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| Pope John Paul II |
April 03, 2005 |
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Dear Friends,
I was seventeen years old when a young Cardinal from Poland became Pope John Paul II. My mother`s family was Irish Catholic and my father`s Scottish Presbyterian. As children, we went to the Episcopalian Church, but by middle and high school my family and I did not attend church regularly. My step father had been divorced and, at that time, the church did not allow widows to marry divorcees and stay in the church.
Read more about the life of Pope John Paul II.
Even though my life had become somewhat removed from organized religion, I remember being intrigued by this new leader of the Catholic faith. He was young and vibrant compared to his predecessors. Bigger than life, but touchingly human and kind.
I liked the fact that he traveled widely and sought to learn at least some of the language of the places he visited -- to connect to people in their own tongues.
He had a special relationship with young people that showed in his face and in those sparkly eyes. Some people give lip service to children; John Paul seemed to really treasure them.
For the first seven years of my professional life after college I lived in Europe. A young military officer and student, I was focused, as many of us were in the 1980s, on the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Empire. In this regard, too, I admired John Paul II. The Polish Pope, a citizen of a country ruled by a communist regime, reinvigorated every aspect of Catholic affairs in Eastern Europe. While he never sought to directly challenge the legitimacy of communist governments, he did stoke the fires of faith and spirituality that eventually helped consume the rotting timbers of communism.
We were fortunate to have this man as a leader of one of the world`s great religions during the time in which he lived. We all mourn his passing.
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