Catholics Plan Trips to Washington, New York
By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
April 13, 2008
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080413/NEWS10/804130343
Sister Patricia Marie McClain and others from Lial Catholic School in Whitehouse know they may not get close - but they're still hoping for a chance to see the Pope.
Early tomorrow morning, Sister Pat and 34 Lial students and teachers will board a bus and head to Washington.
They'll be in the nation's capital the same time as Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives on Shepherd One Tuesday morning, but they will not be able to attend the Papal Mass at Nationals Park on Wednesday.
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| The Rev. Eric Schild and a group from St. Wendelin High School in Fostoria will be traveling to New York for the papal visit. Photo by Jeremy Wadsworth |
"We've been told that Mass tickets are an impossibility," Sister Pat said. "They had 150,000 requests for 46,000 tickets."
Free tickets were distributed to Catholic dioceses around the country, and the Toledo diocese, which has 303,000 members in 19 counties, was allotted just 25 for the Washington Mass and 50 for Sunday's Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York.
But Sister Pat and the Lial group - which already had planned a trip to Washington before the Pope's visit was announced - are undaunted.
They plan to stake out a spot along the Popemobile's route to the baseball stadium.
"We hope we will see the Pope," Sister Pat said.
The first U.S. visit by Pope Benedict, who turns 81 on Wednesday, includes stops in just two cities, Washington and New York, but is generating excitement - and expectations - nationwide.
"I think it's a great opportunity for America to get to know this Pope a little better, and I think he's coming at a really important time," said Sally Oberski, director of communications for the Toledo Catholic Diocese. "I think there's a lot of turmoil now, and I think we need his holy presence."
Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair said the Pontiff will be offering spiritual leadership to his American flock.
"I think the Pope is primarily a pastor of souls. He's a bishop but he's a very special bishop, the bishop of Rome, and therefore the successor for St. Peter," Bishop Blair said. "Jesus said to feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and he tells St. Peter to confirm your
brethren in the faith. So when the Pope comes, that's what his visit is meant to do: to confirm us in the faith, to feed us sound teachings, to bring people together around a very positive, joyful expression of their faith."
Bishop Blair and retired Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly are among 350 U.S. bishops invited to a private prayer service with Pope Benedict Wednesday in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Among the highlights of the Pope's six-day visit are a meeting with President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the White House; a talk to Catholic educators, and an interfaith meeting in Washington.
In New York, he will speak at the United Nations on Friday morning; celebrate Mass for priests, deacons, and members of religious orders at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday, and visit Ground Zero for a private prayer on Sunday.
The Pope also will visit a synagogue in New York.
"I think that shows a great deal of love for all humanity," Rabbi Edward Garsek of Toledo's Congregation Etz Chayim said of the synagogue stop. "That visit makes a statement within itself because historically, there have been just so many concerns in the past. I think it's a good thing."
The Rev. David Reinhart, president of Cardinal Stritch High School, and Deacon Victor DeFilippas won drawings for the Toledo diocese's two tickets to the St. Patrick's Cathedral Mass.
"I'm looking forward to it," Father Reinhart said. "I just think it's a great opportunity to celebrate Mass and thank God in a smaller setting than some of the larger ones, and with people in similar situations in life."
He joked about having his name picked out of a hat.
"I wish I was chosen somehow because I was a great priest," Father Reinhart said. "But just being able to listen to the Pope - any insight, any kind of inspiration he can give us would be appreciated."
The Rev. Eric Schild, a Toledo diocesan priest who was ordained in June, will be leading a group from St. Wendelin High School in Fostoria.
The school obtained tickets to the Yankee Stadium Mass from the Toledo diocese headquarters, and Father Schild was then selected to distribute Communion at the service.
"It is such an honor and I think it will be a spiritually uplifting experience just to be able to distribute Communion in the Pope's presence," Father Schild said.
About six years ago, he had a much more close-up encounter with Pope Benedict, who at the time was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger.
