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Friday, April 1, 2005
‘Perfect person to lead the church’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Smyrna, parishioners spoke of ailing Pope John Paul II as they made their way to noon mass Friday.
They praised him for his outreach to all parts of the world, his role in the fall of Communism, and his openness and charisma.
“He spoke so many languages, so people felt like he was really talking to them,” said Pat Rossman of Smyrna. “He was the perfect person to lead the church at the time.”
“He truly was a holy man,” said Katherine Garger, of Smyrna. “He was wonderful with the youth of the world, and people appreciated the fact that he loved life, that he enjoyed life. Other popes were isolated.”
“His traveling to other countries had a lot of influence,” said Joe Hawkins of Marietta. “It showed him not just sitting on a throne.”
Henry Y. Harris and his wife, Beverly Harris, of New Orleans, La., attended mass while visiting their daughter who lives in the area.
They said they strongly supported the pope’s “religious conservatism” and hoped his successor would follow.
“Some people might thing we need to go with a new approach in this modern society, but I don’t want the new pope to walk the fence,” Mrs. Harris said.
The Rev. James Kuczynski, the church pastor, cited the pope’s “humanism,” and said, “He’s someone who acted from his heart.”
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‘I love this papa’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At St. Ann’s Catholic church this morning, George Luiz B. Silva emerged from the chapel visibly distraught. He said that he and a friend had come to pray for Pope John Paul II. In broken English, Silva said, “I love this papa.”
Several hundred people attended masses at 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday at St. Ann, double the number usually in attendance, said Tom Reilly, the pastor. Reilly said that prayer was offered at both services and during his meeting with priests on Friday morning.
Reilly said he asked members to pray for John Paul’s health, his recovery and for his healing and noted that the church’s phone lines have been flooded with callers asking about the pope’s health and what church officials think about him and the times
“It’s a time of uncertainty and transition,” Reilly said. “There’s a sadness.”
Reilly said that John Paul has endeared himself even more so to the people because he has continued even in his infirmity to reach out to them. “He gives new meaning to service in that way,” he said.
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‘He’s the main shepherd’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sean Pek, 31, prayed for the pope at a noon Mass on Friday at St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church in Decatur. That wasn’t unusual, he said.
“He’s always in my mind, constantly in my mind,” said Pek, a chef with two brothers who are priests. “He’s the main shepherd.”
What was especially noteworthy, Pek said, was the dignity with which the pope appeared to be facing death.
“Now, he’s an example of how to carry the cross, how to suffer and take it,” Pek said.
Metro Hispanics concerned for pope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Several Hispanic day laborers were paying attention to the pope’s condition as they waited for work assignments Friday morning at a labor center in Duluth
Jose Plaza, 46, is from Colombia. He says he is here with his family. They have been worried about the pope’s deteriorating health throughout the week.
“He may be at the end of his reign,” said Plaza, who attends Prince of Peace church in Buford. “He has been a big influence in the life of the Catholic community. It’s very lamentable about his condition.”
Plaza plans to pray for the pope, and he will go to church this weekend.
“He has lived a life of dedication for others. He is interested in everyone, not just the Catholic community. He has been a pope who gave himself completely and did not hold back any of himself.”
Miguel Escamilla, 52, who arrived from Guatemala less than a week ago, learned of the pope’s failing health was he was traveling
“He has been a good pope. I hope there will be another one like him since he is in his last days.”
Angelica Luna, 21, has been here about 18 months from Hidalgo, Mexico. She remembers the pope’s last visit to Mexico and how it was celebrated with masses and parties. “Pobrecito (poor pope), everbody is very worried about his condition. He has helped the world with his blessings. Latin Americans and Mexicans were very important to him. Mexico was his second home.”
Luna has an altar to the Virgin of Guadelupe at home, and she put a votive candle on the altar with a prayer for the pope..
Said 27-yeear-old Teresa Martinez also from Hidalgo: “Whatever is God’s will. He is very ill.”
Mario Monroy, 34, from Hidalgo, said John Paul II has been “a traveling pope who always gave message of peace and brotherhood. We have been watching the reports about his condition. It’s very worrisome, but this is part of life.
“I think we have to let him rest in peace. We have to leave him be. He is missed and loved very much,” he said.
‘Today is for the pope’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cheryl Lively made a special trip from Griffin to attend noon Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Peachtree City to pray for the ailing pontiff.
“Today is for the pope,” Lively said before entering the church.
Like many Catholics, Lively said she has been following news of the pope’s deteriorating health.
“I wept this morning,” she said. “It hurts my heart.”
“It’s a shame,” Claire Fachet, 81, a parishioner at Holy Trinity said of the pope’s failing health.
Fachet, a regular church-goer, said she has long prayed for the pope — in sickness and health.
“Because he’s got a lot of problems up there,” she said.
Fachet, who said she keeps small photographs of the pontiff on a table in her living room, said that if the pope dies, “it will be a personal loss for all of us.”
When Karen Niederhausen, a 49-year-old church volunteer in Peachtree City, heard the news of the pope’s grave health this morning ,she said she immediately started praying the rosary.
“It’s so hard because I know he’s going to pass on,” she said, her voice straining with emotion. “But he’s going to a better place.”
For Niederhausen, who said she converted to Catholicism in 1989, Pope John Paul II is the only pontiff she’s ever known.
“He means a lot to me,” she said, “even though I don’t know him personally.”
