As we pray for the upcoming conclave we also chatted about the serious moment in our Church’s life.
How have the Popes who have guided the Church during your lifetime affected your life of faith?How would it affect you if the Cardinals in the conclave broke with tradition and elected a black African Pope, or a Philippino Pope? Or an American Pope?Have you been talking with your friends – Catholic or non-Catholic – about the conclave? Could this be an opportunity for evangelization?Do you have any good ideas for how to pray for the decision of the conclave within your family?
Sister : Pope John Paul 11 was the one who most affected my life.
Mar 3 2013, 7:31 PM
Car: Me too-he was elected when I was in high school
Sister : I remember that a picture of him was in a Nikon photo store near Rockefeller Center when I worked at NBC. I used to pass by and wish i could work for JP11
Sister : Then when I went to the Monastery I did work for him, indirectly of course!
Car: That’s cool-the vocation call whispers at you from the oddest places! NBC job would have been great fun
Sister : Yes! Fr Gawronski says he was called on the NJ Turnpike!
Car: Hmm, summoned at 70mph…sounds like something He tried on me!
Sister : But in 1979 was JP11 first came to NYC I did not even go see him. But by 1987 when he was traveling about I watched all the news of him. Conversion happened in those years
Sr. Ma: So, will Cardinal Burke be the next pope?
Car: I feel like the fig tree. The fertilizer ring Jesus dug around me must be really deep!
Sister : Would you be surprised?
Car: Yes, because none of the “in the know” people are mentioning him.
Sr. Mar: He would be strong and orthodox.
Sr. Mar: Are we ready for a Black pope, do you think?
Sister : He built that shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wis
Car: I think we will all be suprised. Cardinal Wojtyla was not even a blip on the radar when he was elected
Sr. Mar: There are 115 or is it 118 eligible to vote.
Sister : I think so
Car: I would love to see a black man as Pope, or a man from Latin America
Sr. Mar: Or from the Far East – from the Philippines?
Sister : As long as they are holy, but wise with the “wolves”
Car: THere is a Phillippine Cardinal being mentioned, but his name escapes me
Sr. Mar: You’re right, Car. I think the Holy Spirit will surprise us all!
Sister : How is your community praying for the conclave?
Car: So, I find it very interesting that P Benedict left papers for the new Pope detailing everything that is wrong, but won’t release the papers now. Wouldn’t the Cardinals be better able to choose if they knew what he was worried about?
Sister : They probably suspect don’t you think?
Sr. Mar: I think some of our sisters are praying a novena. Together we’re praying for the conclave at all Masses and at Office.
Sister : I am saying a novena that a French friend sent to me
Sr. Mar: Would you email me the novena, Sister?
J: I would love to have Cardinal Dolan as pope
Sister : I sent it to Mother but I will send it to you. It has not been translated completely well from French!
Sr. Mar: Cardinal Dolan would certainly be a merry pope!
Car: We’d all be laughing on our way back to Confession.
Sister : He is very solid.
Sr. Ma: I wonder how much age will factor in?
J: I love him
Sr. Mar: Someone 50 or younger?
Sister : They say America is too much of a superpower
Sr. Ma: Someone VERY energetic and bold
Car: I read today that if they go with someone older, they;ll pick a bulldog who will clean out the curia and then conveniently go away
Sister : and that we can’t have a Pope from here
Car: Oh, Sister, I am so sorry to hear that.
why no American pope?
J: I have also heard about the Maronite patriarch as a possible contender…very Marian..from Lebanon
Sr. Ma: Our DC Cardinal Wuerl said no American or superpower pope because he wouldn’t be as sympathetic to the poor.
Sister: We are still a superpower and it would tie the Vatican with the US in other countries perceptions, they say
Car: ooh, wouldn’t the Middle East just love that
J: yes I also heard chances of American Pope is slim and none
Car: Well, Sister, I think you are probably right
Mar 3 2013, 7:48 PM
Sister : An Eastern rite Pope would be great!
