope would be speaking exclusively with the seminarians, who had preferred placement right in front of the stage, in front of us. The next few hours were spent watching and listening to the music and dance performances that had been arranged for entertainment. Some of the more notable acts included the Christian groups Third Day, Salvador, Toby Mac, and priest-rapper Stan Fortuna. The festivities concluded with a brief performance by Kelly Clarkson, who would later appear again before the Pope’s departure to sing Ave Maria to His Holiness. Despite our tickets coming with free food passes, our group collectively fasted, in fear of losing our plot of lawn if we moved to get food. Our hunger, in conjunction with the 70 degree heat which was exacerbated by the increasing number of spectators, made the several hours of waiting for the Pope rather arduous.

“The youth rally was a long day of being out in the sun, without food and with little water, surrounded by tens of thousands of other people,” says Matt Shireman, a senior in Engineering with whom I traveled. “But it was incredible to be a part of the crowd when the Holy Father arrived.”

Upon arriving, His Holiness first visited the seminary chapel where he blessed handicapped children in a gesture of the Church’s love for all persons, even those on whom secular society places less value. After this, he traveled via Pope-mobile down to the field where 20,000 seminarians and youth awaited him. While at St. Joseph’s, the Pope encouraged youth to model their lives after those of the saints. He poignantly urged that America’s youth develop a personal relationship with Christ and realize the expansive wonder and awe found in the Christian faith, stating that, “sometimes, we are looked upon as people who speak only of prohibitions. Nothing could be further from the truth! Authentic Christian discipleship is marked by a sense of wonder. We stand before the God we know and love as a friend, the vastness of his creation, and the beauty of our Christian faith.”

“The Holy Father spoke directly to the hearts of young American Catholics,” notes Shireman. “It was all a bit surreal.”

Being able to experience the presence of the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter upon whom Christ built the Church (see Matthew 16:18), at St. Joseph’s Seminary was indeed a surreal experience. An even more surreal experience, however, was being able to attend Mass celebrated by him. The following day, Sunday, we again awoke early to make our way to Yankee Stadium, where the Pope would be celebrating Mass. Close to 60,000 people were in attendance, and the enormous volume of people made getting to the appropriate gate assigned on our tickets difficult. Our seats were not as spectacular as those we had the previous day at the seminary; however we had a great view of the elaborate stage and altar that had been erected for the Pope’s visit. When His Holiness finally arrived at Yankee Stadium, driving around the edge of the field in the Pope-mobile, the excited crowd rose with jovial applause and shouts. Indeed, it was an exciting moment, to be part of a vast number of Catholic faithful who were all united in a very special way in the presence of the Vicar of Christ on earth.

“Mass with the Pope was an awesome experience,” says Scott Emerson, a sophomore in Engineering, who was also among my traveling companions, “just to be in his presence, along with thousands of other Catholics who are all cheering and exited about their faith…it’s amazing.” Emerson points out that the Pope’s homily was as inspiring as it was intellectually challenging. “We have to remember that this Pope is a scholar. His speeches and homilies are very intellectual, as well as deep and insightful.”

In his homily at Yankee Stadium, the Pope challenged the faithful to follow Christ’s footsteps, telling those present that, “true freedom…is found only in the self-surrender which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves.”

On his last day in the United States, the Pope visited Ground Zero, where he prayed for God to grant eternal light and peace to those who had perished in the September 11 attacks. After his stop at Ground Zero, the Pope made his way to JFK International Airport, where Vice-President Dick Cheney awaited him as he finished his apostolic visit to America. He thanked America for its hospitality and professed his joy in the faith of the American Catholic community. Bidding farewell to our nation, he took his leave and asked that Americans remember him in their prayers, leaving us with the words: “God bless America.”

Popularity: 28% [?]

From my earliest memories of being with my parents and listing off the starting lineup for the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins, I have been a full-fledged member of America’s love affair with baseball. But how is it that this seemingly boring game captures the imaginations of millions, enthralling them for months at a time?

In an era of flashy talents like LeBron James and inhuman 350 pound offensive linemen, what is it that we love so much about a sport in which a pitcher can throw a perfect game while “half-drunk,” as David Wells claims he did against my beloved Minnesota Twins?

First, the intricate nature of the game. To the casual fan, as Tim Robbins’ character in “Bull Durham” said, “[Baseball] is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball.” But things like shading the fielders, wasting an 0-2 pitch, moving the runner over, bringing a lefty in to face a lefty, watching a pitcher save a run by backing up home or actually seeing a suicide squeeze live are all lost on the non-discerning fan.

