On Easter morning, the Rev. Ellen Wondra preached an excellent sermon challenging us to hold resurrection accountable. With two dear friends of the family recently deceased, you better be darn sure I'm holding resurrection accountable. After their deaths, I learned so much neat stuff about them that now I have tons of questions I want to ask. It seems they both had lives of faith, which I didn't really know about, that could teach me innumerable things about what it means to be a Christian.

It is sad to me, though, that holding resurrection accountable does seem to be a big problem in this world. Though I could discuss Terri Schiavo, God rest her soul, I feel that she deserves her peace. She's been disgracefully and shamefully made into an issue more than any person should. No, what I want to ask is about Pope John Paul II.

It seems to me that the Roman Catholic world is in denial over this man's imminent death and I don't understand that. The Roman Catholic faith is not going to end after John Paul II dies. The Church is not going to collapse. There will be another Pope and the faith of Jesus Christ as expressed in the Roman Catholic way will live on. No, this should indeed be a time of graduation, as my old friend Jim Newton would have said. Graduations are both happy and sad, because you're going on to something better, but you are leaving something else behind. In this case, John Paul II is going home to be in the full presence of the God he has served so faithfully all his life and bless him for it. So, John Paul II, Godspeed my brother. May your crossing over be painless and your reception be to the sound of the angels gathered around the throne with the white-robed army of martyrs and all the saints crying as if in one voice, "Hallelujah!" To my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters - the church will roll on. The faith will continue. God is still on the throne.

-R