Sr. Ma: I’m really rooting (and praying) for an African pope.
CarI recall they said that about any non-Itlian, and now we’ve had a Pole and a German, both of whom fought against Hitler
J: time to go outside of Europe I think
Sister : Maybe the Cardinal I got from that website?
Car: yes! the Cardinal from the Sudan
Ooh, he hasn’t even been mentioned at all
Sr. Ma: It’s fun to speculate but better to put myself before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and pray!
Sister : You can be given a specific Cardinal to pray for
Car: oops sorry. www.adoptacardinal.org
Sr. Ma: I like to feel that closer, prayer-connection to one of the Cardinals.
J: this one prophecy site is saying some miraculous thing is going to happen in the choosing..that it will be from Heaven…someone completely hidden right now
not Malachy..that is another one going around
Sr. Ma: Others are saying this will be the last pope.
J: this one is locutions.org I think
Car: I thought they were saying that about Benedict
J: this one prophecy site is saying some miraculous thing is going to happen in the choosing..that it will be from Heaven…someone completely hidden right now
Car: that’s not Malachy is it?
J: lots of end times stuff going on right now
Sr. Ma: The “sede vacante” is so sad, though.
Mar 3 2013, 7:52 PM
Sister : I don’t find that this election is something to evangelize about tho, do you?
Sr. Ma: Tears shed because we’re temporarily fatherless
J: popeless
Sister : Sr Ma, besides you, do any of you read Italian?
Sr. Ma: Evangelizing by promoting dependence on the Holy Spirit
Car: Well it can be a great way to explain what a Pope is and why we have one, and what that infalliblity thing is all about
J: we are talking about it a little Sister mostly just within our catholic group though
Sister : There is a conservative article I read that is very disturbing, but it was google-English
Car: I think the superconservatives would like to repeal VII
Sister : It would contend we are not popeless or fatherless
Sr. Ma: Send the article along for translation, then.
Sister : http://www.enricomariaradaelli.it/aureadomus/aculeus/aculeus_dimissioni_papa_benedettoXVI.html
Sister : That’s the linkl
Sr. Ma: Thanks. The headline already disagrees with the pope’s resignation.
Sister : If there is faulty logic or theology in it I would like to know
Car: I’d love to see the English-I can read a little, but not enough to really understand
Sister : Because if it is solid theologically we have a problem!
Sister : But I did not study theology so what do i know- just what i think the Spirit tells me
Mar 3 2013, 8:05 PM
Car: It looks like they are worried about people not liking the new Pope and trying to make Benedict come back
Sister : Anyway i prefer to think that His Holiness heard from the Lord and is following instructions he is not permitted to share- but we are to TRUST
Our job now is prayer and sacrifice for this conclave- we all have the same Lenten practices this Lent!
and would that not be an evangelizational moment for others?
Car: Yes, we must always pray that the Cardinals choose the right man
Sister : Yes and even to pray for supernatural intervention, in a way- a clear sign that this is the one
I think the Cardinals unity would be such a sign
Car: Do you think they could ever be united?
Mar 3 2013, 8:12 PM
Sister : I don’t know, not naturally- but with prayer, yes
that would be a sign esp if the faithful felt comfortable
because its the simple believers who usually are close to truth
We can all be misled it is true
Car: Now there’s the rub. Because the laity is educated to various levels, and all have ideas on what’s best.
Sister : But the Holy Spirit speaks to pure hearts
Car: I’d feel most comfortable if all the people who want various things would say they want whoever the Holy Spirit wants
Sister education is unecessary when the Spirit truly speaks and is heard
no backdoor negotiations
or whatever it is called
Car: yes. I’m thinking though of things like, with spotty catechesis out there, many people have no training past third grade and are wanting women priests & stuff like that
Sister : Yes- this is the disunity piece
Car: now, those sentiments may be mass prodding by the Holy Spirit, or it might be mass disobedience. I have no idea