'You care'

Compliments don't usually go to my head, but I heard one tonight that touched pretty deeply.

My niece, Katie, asked me tonight if I'd be her sponsor for confirmation next spring. I asked her why she chose me, and she said, "Because you care." I asked her what she thinks I care about, and she rattled off a list... about church, about my family, about her.

That's some compliment, when you think about it. Never mind the fact she's asking me to help her on that personal journey from being a child in the Catholic church to being an adult. Just to hear someone recognize that you care is something undescribable. I often pray for the guidance to do the right thing and to follow the path God sets before me. To hear a 14-year-old say she notices it, that's wonderful. To hear her say she thinks that makes me suitable to help her, that's even better.

We all hear compliments each day. I liked your story. You look nice today. I appreciate how hard you work. You offer a different perspective on things. You liven things up around here. You get the idea. I'm not sure I'll ever hear a better one than "you care."

Give Benedict a chance

Many more liberal Catholics keep ripping apart the College of Cardinals' selection of Joseph Ratzinger as the replacement as pope for the recently departed John Paul II. To them, I say this: Give Pope Benedict XVI a chance.

I don't know any more or less about him than anyone else does. But I do know the faith teaches us to give people a chance before we judge them.

Yes, he was a part of the Hitler Youth movement in Germany as a child. Like all German children at the time, he didn't have much of a choice. The financial implications for a child's parents were unbearable.

Yes, he was the "enforcer" as the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Less than 100 years ago, that organization was called the Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition, one with a dark past.

It was his job, his role to staunchly defend the Catholic faith. That's what that office does, rely on him to conservatively examine church teachings and offer opinions on issues of the day. That doesn't necessarily mean that's how he thinks the church should run, or that he'd turn a deaf ear to God if asked to change anything. It merely means that's what he used to do.

It saddens me to see a universally loved and appreciated figure such as Pope John Paul II, only to have his replacement lambasted by critics already. If he does something that offends you, then it's your right to nit-pick. Thus far, he seems to be doing and saying all the right things, from his promise to keep open relations with the Jewish church to his meek and humble approach to being the 265th pope.

Give him a chance. Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Mapping to the power of X

Sometimes I stumble upon things I find really cool on the Internet, and I like to share those findings with the world at large... which probably already knows about it, merely confirming my own un-hipness.

So tonight's "you probably already know about this, but..." site is Google maps. Before you say you've seen Mapquest and understand how those work, I advise you look at this map for Wrigley Field in Chicago.

It actually shows you a satellite view of whatever you're looking at. It's somewhere between really cool and really creepy, as you can do this to some extent for any map in the world.

It also has typical road maps too, and the ability to search for stuff. It really flies on my cable modem connection; I make no promises for the dial-up crowd.

This thing reminds me a lot of those government spy thrillers, where they're zooming in on the bad guy, screen by screen, until they can see him. Except they don't have zooms that close... yet.

A Good Shepherd

A number of priests and church officials took the occasion of Pope John Paul II's death as an opportunity to tag "the Great" onto his name as a sign of respect for his actions.

To me, nothing speaks better of him than to call him a good shepherd. (THE Good Shepherd, of course, would be Jesus.) He showed us all how to be.

With the Pope's death came many, many reports about his life. The most telling, I think, is the story of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot the Pope on May 13, 1981. See Pope's forgiveness of Agca provided a powerful example.




The most amazing thing I've ever seen a man do was forgive. Pope John Paul II met with Mehmet Ali Agca two years after the assassination attempt and forgave him. He blessed him and forgave him.

What an incredible lesson for us all to learn from this truly holy man. He forgave the very man who tried to take his life. If anyone ever followed the gospel about forgiving someone, this Pope did.

How many gripes live on for too long in your life? How many people do you need to forgive? How much capacity for love is there in your heart?

The Pope provided his church and the world a moral compass. The Pontiff didn't change his opinions to suit the time or the place. There were no situational ethics for John Paul II, only right and wrong, good and evil. I already miss the absoluteness he provided in a world that occasionally feels bankrupt of morality.

I won't claim to speak for Catholics everywhere, nor will I claim to speak for Americans everywhere. People do have their disagreements with the church. But for this much there can be no disagreement: Pope John Paul II was a good, loving man, and we all should thank God for the time we could follow this good shepherd.

Safe driving

I stayed late at my parents' house while visiting Thursday night, getting the typical "be careful" from my mom as I left.

"Don't worry," I responded. "At this hour, all that's out there at this hour are narcoleptics and drunks. I'm neither, so I should have an advantage against them."