Death of Pope Benedict XVI: Long Islanders react, plan memorial Mass

Long Island Catholics remembered Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Saturday as a loving and central figure in the church for decades who leaves a complicated legacy.

As the Vatican prepares for a sitting pope to preside over his predecessor’s funeral Thursday, the Diocese of Rockville Centre has made plans for its own memorial Mass the following day.

The Mass for Pope Benedict will be celebrated at the Cathedral of St. Agnes in Rockville Centre at 9 a.m. Friday, Diocese spokesperson Sean Dolan told Newsday. Current Bishop John Barres will celebrate the Mass, and Bishop William Murphy, who served as bishop of Rockville Centre from 2001 until 2017, will preach the homily.

The bell at the cathedral tolled for 10 minutes at 10 a.m. Saturday in recognition of the loss. Inside the church, a candle burned near a framed photo of Benedict placed near the altar, a red stole hanging beneath to symbolize the ancient custom of burying the pope in red vestments.

The Rev. Michael Duffy, rector at St. Agnes, said Benedict was like a “grandfather” to more than a billion Catholics around the world and was able to age gracefully while continuing to dedicate his life to the church and prayer.

“He’s 95 years old. In the last number of years, he’s been in very frail health, but he has, in a way very similar to Pope John Paul II, taught us how to suffer, and how to age with dignity and beauty,” Duffy said. “He remained faithful to the Lord even to the end. In a beautiful way, he said he did not fear judgment, he did not fear death, but he viewed it more so as a meeting with a friend.”

Now Catholics, theologians and other religious leaders across Long Island are thinking about how to view the legacy of Benedict, just as they did in 2013, when he became the first pope to step down in six centuries.

Elizabeth Boylan of Rockville Centre, an active leader at the St. Agnes school and parish, described Benedict as a “gentle intellectual.” She admired the way he “stayed under the radar” after Pope Francis took the reins.

“In giving up the papacy, he was true to himself,” Boylan said. “And I think that took a lot of courage to do that. He's served us well.”

Visitors to St. Agnes on Saturday said given his age and recent reports of his health they were not surprised to learn of his passing, but it was nevertheless a somber day.

“Just God bless him,” said Audrey Lavin of Carle Place. “God bless all of us.”

Kathy Hutchinson of Valley Stream said she’s thankful for the guidance and direction of the retired pope.

Phyllis Zagano, a research associate at Hofstra University who has studied the role of women in the church, said that Benedict, whom she described as an “extraordinary theologian,” played a central part in “almost all major church discussions throughout the latter part of the 20th and early 21st century.”

Specific to her own studies, Zagano noted that while Benedict is “known as the architect of every contemporary statement against women priests,” he codified the distinction between the priesthood and the diaconate, paving the way for female deacons.

Benedict’s legacy is clouded by the church’s handling of the sex abuse scandal that erupted in his time as a cardinal, continued into his time as pope and returned in the form of a report earlier this year that revealed he personally mishandled four abuse cases while he was an archbishop in Germany.

For Long Island survivors of the abuse, his death has given rise to mixed feelings.

“Nobody's happy when a pope dies, but Benedict has endangered children around the world,” said Mary McKenna of the Nassau County chapter of SNAP, a group of clergy sex abuse survivors.

McKenna noted that Benedict was, however, the first pope to act against the abuse, leaving a legacy of “pros and cons” for survivors.

Duffy spoke of having an audience with the pope, a powerful encounter in Rome in 2005 that he said bolstered his calling to become a priest. Twenty years old at the time, he was among thousands in an audience hall when the pope approached him. He shouted, “Holy Father, I want to be a priest!”

“He spun around on his heels and he came right over to me and he grabbed me with two hands, and he shook me and he blessed me and I kissed his ring,” Duffy said.

In a statement Saturday, Barres praised Benedict as a "great theologian and pope."

"Growing up in Nazi Germany and experiencing firsthand the bitter fruits of Nazi ideology, Pope Benedict XVI understood that ideas have consequences in history," Barres said. "As a result, throughout his life, as a priest, professor, bishop, cardinal and pope, he championed the Catholic belief in the harmony of faith and reason — a principle that is so critical to the unity of truth and so vital to Catholic identity, missionary activity, harmonious ecumenical and interreligious charity and peace in the world."

He added: "Today, we pray for the soul of this great pope and give thanks for how the Holy Spirit led him and inspired us."

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, offered prayers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Benedict Saturday morning. In a statement, he described the retired pope as an “erudite, wise, and holy man, who spoke the truth with love.”

“The family of the Church especially mourns his death, while grateful for the gift he was of a good shepherd and Holy Father,” Cardinal Dolan wrote. “This archdiocese remembers with love his pastoral visit here in 2008.”