Meeting four saints

In 1961 I was residing in Malta. I went with a group of 70 from there on a pilgrimage to the shrines of Italy. A highlight was a visit to Foggia, where we attended a Mass offered by Padre Pio. I received communion from him. He was wearing white gloves because of his stigmata. A few days later we were in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where we saw Pope John XXIII. I remember him as a very friendly and humble man. During the 1950s I met Fr. George Preca and assisted at many of his Masses. He died at Santa Venera, Malta on July 26, 1962. I was fortunate to attend his funeral. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Fr. Preca in 2007. In 1983 I went to Rome with another group from Malta and I met Pope John Paul II in Castel Gandalfo. I remember meeting him on a balcony, and he was asking us many questions. When I look back now, I feel very blessed to have met so four future saints, and especially to have received communion on the tongue from two of them. They were not mere television personalities to me, but real people. WOW!

Lucy Portelli
Plymouth

Church must change world

What Ronald Reagan said in regard to politics could be applied today about what the world says about the Catholic Church: “There they go again.” The media did a good job describing the lives of the canonized popes, but had to put in the misunderstood words “…to bring the Church into the modern world.” Well, not really. Not at all if properly understood; the Catholic Church must bring the world into the Church – not the other way around. What is there to conform to? Abortion? Contraception? The pursuit of wealth for its own sake? No, the Catholic Church must go outward to the world as missionaries, if that’s one’s calling. But all of us are required to be also missionaries in our own little or big ways, according to one’s calling. If we do, the world itself would flourish in the right way – as it has in past generations, as witnessed by history itself.

Patricia Donovan
Detroit

Thank you, sister

Dear Sr. Marguerite Gibbs, IHM, I would like to “thank you” for being my first grade nun at St. Catherine’s in Detroit (way, way back) better known to me as Sister Edwarda! You made quite an impression on me which has lasted all my life. Your printing on your Christmas card I received last year is still as steady and as beautiful as it was when I would watch you print on the blackboard. Thank you for offering your life and time with an “old first grader”!

Marge (Delisi) Nowicki