Tommy, are you in there?

Below is an open letter to His Holiness, John Paul II, Christ's Vicar on Earth, the Bishop of Rome, sent on this day, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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Most Holy Father,

May the blessings of the Mother of God be with you on this day -- the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!

I write to you with great Hope, but also with some sadness knowing that you may never read this letter due to the great responsibilities and burdens you bear for both our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ -- and His mystical bride, our Church.

For more than 26 years, in your capacity as Christ's Vicar on Earth, the Bishop of Rome, you have done much to foster greater understanding and bring peace to those sons and daughters of Abraham who have been separated from one another for centuries. You have instructed us to forgive, to love and to pray.

Your Holiness has also often corrected the course of the bark of St. Peter when it has sailed off course, especially with regard to some misunderstandings of the many documents and pronouncements of the Church in recent years.

Holy Father, you have often spoken of us, the faithful, as your "brothers and sisters in Christ" -- and this is true, because when compared to the radiant light of the Blessed Trinity, even the holiest man on earth's soul is as dark as a speck of coal.

It is with great humility that I request of you, John Paul, the Servant of the Servants of God, the holder of the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, to unhesitatingly exercise, by virtue of your lawful office as Christ's Vicar on Earth, your authority to grant every priest -- unequivocally, and without regard to the sentiments of national councils, synods or the local ordinary -- dispensation from any edict, rubric or convention that may prohibit them from celebrating Holy Mass according to the Missal of Pius V, also commonly known in the English-speaking world as the Tridentine Rite.

Holy Father, you have done much to foster unity, both between Roman Catholic laity and clergy, and between Roman Catholics and our separated brethren in Christ.

Now, as Holy Mother Church begins it's third millennium, I would humbly submit it is time for you to foster unity between the Church Militant -- especially those faithful referenced in your apostolic letter of 1988, Ecclesia Dei, with *all* priests of the Latin Rite -- and the Church Triumphant, being those numberless saints, martyrs and souls who have faithfully served God -- and relied on the intercession of the Most Blessed Mother of God -- since the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus on Calvary.

As Christ said to Peter, "...thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Please, Holy Father, grant this legitimate and sincere petition of the faithful. Give us this weapon to defend our immortal souls against the encroachment of man's pride and materialism which are besieging the Church and her faithful from all sides. Do not let the accidents of the Church -- its "reforms" -- preclude the substance of the church -- its faith.

Grant to us, your brothers and sisters in Christ -- all children of God! -- this consolation from Heaven, just as Our Lady of Jasna Gora gave courage to those brave knights at Grunwald through the hymn of the Mother of God.

Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus!

-- Michael, Archidioecesis Indianapolitana