In a new letter, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI seeks shepherds for the whole world...

Hehe, I was just going to post this because I'm curious about what people here might think.

Personally, I very much admire our Pope Emeritus as a theologian and a person. I'd love to read a decent English translation of his letter.

Here's the article I found: News Briefs/Rss | Catholic World Report - Global Church news and views

The Pope emeritus wrote that “the service of a shepherd cannot be only limited only to the Church,” even though “in the first place, we are entrusted with the care of the faithful and of those who are directly seeking faith.” The Church, he maintained, “is part of the world, and therefore it can properly play its service only if it takes care of the world in its entirety.”

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I think, by this, that Fr. Benedict means that we need to encourage dialogue among people of differing views. We need to let the Church's reasoning shine through, and to share it with as many as we can. One of my oldest friends is a priest, and his bishop has given him permission to use social media as part of his ministry. He is permitted to produce (theologically sound) material and to teach classes on difficult issues at his parish. (The most recent class was about Theology of the Body.)

Being more engaged, connecting with people, meeting them on their terms and forging trust bonds in order to hold discussions is, I think, quite crucial to the Church's survival. We should share the Church's worldview, and do it justice in the hope that God's message will reach more ears.

For a person like me, who is somewhat isolated, online engagement is important, if not crucial - the internet is my window into the world. Adding this sort of aspect to ministry could be very helpful. But it also means you'll get a lot of trolls.

The books in my Catholic library that I keep going back to the most are the ones written by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (Pope Benedict XVI before he was emeritus and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger before he was the Pope). I would like to have all of his books. But I can't afford to buy them all. Not only was he the Pope, he personally lived through Hitler and Nazi Germany while we have only read about it. And he was present and instrumental in the process of Vatican II and in the creation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. His writings contain much wisdom.

I'd love to own English translations of all Fr. Benedict/Pope Benedict/Josef Cardinal Ratzinger's writing. I really admire him.