Ancient Order of Hibernians

Virginia State Board

Catholic Action Committee

5508 Andrews Chapel Court

Fairfax VA 22032

April 16, 2005

Brothers:

We have all witnessed the passing of a great man.  As my grandfather used to say to my father, “Ah! John!  We’ll not see the likes of him come down this road again.”

While news gurus like Chris Matthews, Bill O’Reilly, et al. might say the Church is out dated, they had better look again and look real hard.  The Vatican presented a display of electronics wizardry that even the military could only make part of their dreams.  Example; when is the last time the military set out to communicate with a billion people in real time?  The Vatican accomplished that fact to 2 billion people.  All formal announcements were made via the Internet prior to local news or written communications.  These communications left the Vatican faster than the news networks around the world could pick them up and work them into their schedules, even with round the clock coverage.  It is well that the Vatican go to direct communications, for a lot of material that was presented by the American press was just wrong.

The most notable “fact” cited is Catholic Church numbers are dropping, the number of priests is dropping and the faithful is falling apart.  This may be in the United States and Europe.  Truth is the size of the Catholic Church around the world doubled during the papacy of John Paul II.  The Church went from half a billion to over a billion during that period.  These news folks seem to have a big belief that the Church is some kind of a democracy and Americans should have a say in what the Church does.  If the Church were a democratic organization, I do not think the 60,000,000 Catholics that make up the Church of the United States would be in any position to change any vote on issues that may confront the universal Church. As they say in the polling business, we do not even amount to a margin of error.

The press went to lengths to put their own twists into the mix.  The Church stands on Women in the Church, the sex scandals, etc., were out of place and blatantly wrong.  Cardinal Law was singled out to be the example of the failure of the Pope to react to the problems of the Church in the United States.  As though the 60 million here makes a big difference to the billion plus Catholics around the world that did not have these problems.  What does the American press know about the inner workings of the Vatican Church?  What ever it is, you will not get from the likes of Matthews and O’Reilly.

The Vatican pulled out all of the stops in presenting a ceremony that was as full of dignity, pomp, and style that royalty can only dream to have.  I believe that this life and death will cause the rebirth of the Church in America.  As for me, I am proud to be a Catholic once again.

Jack Devaney