By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
FORT LAUDERDALE | Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement drew a range of reactions, ranging from shock to sadness to actual gladness, among leaders of other religious groups in South Florida."Shocked" was the one-word reaction of Chorbishop Michael Thomas, pastor of Heart of Jesus Maronite Church in Fort Lauderdale, one of a number of Eastern rite Catholic churches that have their own chief shepherd but are in communion with Rome.
Chorbishop Thomas said the shock was not just for the suddenness of the announcement, but for the personal situation of the pope.
"A bishop presents his resignation to the pope — who does the pope present his resignation to?" Chorbishop Thomas asked. "It would have to be the Lord. It's like saying, 'You chose me for this job and I can't do it anymore.'"
Father Damon Geiger, a Melkite priest in Miami, was a bit more serene about the announcement.
"In a way, it was a pleasant surprise," said Father Geiger of St. Jude Melkite Church on Miami’s Brickell Avenue. "Benedict has done a wonderful job, but I'm happy for him because of the strain of taking care of all the dioceses and churches.”
"I'm sad and I'll miss him," Father Geiger added, "but he will still be writing and contributing to the overall life of the Church."
The news of Benedict's announcement also caught the attention of Pastor Douglas J. Brouwer of the historic First Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale.
"I’ve been reading about it all morning," said Brouwer, whose congregation celebrated its centennial last April. “We're still one church. What happens in the Catholic world affects the Protestant world."
He shared the reaction of Father Geiger, saying the resignation "may be one of the more courageous things he's done as pope. It may set a model for other popes. I agree that a pope who can no longer do the job has an obligation to retire."
Rabbi Sheldon Jay Harr, too, applauded Benedict's decision to retire — a decision the rabbi himself announced last fall after more than three decades at Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El in Plantation.
"This is not a pope who breaks tradition too easily," said Rabbi Harr, whose synagogue, at 750 families, is one of the largest in Broward County. "It's to his credit that he recognizes he's not able to fulfill his functions."
Rabbi Harr, a founding member of the Association of Reform Zionists of America, said he hoped the next pope would take a more "balanced" approach to Israel. Despite praise from some Israeli leaders on Benedict's papacy, Rabbi Harr said the Roman Catholic Church still expected too much of Israel in the peace process.
"I'm not convinced that unless you’ve been to Israel and walked its lands, not just major sites, that you’ll understand what it's about," the rabbi said. "I wish the whole world would come to that."
Asked about Benedict's legacy as pope, more than one clergyman praised his outreach to non-Roman Catholics, including Eastern churches and Jewish groups.
Benedict continued the interfaith initiatives of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, though perhaps less flamboyantly. That staying of the course drew the thanks of Rabbi Alan C. Tuffs, a veteran of interfaith work.
"All of us in the Jewish community watch closely what transpires in Vatican leadership," said Rabbi Tuffs, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of Hollywood. "Some of us worried — unnecessarily, it turned out — that Benedict would not continue in Jewish-Christian relations, but he did.
"Catholic-Jewish relations are better now than any time in history," the rabbi said. "From our point of view, that is his greatest legacy."
Father Geiger, of St. Jude, said likewise that Vatican relations with Eastern Orthodox churches under Benedict are at their closest in centuries.
"As eastern Catholics, we feel the separation (from the Orthodox) especially," Father Geiger said. "It's the same Church, with the same rite and even the same music, but we're in communion with Rome."
Even the patriarch of the Lebanon-based Maronite Catholic Church, Bechara Peter Rai, was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict this past November. So a Middle Eastern church leader will help choose the next Roman Catholic pontiff.
Chorbishop Thomas noted also that Benedict asked the patriarch to write the meditations for the Stations of the Cross this year — another vote of confidence in Middle Eastern Christians.
For Catholics, Benedict's sophistication — especially in his theological writings on Christ and spirituality — will make up an enduring legacy for the Church, said Father Geiger. "He was a real father. Not primarily an administrator, but a real father of the Church."
And the next pope? Pastor Brouwer said he hoped it would be Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze — a Vatican insider who was also considered a "papabile," or papal prospect, when Benedict was elected in 2005.
"I think it's time," Brouwer said. "The balance of the Church is shifting to south of the equator." He added, though, that there may also be well-qualified Asian cardinals.
Father Jaroslaw Shudrak, the new pastor at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Miami, voiced concern over the direction of the Church. He applauded Benedict's actions, such as the creation of a new Roman Missal.
"Stability is important in people's lives," said the priest, whose parish is part of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which is also in communion with Rome. "(Benedict) was taking things, I believe, in the right direction. I'm fearful for the direction of the next pontiff. We have to trust in God."
Father Shudrak said he hopes the next Vatican resident will be a "very spiritual pope, one who really trusts God and is prayerful. Then he'll hear what the Holy Spirit has to say."
Father Geiger said he hoped that the next pope “will continue what Benedict has been doing. That he will look for the spiritual vibrancy of all the Catholic churches. That we will be the Church Christ wants us to be."
Rabbi Tuffs' hopes were simpler: "That he will be a warm, open human being who will bring together not only Catholics but people of all faiths."
