From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-As you read this, I am in Rome for the canonizations of St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II. You could say that it’s business since I’m the communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and I’m not Catholic. But it’s very personal. I could not have written that last sentence if the two of them hadn’t been elected pope in 1958 and 1978, respectively. They weren’t simply leaders of an institution known as the Roman Catholic Church. They were leaders of global Christianity whose ministry touched virtually every human being, Catholic or otherwise.
Born mid-baby boom and raised in the Episcopal Church, I have no memory of the Second Vatican Council, which Pope John called when I was a toddler and opened when I was in kindergarten. My earliest ecumenical wisdom, imparted by my mother, consisted of two facts: A) If we visited a Catholic church, I had to wear a hat and B) While I could go to Catholic Mass if a friend invited me to St. Albert’s, I could not reciprocate with an invitation to All Saints because Catholics weren’t allowed to go to any other church.
Read more:
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2014/04/27/Popes-John-XXIII-and-John-Paul-II-ANN-ROGERS/stories/201404270036#ixzz305EIjx2k
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