Adventures in being Catholic

Singing along to: Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, Falling Slowly

As you've probably heard, Pope Benedict XVI is coming to the Nation's Capital in April. More specifically, he's coming to the Catholic University of America and the chapel next door. As a result, the campus is getting a makeover the likes of which it probably hasn't seen in, well, ever. Flower beds are being mulched, roads are being repaved, sidewalks are being put in where before we just walked in the street and tried not to get hit by the campus shuttle. They even redecorated the student center, where the pope will be addressing the nation's Catholic educators, apparently under the assumption that the pope really digs an Ikea-in-the-1970s decorative scheme. And hey, maybe he does. All the Renaissance art in the Vatican has to get old, right?

I wouldn't be surprised if they start rounding up the scruffier students and "treating" them to haircuts, shaves, and freshly-pressed button-down shirts. After all, we have to look presentable for our (inter)national television audience while we sing "Happy Birthday, Pope Benedict" or whatever it is we'll be doing.

Of course, for every good visitor there will be a bad visitor, which is why Washington, DC will also be playing host to everyone's favorite funeral crashers, the Westboro Baptists. They're equal-opportunity haters, it seems: gay people and Catholics, oh my. (I wonder how they feel about gay Catholics?) There are a number of students, including myself, who are planning a counter-protest. Because, sorry, you don't get to come to our city, insult our Holy Father, and slander our religion without us having something (Christian, peace-filled, and dignified) to say about it.

Anyone have any suggestions for a pithy but appropriate slogan for my sign? I'm hoping for something Biblical, since they're (ostensibly) Protestants--sola scriptora and all that. Or maybe I'll just go with "I [heart] the Pope." Can't go wrong with that.