Local people reflect on Benedict's life

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
 
The death of Pope Benedict XVI brought local memories, praise and perspectives about the late pontiff.
Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, pastor of Christ the King Parish in Worcester, called the late pope “a giant of the faith” and an “extraordinary scholar and theologian.”  
“On a personal level my only ‘encounter’ with him was to concelebrate the Mass the pope offered in Birmingham, England, when he beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman,” Msgr. Sullivan said. “It was a great privilege to concelebrate that Mass, distribute Holy Communion at it, and have the pope walk by me … during the recessional hymn.” 
Msgr. Sullivan recalled writing about that 2010 papal visit to England for The Catholic Free Press.
“As 55,000 Mass-going pilgrims streamed up the dark, rain-soaked hills at 3 a.m., their steps illumined only by distant lights pulsating through dense woods, they sensed something mysterious and mighty afoot,” he wrote in one of those pieces. “Something was. The pope was coming. It was magical.”
But the vicar of Christ faced more than an excited welcome, Msgr. Sullivan recalled in another article.
“Amidst a torrent of media cynicism and outright denunciation Pope Benedict XVI travelled to Scotland and England,” he wrote. “In the end, he won the hearts of millions. …
“The visit would not have gone nearly so well had the Holy Father flinched or retreated.” But, he said, Pope Benedict exhibited integrity and warmth, engaged religious leaders from different faiths, applauded efforts for justice and met off camera with clergy sexual abuse victims.
“Courage in the face of adversity is essential to the Church's mission,” Msgr. Sullivan wrote. “This was the pope's greatest lesson and perhaps his finest hour. To evangelize he came. Unfettered he came. And touched our hearts. What a difference four days make!”
Professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Mathew Schmalz, took a more worldly view of the pope’s influence on the Church and beyond. 
Mr. Schmalz noted, “Benedict XVI leaves behind a complex legacy as a pope and theologian.”
Founder of the “Journal of Global Catholicism,” which is described as “an international, interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal,” Mr. Schmalz wrote about Pope Benedict’s life and legacy for the website, theconversation.com. 
“To many observers, Benedict was known for criticizing what he saw as the modern world’s rejection of God and Christianity’s timeless truths,” Mr. Schmalz wrote. “But as a scholar of the diversity of global Catholicism, I think it’s best to avoid simple characterizations of Benedict’s theology, which I believe will influence the Catholic Church for generations.
“While the brilliance of this intellectual legacy will certainly endure, it will also have to contend with the shadows of the numerous controversies that marked Benedict’s time as pope and, later, as pope emeritus.” 
In The Conversation article, Mr. Schmalz wrote about the controversies of the sexual abuse scandal, Pope Benedict’s comments about Islam that drew protests, and writings with his name on them that appeared to criticize reforms of Pope Francis.  
“As for his own personal legacy,” Mr. Schmalz wrote of the late pope, “that will likely be defined by the one issue that concerned Benedict the most: how the Catholic Church can still make a difference in the modern world.”
Allison LeDoux, director of the diocese’s Respect Life and Marriage and Family offices, said she mourned the death of Pope Benedict.
She said she has displayed in her office for years what she considers one of his most profound remarks: “Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary.”
Mrs. LeDoux praised Pope Benedict’s encyclical “Deus Caritas Est” (God is Love), as “a key indicator of his mission to bring his flock into closer relationship with our all-loving God, and a hallmark of his pontificate, bringing so much of his many years of spiritual, theological reflection together in a message that can readily be received by all.”
  He “taught us how to proclaim the truth to a world badly in need of hearing it,” she said. His phrase “the dictatorship of relativism,” “so aptly described the cause of the pain and distress that goes on around us.” 
She said, “This brilliant, humble, and holy man taught us the meaning of truth, love, and hope as an antidote to the culture of death.”