"I think we appreciate now more than ever the burdens of the office that any individual when he accepts the papacy he is taking on himself but I think the continuity in the fact that we have had the papacy with us for centuries and that the church continues on I think give us encouragement that the church will continue on and we will have leadership and the lord will be with us in our journey."
We also asked how the resignation might impact naming a new Bishop for the Rochester Catholic Diocese. "It's hard to tell where the whole process is for the selection of Bishops here in the diocese of Rochester but I would presume it will slow down the process somewhat because it is the Pope that makes the ultimate, final decision about who the leadership of the diocese, who the Bishop is going to be so this could possibly slow down the process even more but we don't know where the process is right now but I suspect it is going to slow it down somewhat."
As for the mass Father McKenna gives on Monday he says, "I think my message will be one of inviting our community to be a community of gratitude for the service that Pope Benedict the 16th has given to the church and also to begin the process of prayerful preparation for his successor."
Finally, we asked what he hopes for in the selection of a new Pope. "My concern would not be so much about the country although that certainly is important but I think it's been demonstrated that the Pope during the last several years has had to be very good in languages and language skills because he serves the whole church but I think what I would hope is that the Pope listens and is as in-tune as Pope John XXIII had spoken up to the signs of the times of listening to the issues that are going on and listening and listening very carefully before speaking about these issues to make sure that he has heard what is going on in the church and hears the many voices that are addressing the needs of the church to him before he makes a response," answered Father McKenna.
