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	Pope Impresses Western Mass. Residents By Jeanette DeForge The Republican April 21, 2008 http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/pope_impresses_western_mass_re.html Western Massachusetts residents who worshipped with nearly 60,000 Roman Catholics at Yankee Stadium today said Pope Benedict XVI brought a message of hope and unity to the country. "It was incredible just to be there...with so many people saying the "Our Father" together," said Mark D. Kolasinski of Sunderland, a deacon at Most Holy Redeemer parish in Hadley. "It resonates with you and it fills you full of hope and gives you guidance and strength." He was one of many Western Massachusetts residents who secured tickets through their parishes and boarded buses to New York City to attend the pope's Mass on his final day in the United States. There is a shortage of priests and resources within the church, but Kolasinski said he saw no shortage of faith. Kolasinski and his wife Libby A. Kolasinski, a secretary at St. James Church in South Deerfield, went with 53 people from her parish and others in Northampton, after officials at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield told them they could secure tickets. "It was wonderful, it was very well worth going. He is a very warm and inviting pope, he seems to want to be with the people," she said. Most said they felt the pope's main message was one of hope. "I really liked how he gave the message that Christ is our hope and Christ is guiding our life," said Timothy A. Moriarty, a senior majoring in math and psychology at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who went with a group of 52 who were mostly students. He talked about how the United States is a country of privilege and how it has a responsibility to spread the message of hope to others. The pope also encouraged participants to be open to religious vocations, said Moriarty, who is from Ware. "I thought it was very positive, it was a good message for all of us to follow our faith and practice our faith," said Scott M. Channell of Hatfield who went with his wife Tracy A. Channell and their 17-year-old son John J. It was his son who pushed the family to go and Channell said he is happy he did. One of the things that amazed Channell was the reception the country gave to the pope. People from all 50 states came and each of the 195 Roman Catholic dioceses were represented, he said. "He is the leader of our faith and to see him and welcome him to the states for the first time is quite the honor," said Michael T. Carney, a junior studying computer systems engineering at UMass who is originally from Belchertown. He called the event "awesome" and said he was impressed the pope spoke in Spanish as well as English to unify people watching. Sister Ramona M. Williams, a member of the Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, said she was in a top row at the stadium and did not hear everything the pope said. Nevertheless, she said the experience was still exciting. "His whole message is to reach out and create unity and a sense of peace," she said. "I was sitting and thinking about how the faiths have their different gatherings this is what that was for the Roman Catholics, coming together," she said. "It was just nice." Even those who have been highly critical of the church leadership's handling of the sex abuse crisis found Benedict XVI did bring a message of hope. "I was impressed with the fact he came with a message with regard to the clergy sexual scandal and he addressed it and expressed the shame involved with the issue," said James P. Connor, a member of St. Michael's Church in East Longmeadow. But Connor, who watched the pope's Mass on television from his East Longmeadow home, said he wants to know what the next step will be when the pope returns to the Vatican City. Contact: jdeforge@repub.com
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