"I was a student at John Carroll University in Cleveland and took a trip to Rome as part of a class," he said. "We were supposed to meet Pope John Paul II that day, but he was sick. They said you could go to Mass instead with Cardinal Ratzinger, and I took them up on the offer."
After the Mass, he approached the cardinal and future pope and asked if he could take a photo of the two together.
"He said, 'Oh, absolutely.' I have that picture hanging in my office. I treasure it," Father Schild said.
He is hopeful that Pope Benedict's U.S. visit inspires all Americans, not just Catholics.
"Certainly we have issues in our society, not just Catholic issues but issues in general. And I think for him to come, I hope it would boost our faith as a nation and our reliance upon God as opposed to relying on ourselves," Father Schild said.
Joe and Tammie Shank of Oregon, members of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Toledo, were among the 60,000 who will be attending Mass in Yankee Stadium.
Mr. Shank, 42, said he hopes the papal visit will motivate Americans "to practice and do what the church asks of us and what God asks of us."
Pope Benedict's visit is "a big deal," he said, "because our American Catholic Church could use a boost. It's kind of weird, though. People might look at us Catholics as making him a god. It's not like that. He's the successor to Peter, and Jesus set it up for people on Earth to have a physical head to look to who represents Christianity."
Mr. Shank is grateful for the opportunity to attend a Papal Mass.
"It may be a once in a lifetime chance to celebrate the Mass with him personally - well, me and all the other people there," he said.
Richard Gaillardetz, professor of Catholic studies at the University of Toledo, has three different levels of reflections on the papal visit: his dreams, hopes, and expectations.
"My dreams are based on the idea that when you cut through everything, this is a pastor visiting one of his churches," Mr. Gaillardetz said.
The "dream" is that Pope Benedict will treat his trip as a fact-finding mission and "listen to the people and get a sense of what life is like on the ground," he said.
His hope is that the Pope takes time to listen to American pastors and get a firsthand look at their situations.
Mr. Gaillardetz also believes the Pontiff should meet with victims of clerical sexual abuse.
"These are people. They are not an abstraction. Their lives have been hurt," Mr. Gaillardetz said. "I hope that in the midst of his very busy formal schedule, he could sneak in a few things including visiting some victims of clerical sexual abuse."
The Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, told the Associated Press last week that Pope Benedict recognizes the pain caused by the clergy sex abuse crisis and will seek to "open the path of healing and reconciliation" during his U.S. visit.
David Clohessy, national president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he believes the Pontiff is planning to meet with "a hand-picked group of survivors."
But "talk is cheap and it protects no one," Mr. Clohessy said.
He would rather see Pope Benedict take a stand by disciplining a church leader "who suspected or knew of child sex crimes and concealed them," perhaps by "disinviting" them to one of the events.
Among the local Catholic educators who will be meeting with the Pope in Washington are Robert Helmer, president of Lourdes College in Sylvania; Jack Altenburger, superintendent of schools for the Toledo diocese; John Hayward, president of Mercy College, and Sister Peg Albert, president of Siena Heights University in Adrian, Mich.
"This is a rare opportunity for him to see firsthand how Catholic education has contributed to the overall mission of the Catholic Church in the United States," Sister Peg said.
And Mr. Helmer said, "We expect the Pope will come and reinforce the importance of Catholic education at all levels."
"On a trip that has to be planned minute to minute to minute, the fact that he's taking time to talk to us is very significant," Mr. Altenburger said. "It sends a message that Catholic education from kindergarten to college is important to the Pope."
Among the most highly anticipated events on the Pope's schedule is his U.N. address, set for 10:45 a.m. Friday.
"For me, that's the most important part of his visit and the real reason he's coming here," Mr. Gaillardetz said. "My expectation is he'll speak frankly about Catholic peace and reconciliation in a war-torn world and emphasize Catholic social teaching, and global and multilateral solutions toward peace and reconciliation."
Contact David Yonke at: dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.
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