This is why baseball may be the one sport you have to have played to truly understand it. The intricacies involved are such that the casual fan – who’s used to the constant excitement of football, basketball and hockey – finds it boring. The rules of baseball can be learned by some, but for the rest of us who’ve played, we know it’s tough to explain that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach the moment you realize you’ve been picked-off or the beauty in a sacrifice bunt.

And second: the memories we associate with it… Being a Twins and Cubs fan (go ahead and hate me doubly White Sox fans), my memories of baseball almost always include my dad. He took me on long road trips in which we’d drive to Chicago to watch a Cubs series at Wrigley and then catch a Twins-Brewers series at Milwaukee County Stadium. While at one Cubs game, we stumbled across Harry Carey, cocktail in hand, hours before first pitch. He signed a Budweiser advertisement I had.

And, in perhaps the favorite memory I have of my childhood, I watched at home as the late Kirby Puckett hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning in game 6 of the 1991 World Series, forcing a game 7 and leading to Jack Buck’s famous call, “And we’ll see you, tomorrow night!”

The next night, I did see them. My parents had three tickets to game 7 and brought me along. And at game 7, while waving my “Homer Hanky,” I saw the most dominating sports performance I ever have. Jack Morris pitched 10 innings of shutout baseball, repeatedly telling manager Tom Kelly he wouldn’t leave the game. The Twins won 1-0 in the 10th inning on a walk-off hit. Greatest World Series ever.

So what is it about baseball? I think America’s love affair with baseball boils down the beauty of simplicity: sunflower seeds, double headers, the hanging curveball, Johan Santana’s change-up, suicide squeezes, tailgating, Wrigley Field, 162 game season, switch hitters, the seventh inning stretch, Joe Mauer, playing catch with dad in the parking lot before the game, the wildcard, on base percentage, dugouts, infield chatter, the hot corner, pepper, Texas-leaguer singles, rosin bags, no-hitters, complete games, hit and runs, town ball, and strike-him-out-throw-him-outs. What’s more American than that?

Popularity: 21% [?]

Do you have an accent? No, of course not. Nobody wants to admit to having an accent or speaking a dialect. We Midwesterners find Southern drawls to be lazy and stupid, while Brooklyn accented speakers sound like gang members. Guess what? They think we sound funny, too. Even within the Midwest, language variation exists. How many of you have ever helped someone carry their “baigs” or heatedly debated whether “pop” is superior to “soda?” In fact, variation within a language exists normally between all speakers.

I’ve heard people grumble about “Ebonics” sounding uneducated. “Why can’t they just talk right?” everyone asks. After all, “he be going to the library” is not correct grammar. Actually, you’d be surprised to learn that it is correct grammar to those who speak this dialect. It is different from “he is going to the library,” because it implies the habitual nature of this action. In a sense, Ebonics is actually more sufficient in this case, because in Standard English, one would have to say, “he has been going to the library regularly and plans to continue going,” to get the same point across.

The fact is speakers of African American Varieties of English learn their dialect the same way we do, by adopting the language features of those  around us, i.e. the rents, the sibs, and the BFFs. They didn’t try to learn the “standard” dialect and somehow fail at it. If this were the case, isn’t it kind of fishy that most African Americans (and for that matter, almost everybody in New York, Tennessee, Louisiana, etc.) somehow happened to fail at speaking correctly? What a coincidence that would be!

Most of us have been forced to read the dramas of William Shakespeare  at some point. Students are quick to notice the differences between the way characters spoke in these works and the way we speak now. Language change is a normal process that has been going on since language was invented (a gazillion years ago). So the standard dialect you claim to be speaking is not historically correct—Chaucer’s people would not even be able to understand you, and Shakespeare might find you uneducated. To a lesser degree, the British found (and still find) American accents to be a wide variety of negative adjectives: ugly, stupid, lazy, annoying. They think they speak correctly, but we think we speak correctly. So who’s right?

The answer is: no one’s right or wrong. Even if the elected standard American dialect corresponds with the way you usually speak, that doesn’t mean your speech is more correct. Who decided which dialect should be chosen as the standard? Who gave him/her the authority to decide what is correct? There is no objective way to decide what makes a dialect more correct because all languages and dialects are equal in terms of communicative effectiveness.

You might argue that it’s hard to understand Southern twangs, and therefore they don’t communicate effectively. But they speak effectively amongst themselves. They didn’t learn English in order to be understood by Northerners, just as we didn’t learn English in order to be understood by Southerners. (How communicatively effective is it to call a water fountain a “bubbler” when most people have no idea what you’re talking about?)

