Where have you been? There are plenty of protests planned for Washington and New York. Just google up pope + protest.

Thank you John K. I'm embarrassed to say I've clearly missed that.

The Pope has deliberately failed to protect innocent children from predator priests. It's the policy of the Pope and his American goon squads to pretend that the problem of child molesting priests and nuns is resolved. It is not.

Communities of faith generally tend not to speak out against child abusing clergy. This seems to be true for all faiths, not just Catholics.

Last week, a teacher at Salesian High School was reported to have engaged in a sexual relationship with at least two 15 yr. old students. A report was filed with the Richmond Police Department. The Salesians of Don Bosco are known for harboring sexual predator priests, moving them about, but not much more happens to them. About 15-20 are currently housed at the Provincial House in San Francisco, about 2 blocks from Sacred Heart High School. Who cares? Hardly anybody!

When the Pope visits Ground Zero, he will be greeted by a vigil honoring the late FDNY chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, the first official casualty of the 9/11 attacks.

Mychal was considered a living saint by many even prior to his heroic death. His extraordinary works of compassion have been compared to Mother Teresa (see http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com )

But ironically, Fr. Mychal Judge would be barred from the priesthood today because he was openly gay, though celibate. He often asked, “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love ?!”

We have no illusions that this pope is going to change. Rather, we are bearing witness to two truths -- that God created and loves gay people, and that the pope does not speak for the whole Church, the Ecclesia, on these matters.

Indeed, two-thirds of U.S. Catholics-in-the-pews reject the pope’s views and support either civil unions or full marriage rights, according to numerous surveys.

As Fr. Mychal also said, "Don't let the (institutional) church get in the way of your relationship with God."