Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

"One Baptism and Two Popes" blog post from America online

As America’s Washington Correspondent I’m supposed to report and comment on what’s going on in Washington. The two dominant stories are the continuing failures of the “Obamacare” web site and U.S. spying on our allies, including the private conversations of heads of state. The White House response to these serious and embarrassing problems is that the president didn’t know what was happening…and that is supposed to be reassuring. Since the president doesn’t know what is happening in Washington at this moment, neither does your Washington Correspondent. So this blog posting is not about faith and politics, but about the sacraments and pastoral care. I have no special expertise in these areas, but that doesn’t seem to be a requirement in parts of the blogosphere (America excepted, of course). So here are a grandfather’s reflections on one baptism and two popes.

On Oct. 1, a standing room only crowd of 750 filled Gaston Hall at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for the inaugural dialogue of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. What brought them? Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington and the university’s president, John J. DeGioia, and an impressive panel certainly offered insights. But that was not what filled the hall. It was the Francis factor. They came to hear about Pope Francis and how he is affecting public life…and our lives.