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Students discuss pope’s illness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Students at St. Pius X Catholic High School have been discussing the pope’s illness this week, said Cynthia Carson, who chairs the north DeKalb County school’s theology department and teaches a theology class for juniors.
The talk has centered on two points, Carlson said Friday: the elegance with which the pope appears to be handling his illness and the knowledge that the end of an era is looming.
“Mostly, they’re very impressed with the fact that everything is borne so graciously,” Carlson said. “This is the pope, the only pope these students have ever known. We even have younger teachers who have never known another pope. For them, this goes beyond an interesting fact. This is their life and faith.”
The pope’s decline, coming so quickly after Terri Schiavo’s death, has resulted in deep discussions among her young charges, Carlson said. The focus of the talks, she said, is the width of the spectrum of human life.
“We’ve had discussions in our classes — particularly with young people who can’t imagine life in any other way than how they live it — that have really given them pause to think what constitutes human life. We’ve had really good discussion from both sides. I can look at their faces and tell that they’re really processing things in a different way than they had before,” Carlson said. “They’re becoming aware that there are more ways of being alive than just what they see.”
Students were supposed to hear a wheelchair-bound guest speaker Friday, Carlson said, but bad weather forced a postponement.
To healthy teen-agers, Carlson said, “Being paraplegic sounds as bad as being in a coma. If they’re not willing to say life is valuable until life ceases, they’re certainly thinking of it more.”
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President, first lady praying for pope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The White House said Friday that President Bush and his wife were praying for Pope John Paul II and that world’s concern over his failing health was “a testimony to his greatness.”
Bush was briefed on the pontiff’s health Thursday evening by White House chief of staff Andy Card and then updated Friday morning by Card when the president arrived in the Oval Office, spokesman Scott McClellan said. The U.S. Embassy in Rome was in close contact with the Vatican, McClellan said.
He said it was inappropriate to discuss whether Bush might go to Rome for funeral services if the pope died.
“The president and Mrs. Bush join people all across the world who are praying for the holy father,” McClellan said. “He’s in our thoughts and prayers at this time. The outpouring of love and concern from so many — including millions of Americans — is a testimony to his greatness.”
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Vatican has traditional signs of pope’s passing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many papal observers are watching for the traditional signs the Vatican uses to announce a pope has died.
The Vatican says Pope John Paul is in very serious condition and suffered heart failure last night.
The church could announce his death by drawing his shutters, or by closing a bronze door. But the use of that door has been spotty in modern times. The tradition was ignored in 1978, when two popes died.
The most traditional sign is the tolling of the Vatican’s bells, which prompts churches across Rome to join in.
Tradition holds that the pope’s vicar for Rome would make a formal announcement to Romans. The Vatican would almost certainly have made an earlier announcement to the media. That would come either through Vatican Radio, which then plays somber music, or through the pope’s spokesman.
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Former archbishop prays at pope’s bedside
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DETROIT — A former Detroit archbishop who visited Pope John Paul today says the pontiff was having trouble breathing but was alert.
Edmund Szoka told a Michigan television station that the pope “recognized me immediately” and that Szoka knelt by his bed and prayed for him.
Szoka says when he was leaving, he gave the pope a blessing and then the pope tried to bless himself with his hand.
Szoka left his post in Michigan in 1990 to work at the Vatican.
Szoka says he believes the pope “could get well” if doctors can alleviate his breathing troubles.
The pope suffered heart failure yesterday and the Vatican says his condition remains “very serious.”
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Atlanta Catholics urged to pray
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Catholics logging onto the Web site of the Atlanta Archdiocese Friday were seeing this message:
Join Archbishop Gregory in Prayer for Pope John Paul II
Archbishop Gregory asks that you join him in prayer for the recovery of Pope John Paul II, the Pontiff who has been a “great voice for peace.”
“He has been a friend of humanity and a great voice, especially for the poor and the downtrodden. There is no reason to doubt his great contribution, and may that contribution continue.”
— Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory
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Age, illness put pope at risk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Doctors say the latest health crisis will be a challenge for Pope John Paul II to overcome, given the number of ailments weakening his frail body.
“It’s not a very promising situation,” said Dr. Benjamin Ansell, an internist at UCLA School of Medicine. “When you see recurrent infections as the pope has had, each round of antibiotics may lead to resistance.”
Ansell said a healthy person may recover from a high fever with no problem, but it could be devastating for those with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, which the pope has suffered for at least a decade. Some Parkinson’s patients who develop a fever may turn catatonic, Ansell said.
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People around world pray for pope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WADOWICE, Poland � From Polish workers to monks in Norway and parishioners in the Philippines, Roman Catholics around the world prayed Friday for Pope John Paul II.
“The only way we can help him is by prayer,” said 17-year-old Danuta Chowaniec, one of the worshippers at St. Mary’s Church, where the pope was baptized. “In spite of these alarming statements from the Vatican, that he is really worse, I still hope he improves.”
Krystian Zajac, 47, came to the church in tears from his work at a plumbing company.
“This situation is so difficult. I took time off from work to come and pray,” he said. “This is the will of God, we just have to pray, everything is in the hands of God.”
At a tiny cloister on the Lofoten Islands, off northwestern Norway, three Polish monks were prayed for the pope.
“We pray for him as we do every day,” said Dariusz Banasiak, superior of the Cister Monastery. “Our prayers are more intense today, with what we feel in our hearts.”
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