Catholicism actually resembles a family that survives because even as it aspires to holiness, it understands and can live with sin and imperfection. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
Most ecclesiastical relics are fixed in time at the moment of their manufacture. That is why they are offered for veneration in casings that resemble pocket watches. They have lost their claim to mystery because they are so clearly the products of time. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
From his first hours as pope, Francis has re-enacted or spoken of the great pastoral transformation of Vatican II as his own agenda. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
The world, more suffering than sinning, turns toward Pope Francis as in a conversation people turn to the person who is making sense of things. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
The whole world feels that it knows Francis, not so much because he follows Francis of Assisi but because he is always himself. We have seen him pay his own hotel bill and heard that Francis called Buenos Aires for a pair of ordinary black shoes, like John XXIII, who preferred stout peasant shoes to the traditional papal footwear. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
Pope Francis reminds us of Pope John XXIII because both men share the same lack of self-consciousness, and neither needs to keep his guard up through the use of psychological defenses such as rationalization, projection or intellectualization. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
Francis seems familiar because Catholics have already known him in the Vatican II priests who have been their pastors and sacramental ministers over the years since that council brought new life to an old church. Catholics have known him in the bishops and priests who brought the spirit of the council to their dioceses and parishes. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
Wherever you find ‘men together’ – writing the rules, as at exclusive golf or other men’s clubs, businesses, and lodges where they wear elaborate robes and funny hats – women are kept completely outside if possible and, when grudgingly admitted, to highly restricted areas or token status. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
Vatican II and the Space/Information Age began in the same eye blink of history, with John XXIII’s opening speech of Vatican II on Oct. 11, 1962, following John F. Kennedy’s call for a round trip to the moon a month earlier. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
The mystery of being human and, certainly, of being a Catholic lies in our embracing together the imperfect state known as the human condition. First and foremost, if we could ever be perfect or do things perfectly, we would eliminate mystery, an essential ingredient in the good life and the spiritual life. Eugene Kennedy Read Quote
