October 22, 2006
A Pilgrimage to Rome
With all of the excitement about the Pope’s interaction with the Muslims, it might be of interest to know that on Monday I am taking about thirty-five people to Rome, Italy on a pilgrimage in honor of Saint Catherine of Genoa. This remarkable laywoman, who lived around the time of Christopher Columbus, began the Catholic Reformation. Her organization, the Oratory of Divine Love, is something that we tried to restart in this country, in fact, if you have a chance you might look up our website – oratorydl.org.
I haven’t been out of the country since the day I got hit by the car, so I have to admit that I am looking forward to Rome, but especially to the general audience with Pope Benedict XVI. I think we all need to support him in every way possible. He is a great mind and a very dedicated Pope. He is in every way a very authentic Christian.
Whether or not he made a mistake in mentioning Mohammed is something that will be debated for years. If you examine his speech, it was in no way meant to be an insult, but it has unfortunately been taken that way.
I don’t think we should let this distract us from the loyalty that we owe to the successor of Saint Peter and also to someone who has served the Church so very faithfully since he was a teenager.
Please pray for the pilgrims of the Oratory of Divine Love, and we will pray for you at the holy places including Assisi, the tombs of the apostles, and the tomb of Saint Catherine of Genoa, who is interestingly enough incorrupt after all of these centuries.
God bless.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
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