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Social Justice Newsletter 
October 8, 2015
Today's newsletter provides much new material about the Pope's visit beyond what appeared in the 9/28 newsletter
  
For those willing and able, a good way to start getting acquainted with the problems faced by the poor in the Tri-Valley to volunteer to participate the Livermore  homeless survey.  See "Volunteer Recruitment - Survey of Livermore Homeless" in the last section of this newsletter".
  
Our support of the Livermore Homeless Survey can be a way for us to begin responding to Pope Francis' call to aid the poor.
 
Pope Francis, a product of discernment - his own and that of other deep-thinking people

 

The television coverage of the Pope' s visit to Washington, DC, New York and Philadelphia allowed us to see him as he traveled about, spoke to large audiences and small gatherings, and greeted people.  We got to see him as a person and begin to understand what kind of person he is.
  
When he was born the future Pope Francis was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an  accountant's son.  His grandparents were peasants who had immigrated to Argentina from Italy.  Jorge was greatly influenced as a child by his grandmother Rosa, a woman of deep faith who, when her family was still in Italy, had been heavily involved in Catholic Action, which had been created by the Italian bishops to uphold the Church's independence from the nationalist ambitions of Mussolini.   Rosa taught Jorge that there are good people everywhere, not just among those he saw in his neighborhood.
   
Jorge decided to become a priest when he was 17.
  
 
Bishop Barber's Reflection on Pope Francis' historic visit to the United States

Our bishop's reflection concludes by saying
 
In the weeks and months ahead, we'll be able to read, pray and reflect on the Holy Father's many speeches and homilies. But I'll never forget one of the pope's most tender gestures: After arriving at the Philadelphia airport, he asked the driver to stop his Fiat. The Holy Father had spotted a boy holding rosary beads in a wheelchair with his family. The pope got out and bent down and embraced 10-year-old Michael Keating of Elverson, Pennsylvania, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Michael's mother wept and thanked the pope for blessing her son.
  
In the Acts of the Apostles, people tried to touch St. Peter as he preached and walked the streets of Jerusalem. They placed the sick along his path, hoping that his shadow would fall on them as he passed by. And all who were touched by his shadow were healed. In the past week, St. Peter's shadow fell on the United States of America. And many hearts were touched . . . and healed.


  
 
Other material about the Pope's visit

When one CCOP parishioner was asked what the Pope's visit meant to him he said that Obama at his press conference gave a very good answer.  The ending of the President's Press Conference on October 2 that contains remarks about the Pope is about six paragraphs long. The first two paragraphs appear below.  The remainder appear on a continuation page.

All right, last question.  Major Garrett.
  
Q Mr. President, I wonder if you could tell the country to what degree you were changed or moved by what you discussed in private with Pope Francis?  What do you think his visit might have meant for the country long term?  

THE PRESIDENT: Pope Francis I love.  He is a good man with a warm heart and a big moral imagination.  And I think he had such an impact in his visit here -- as he has had around the world -- because he cares so deeply about the least of these, and in that sense expresses what I consider to be, as a Christian, the essence of Christianity.  And he's got a good sense of humor.  (Laughter.)  Well, I can't share all his jokes.  They were all clean.  (Laughter.)
  

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Fr. Thomas Reese wrote an article entitled "Pope Francis the Prophet".  Here is a link to it.
Click on any of the links below
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