So next time you find your linguistic superiority complex start to creep up, remember that you’re no better than anyone else because you know “who” from “whom,” or because you pronounce words correctly. You have an accent, too.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Paramount Pictures is causing an uproar within the online community. The controversy stems from the GI Joe movie that is slated to start production in 2008. Unfortunately the “Real American Hero” is no longer American at all. GI Joe will stand for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, and it will be a co-ed group that answers to the UN and is based in Brussels. The enemy of GI Joe will be a “doublecrossing Scottish arms dealer” according to Paramount.

The reason Paramount gave for this change is that it is too hard to market a film about the U.S. military during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Never mind that the original concept of the GI Joe was the American serviceman who fights for freedom, sacrificing his life for others to live a better life. These days though, that freedom is infringed upon by the overly politically correct and overly greedy climate that dominates our current culture. Because the movie would not market as well in other countries, patriotism is sacrificed; pride in one’s country doesn’t hold a candle to the power of the dollar.

Political correctness and anti- Americanism are going too far. Why is it no longer OK for the U.S. military to be portrayed as the heroes they truly are, but it is perfectly fine to make the villain Scottish? Is offending the Scots allowed? GI Joe’s enemy’s origin used to be pretty ambiguous and now the enemy is being labeled as belonging to one specific group. And what about all the real soldiers who were honored by having one of these toys modeled after them? Our world should concentrate less on offending people and more on treating everyone equally; the only way to eliminate hate and prejudice is to eliminate taboos and to judge the individual not the group.

About now you are probably asking yourself this exact question: “What does this really have to do with me?” The answer is that communities like Marquette are the places where change must start. Marquette students need to be part of the solution by not perpetuating the status quo.

Rather than labeling people and groups and worrying about offending people, we need to learn to see individuals for who they are. We also need to stop the anti-American sentiment that is plaguing our country. It is far too often I hear people who claim to hate being American, and that is a terrible thing. There is pressure to be against our own country coming from within. The youth of this nation needs to return to patriotism and feeling good about our country. That means changing popular culture, which will bend to the will of the people, and supporting politicians who care about our American identity and making our government something to be proud of. So there you have it fellow students, this all boils down to changing our attitudes.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Americans are soft. Where is the spirit that gave rise to the pioneers? Where is the spirit that forged a nation out of nothing, and set the precedent for worldwide adoption of democracy and human rights? Where is the spirit that defeated Nazism and Communism, winning two world wars in the process? Instead in cities like Milwaukee and New Orleans, children suffer from neglect, and homelessness is rampant. Instead of supporting our troops who embody the spirit of hard work and sacrifice that our soft nation used to have, we demand that our politicians cripple the troops’ mission.

How did this happen? Because Americans are soft, because the highest goal in life is self. Americans are infected with a blame others mentality. Whereas independence and individualism were the spirits that made our country great, America is now characterized by gated communities that shield themselves from the world.

What are the symptoms of American softness? 50% of American marriages ending in divorce. Men who are too addicted to online pornography and sports to play ball with their kids. Women who spend enough money on their dogs and hair to feed an African village. People who worship youth and think that the way to solve their problems is to buy newer, better things and go further into debt.

Americans will congratulate themselves for being diverse for having a friend from Africa on an internet social site while they are hard pressed to name the last time they said hello to their neighbor across the street. The greatest generation is stuck sitting in lonely nursing homes, their brains melting from “The Price is Right” and “Wheel of Fortune” while their children’s and grandchildren’s greatest concerns are whether or not to get the options package on their new Lexus. America’s softness starts with education. Instead of learning values like honor, discipline, integrity, and respect, children are being spoon fed ‘values’ like diversity, tolerance, and self esteem. How do you instill values of hard work and a competitive spirit into kids when our nation’s education system is more interested in teaching politically correct nonsense instead of actual academic skills?

Little Johnny is forced to sit in class all day long while his teacher talks about self-esteem. He is no longer allowed to have recess outside because his mother thinks his sensitive allergies might act up. He is no longer allowed to play dodgeball during gym class because it hurts kids feelings to get hit with a ball. Since he cannot sit still in class, he’s put on drugs like Ritalin. If he plays cops and robbers with his classmates, he gets suspended for pretending he has a gun. When he gets home to suburbia, he sits in front of the television for five hours playing video games.

That is America’s future. Is there something wrong with this picture? Americans need to stop expecting the government to solve their problems, and learn to take responsibility for their own lives.

We need stronger families, more responsible schools and people who are unafraid to fight for freedom and what is right. It starts at the individual level, but impacts the entire community. That Marquette’s motto is ‘Men and Women for Others’ is a step in the right direction.

Popularity: 9% [?]