Local Catholics Pray for Wisdom, Guidance in Next Pope Selection

February 21, 2013 by Diane Ryder

When Jay McPhillips’ clock radio turned on early Monday morning with an announcement that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning, the Catholic priest woke up in disbelief.

“I really thought I was dreaming,” he said. “I was so surprised. I couldn’t believe it.”

McPhillips, who has served as pastor at St. Helen’s Church in Newbury for three decades, said everyone in the church community was taken by surprise because it was the first time in 600 years that a Pope has resigned while in office from the position he normally holds for life.

McPhillips said usually when a pope dies, the local church receives instructions from the Diocese about how to decorate the church for mourning, what special services and prayers to plan, and other procedural directions.

“We’ve received nothing official from the Diocese yet,” he said. “We’re not really mourning him because he’s still alive. The protocol is buried deep over the last 600 years, about what to do if a pope resigns.”

The pastor said Benedict has led the church well during his eight years in office.

“He’s been wonderful, considering he had big shoes to fill from his predecessor Pope John Paul,” he said. “He’s really done a wonderful job.”

The pastor said he has been leading his congregation in praying for guidance for the College of Cardinals as they meet to elect the new pope.

“We pray for three things: that the cardinals are guided by the Holy Spirit as they consider the new pope; that they choose someone who is wise, loving and holy; and that he will be a good shepherd to God’s people,” he said.

McPhillips said he doesn’t anticipate any major changes in church doctrine under the new pope, regardless of which one is selected.

“The teaching of the church comes from the Holy Spirit, which doesn’t change,” he said. “Some people have trouble facing the truth a lot of times, but the truth is impossible to change. The Catholic Church has been here for 2,000 years because there have been no changes in our basic beliefs.”

Karen Thrasher, secretary at SS Edward and Lucy Parish in Middlefield, said she was also taken by surprise at the resignation.

“I was very shocked and very sad,” she said. “He’s been a super wonderful pope. We only pray that God will send us as good a pope as he was.”

Sister Melannie Svoboda was at the breakfast table in the St. Mary’s Church convent in Chardon Monday morning when she got the news of the Pope’s resignation.

“I was sitting at breakfast, when one of the sisters came in and said she had just heard it on the radio,” she said. “We were all very surprised, but I think everybody knew it was a possibility.”

She said she had seen Pope John Paul II in Rome shortly before his death and had been saddened to see how frail and incapacitated he had become.

Svoboda said he gave her a rosary from his own hands, but was unable to speak and had to be wheeled from person to person.

She added she believes Benedict made his decision after much prayer, which shows that, although tradition is a major tenet of the Catholic Church, it also must function in a changing world.

“I hope the next pope is, first, a prayerful person who loves God, who has a sense of tradition, but is also open to the world, because God is alive and well in our world,” she said.

Svoboda added all Catholics will be praying during the cardinals’ conclave.

“Customarily, the pope is prayed for every day anyway,” she said. “We will continue to pray, as always, for wisdom and guidance.”