My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am writing on the eve of the apostolic journey of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to the United States. As we await his arrival in New York, I express my hopes for his visit to our country. Perhaps it would be good to trace his steps on his short six-day presence among us.

Pope Benedict will arrive in Washington and be greeted, and hosted by President Bush in a reception in the Rose Garden at the White House. I will be present at that welcome, which marks the official governmental welcome to our Holy Father. As a head of state, the pope is being accorded the highest diplomatic recognition as he fulfills his role as chief pastor of the Church; he combines these two responsibilities as he visits our country. I hope he will speak to our president about the situation in Iraq and the suffering of Christians there, as well as that of the whole population and the need for peace. His unique perspective perhaps will help the president fashion an exit strategy that will leave the country better than we found it.

During his visit in Washington, the Holy Father will speak directly to the whole body of Bishops of the United States in the Crypt Church of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where our own priest, Father Joseph Holcomb, is Director of Pilgrimages. It is my hope that the Holy Father will encourage the bishops of our country to be the appointed watchmen, as the Prophet Ezekiel tells us, “watchmen of the flock of Christ,” preserving it from the dangers of relativism, as the Holy Father has warned so often.

While in Washington, he will also speak at Catholic University to representatives of the educational institutions under Catholic auspices. The critical issue today in Catholic education is how to maintain our Catholic identity, from the highest levels of education, the universities and colleges, to the elementary schools. Without a clear understanding of what our Catholic identity is, it makes little sense for the Church to sacrifice to maintain schools if they cannot communicate the Catholic faith effectively to those whom we educate.

Also, the Holy Father will have an interreligious meeting with those who are not Christian at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. I hope a special emphasis will be given to the relationship between our Jewish brothers and sisters and us, since that relationship is unique among all other non-Christian religions. We truly see their faith, that of Abraham, as the foundation of our own.

I am sure that the Mass in the new stadium in Washington will reflect the southern atmosphere of the Washington area. I lived there myself for six years, when I worked at the Bishops’ Conference, and can truly say that Washington, in comparison to New York, is a southern city. The pace is slower and perhaps there is a better appreciation of life and its spiritual side than in our very busy metropolis.

The Diocese of Brooklyn is privileged to welcome the Holy Father at a brief ceremony at Kennedy Airport on Friday morning. Our preparations for both the arrival and departure have been intense. I take this opportunity to thank Bishop Frank Caggiano and Father Anthony Hernandez, who has been assisting him and his staff, as well as all the others on the committee: Monsignors John Bracken, Ronald Marino, David Cassato and Robert Romano; Fathers James Devlin, Kieran Harrington, Richard Beuther, Jamie Gigantiello and Frank Tumino; Frank DeRosa, Kevin Kearney, Christopher Quinn, Cedric Chin, Thomas Flynn, Charles Mallia, Dave Ali, James Austin, Karen McCabe, Kelly Serrian and Yvette Buono. Since the beginning of the year, when the schedule was defined for the Papal Visit, they have been ever-busy with the numerous details to ensure the visit to New York will be memorable and without difficulty. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and all its entities, deserve great credit for assisting the Diocese in making preparations for the arrival and departure ceremonies.

The Holy Father will go directly to the United Nations to address the General Assembly. It is clear that his message will be one of peace, just as the first Papal Visit by Pope Paul VI produced the wonderful phrase that marks the best message the papacy can bring to the world for “no more war, never again war.”

Later in the day on Friday, the Holy Father will attend an ecumenical service at St. Joseph’s Church, established by German-speaking immigrants in Yorkville. At this prayer ceremony, Pope Benedict XVI hopefully can re-emphasize his desire for unity among all Christians.

On the way to St. Joseph’s Church he will have stopped for a brief visit at Park East Synagogue, where Rabbi Arthur Schneier is the chief Rabbi. Rabbi Schneier is a longtime personal friend of mine, which antedates my coming to Brooklyn. A survivor of the Holocaust, he is truly a remarkable figure. He heads the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an organization which attempts to bring interreligious understanding to situations of strife in the world, especially where religious freedom is compromised. I traveled with the Rabbi several years ago to Albania, just after it was opened to the West. Our interreligious delegation consisted of Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic representatives, which tried to work with government and religious leaders to give an example of how interreligous dialogue can be an instrument of peace in troubled lands.

One of the important reasons that the Holy Father is coming, although his invitation originally came from the U.N., was to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Archdioceses of New York, Boston and Philadelphia, as well as the predecessor diocese to the Archdiocese of Louisville. These four dioceses were formed on the same day, being broken off from the Primatial See of Baltimore. For the United States, 200 years in the life of a diocese is a long time. This is a wonderful opportunity for the pope to commemorate this historic event by celebrating a Mass for the representatives of these archdioceses. The Masses, both at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Yankee Stadium, will have representatives of all these archdioceses.

On Saturday evening, the Holy Father will meet with over 22,000 young people, many of whom will come from our own Diocese. It is my hope again that his emphasis will be on the vocation of young people in the world today, the vocation to carry the message of Christ to a new generation. Also, that they consider seriously a vocation to priesthood and religious life. We join together in praying for good weather, especially for the Yankee Stadium event, which will take place in the open air.

The departure ceremony is one that allows the Diocese of Brooklyn to bid farewell to the Holy Father by showing the nature of Brooklyn and Queens. A great number of the 4,000 participants are representatives of the language apostolates of the Diocese. A special effort was made to show the diversity of our Diocese, as well as its unity of faith, in this farewell event. Although the departure is of a secular nature, the anticipatory program will consist of prayer in various languages. Those participants will arrive several hours before the actual departure.

The Holy Father surely has “put out into the deep” in taking this pastoral pilgrimage to the United States. We look forward to the Successor of Peter coming to encourage the flock of Christ to be faithful and to engage in the New Evangelization, for which he is a major proponent.

Pray with me for the success of this pastoral visit, that our Holy Father might show us the way and instruct us on the rules of the journey that will bring about a greater understanding of God’s love for the world that is shown to us through Jesus Christ.