Saturday, April 26, 2008

Will Pope Benedict's Meeting With the Notre Dame Football Team Be Enough?

I was surprised that Fighting Irish Thomas or the Catholic Drudge Report Cathlete was scooped on this news. However Sunday Morning Quarterback has the news of dramatic meeting that Pope Benedict had at Benedict Meets With Notre Dame Abuse Victims

Here is a part:
For years, victims of abuse at Notre Dame had beseeched the Vatican for a meeting with the pope, first asking John Paul II, who died in 2005, and finally, fourteen years after their last serious bid for a mythical championship, one was granted. The abuse affected nearly every position on the team, revealed more than three dozen recruits vastly overrated by Tom Lemming and has cost the Irish victory against all but a small handful of winning teams. It also has cost the program trust and respect, both of which the pope is clearly aimed at restoring, though he praised Weis' perseverence on the recruiting trail.
Still, reaction from victims and their advocates varied, with some praising the meeting as an important step and others saying that still it was not enough following the worst season in school history.


"Fundamentally, it won't change things," said Demetrius Jones, who left Notre Dame amid allegations of abuse by Georgia Tech's front seven last September. "Kids need protection. Quarterbacks deserve protection. Protection produces big plays, and big plays -- real big plays, not just a nice call on a couple fourth downs -- is sorely needed."

But Ambrose Wooden, who said he had been abused on several occasions, by wide receivers from
USC in 2005 and Michigan in 2006, said, "I think we moved the ball down the field this week. The fact that we finally got the pope to actually stand up and put a statement on record that Notre Dame football is in trouble, I really think he set the bar this week.

"I just wish," Wooden added, fighting back tears as teammates put their hands on his shoulders for support, "I just wish it hadn't required so much damage to get him here
."

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