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Papal ambassador speaks at Benedictine
Sambi delivers message of faith, peace
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, left, speaks with Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, center left, while Abbot Barnabas Senecal, center, speaks and walks with Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb., right, during the procession from the 2009 Opening School Mass to the Academic Convocation at Benedictine College in Atchison Tuesday afternoon.
ATCHISON, Kan. - Robert Finn, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, asked Pope Benedict after his election in 2005 to consider visiting Benedictine College.
"We got the next best thing," the Rev. Finn said Tuesday to a crowd of about 800, referring to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Pope's ambassador to the U.S., who spoke at Benedictine's convocation Tuesday.
The Rev. Sambi, whose official title is the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., was joined on the dais by bishops and archbishops from Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Maryland.
The Italian-born guest of honor, who speaks fluent French, Spanish and English, has a distinct Italian accent. Subsequently, some of his words were lost in the reverberations in the gymnasium. But it was clear Tuesday that his focus was on faith and peace.
The Rev. Sambi has served in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See since 1969. He's served in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, which included a stint as the delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine during the Yom Kippur War in the early 1970s. He served in the Holy Land again in the late 1990s, and said he witnessed possibilities for peace and "moments of great tension."
One of the Pope's priorities, said Rev. Sambi, was interreligious dialogue among Jews, Christians and Muslims. He said the prospect was difficult in the Holy Land, where only 2 percent of the population is Christian.
"Unity is a necessity. Diversity is an abnormality. Division is a scandal," Rev. Sambi said. "You can't praise God with violence and by killing his grandchildren."
Martin Goedken, who works with Catholic Charities and has a son attending Benedictine, said he found the Rev. Sambi to be a joyful and optimistic person.
"It's good to have the broader perspective," Mr. Goedken said. "Sometimes we lose sight of that (optimism)."
The Rev. Sambi also called on Christians to visit the Holy Land, something Brother Leven Harton, who is in Benedictine's service ministry, wouldn't consider.
"That would be an amazing leap of faith," Brother Harton said of the trip that he would find too risky to take.
Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmym@npgco.com.
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PROFESSORPOOH says...
Lovely positive coverage of this event, thanks for good news about this magnificent Catholic College and this distunguished guest. What an honor for Kansas and the Church and School.
One slightly jarring note; One follows style and refers to a bishop or archbishop as Bishop or Archbishop not Rev or even the more correct Reverend and certainly not call him by his first name in the lead. Would you say Barach Obama nd refer to him as Mr Obama? Respect for the office and title in formal writing is expected.
My thanks are my top concern but I hope the style correction is welcomed also!
September 15, 2009 at 8:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )