Never before has Pope Francis visited anyone in the United States. On Wednesday, Sept. 23, he will enter the White House. (Editor’s note: This column was written in advance of Pope Francis’ visit.)
His visit with President Obama is the first of a series of events planned for a five-day stay in this country. The two men have already met, in Rome, and their conversation promises to be cordial and mostly private.
One of the writers most on my mind these days is Oliver Sacks. And that’s not just because this memorable doctor expects to die within the coming year. His readers are sadly aware that he has metastatic cancer.
I have been thinking about a recent opinion article written for the New York Times. In it Sacks tells how the Jewish Sabbath played a vital part in his early life.
Let me confess: the two final concerts of the Grateful Dead awoke no nostalgia in me. I can claim no share in the ecstatic fervor of the seventy thousand fans who twice gathered in Chicago to say goodbye.
Some of these fans are my age peers. Many of them, I understand, are Republicans. To be a Deadhead counts for many people as a profound and lasting experience.
A few weeks ago, Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress. Some of the names he mentioned surprised me. I was happy, of course, when he mentioned Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, scenic figures, not only in the United States, but throughout the Americas.
Never would I have expected so many newspapers to go out of business as have in recent years. They seemed, in my youth, a permanent feature of American society, never to be abolished.
On Monday, July 13th, the White House Conference on Aging took place. It started at 10 o’clock and finished at 4:30. At 11:25 President Obama delivered some remarks.
If you knew nothing about this event, you were in good company. Newspapers, radio, television and other information sources apparently published little or nothing about it. Apparently, most elders were not to be seen nor heard.
Many, if not most, of my relatives no longer go to church. This fact disappoints me, churchgoer as I continue to be.
What I say about family members also applies to friends. A number of mine no longer go to church except perhaps for weddings, funerals, baptism, and other solemn occasions.