By Corky Siemaszko
Daily News
January 19, 2008
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/01/19/2008-01-19_pastors_hold_limited_tickets_to_papal_ma.html
New Yorkers hoping to score a ticket to the papal Mass at Yankee Stadium had better cozy up to their pastor because each Brooklyn and Queens parish is getting just three of the precious passes.
"The pastors will choose how to distribute them," said Frank DeRosa, spokesman for the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens. "They don't have the tickets in hand yet."
Why so few tickets? Because there are 202 parishes in the Brooklyn diocese "and lots of demand," DeRosa said.
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| Pope Benedict, at Saint Peter's Basilica for New Year's Eve service, will celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium in April. Photo by Pignatelli |
Pastors in the New York archdiocese, which has 413 parishes spread across Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven suburban counties north of the city, also will decide who gets to watch Pope Benedict celebrate Mass on April 20.
"We have not yet notified the parishes on the number of tickets they're getting," spokesman Joseph Zwilling said. "There is a lot of interest. This is the new Pope's first pastoral visit to the United States."
Out on Long Island, fate will help decide who among the faithful gets a ticket.
"Because the demand will outstrip the supply, we're going to have a lottery," said Sean Dolan, spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Parishioners in 134 Nassau and Suffolk County parishes will find a form in their church bulletins that they will have to fill out and mail back to the diocese. "All the forms will go straight into a bin," said Dolan.
Parishioners can ask for up to two tickets, but there's no guarantee they will get them. And the diocese is relying on the winners to be good Catholics - and not try to scalp them.
"These tickets are free," said Dolan. "I think it would not be in the proper spirit to sell tickets to a papal Mass."
About 60,000 people are expected to fill Yankee Stadium for the Mass, and the deadline for all the dioceses within the U.S. to submit requests for tickets was Tuesday.
"We've heard from as far away as Honolulu," Zwilling said.
While the number of tickets being made available to New Yorkers may seem paltry, Zwilling noted: "We're still getting the largest share."
Contact: csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
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