Pope2008.com vs. Tom

May/June 2008 Issue | Posted by Tom and April Hoopes in Editor's Note

April: My husband's worst nightmare is coming true. The Pope is coming to the United States. That means that the children have a chance to prove him wrong.

It's not a good chance, mind you, since we haven't found tickets to see the Pope so far, but it's a chance.

You see, Tom's excuse to the kids, when he denies them something, is often, "The Pope doesn't do that, so why should you?" If any of the kids has a brief conversation with Pope Benedict XVI, I'm sure they'll try to verify their father's claims.

The Pope hasn't done a lot of things my children want to do, as it turns out. Tom has claimed at various times that the Pope has never eaten an ice cream sandwich, has never watched Lady and the Tramp in the morning, and has never played outside in the rain.

Tom: Well, if the kids would listen more carefully, they would know that I'm only joking.

When Dorothy, our 7-year-old, asked me, "Why do you always have to talk about what the Pope does, anyway?" I answered, "Actually, the Holy Father is protected from error only when speaking ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals. On matters of private judgment his preferences are not at all binding."

How could I be any more clear?

In fact, when challenged on my claim that the Pope doesn't watch TV on weekday afternoons, the kids showed me that he in fact does - by clicking through the slideshow at Pope2008.com titled, "A Day in the Life of the Holy Father."

Pope2008.com is the papal blogsite that Faith & Family and the National Catholic Register sponsor. Our senior staff writer Tim Drake is providing up-to-the-minute coverage there before, during, and after Benedict's visits to Washington, New York, and Sydney, Australia, this year.

It is in part thanks to this site that we received so many entries to our "Baby Benedicts" feature on page 54. We also honor Pope Benedict in this issue by promoting the Year of St. Paul with our "Paul According to Paul" feature (page 47). Pope Benedict announced the Pauline jubilee to begin this summer.

April: But the issue isn't all about the Pope. We have our usual helps for your home, of course, including not one but two pieces on getting kids involved in the kitchen (Insider, page 18; What's Cooking, page 64).

By a happy coincidence (we had to hold one of her articles last issue), we also have two Daria Sockey pieces. We put them right next to each other, and the first (on page 27) is something you won't find in any other magazine: "St. Thomas Aquinas' Chill-Out and Cheer-Up 5-Step Guide to Stress Relief"!

Tom wants me to add this: "All the stress stuff Daria recommends in there is stuff Pope Benedict himself would do."

But excuse me now while I turn to that page and see if that's true. Join me.

Tom and April Hoopes, Editorial Directors

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