Wow.
Last weekend’s trip to see Pope Benedict XVI at the seminary in New York was simply incredible, and now that we have (mostly) recovered, I will attempt to share some of the highlights.
The bus ride up to New York was not really one of those highlights. It was a 12 hour ride in a typical charter bus… so it’s not the worst thing in the world, but not enthralling either. We had a nice collection of classic DVD’s ready to go (I believe that A Man for All Seasons was ready to go, with The Scarlet and the Black also waiting in the wings), but we discovered near Columbus that we only had a VCR on board. So… Field of Dreams it was, and then a lot of chatting, card playing, sleeping, and communal prayer for the rest of the trip.
We arrived very late Friday night at our hotel, and then we were up for an early Mass at the hotel Saturday moring before heading to the seminary grounds. We were looking pretty snazzy, if I may say so myself:
Fortunately for us, Pope Benedict had requested that the seminarians have a recognizeable spot for this youth rally, so we had tickets for the “reserved” area right in front of the stage. Since we got there good and early, this area was relatively open and we were able to stake a claim right against the front railings. We had literally hours to fill, though, with Pope Benedict scheduled to arrive at 4:30 (approx. seven hours away…). Ultimately they started the musical entertainment a lot earlier than the schedule said–10:30 instead of noon–so that kept people occupied. This picture shows where we were at; two arms were jutting out from the stage and we were next to the platform on that right arm of the stage.
Quite a few of the guys stayed in this exact spot from 9:30 am until after Pope Benedict left, around 6:30 pm or so. No meals, no bathroom breaks, only sipping enough water to sustain themselves without having to “go”… pretty wild. I admire the resiliency and dedication.
I left and ate lunch. But, I still managed to get back and was about 3 or 4 people back from the front gate, still with our group. I’m definitely not complaining.
The various performers that they had throughout the morning and afternoon varied quite dramatically in both style and quality (if you want my opinion).
Highlights:
Matt Maher - wonderfully Catholic (yes, that’s worth mentioning), vocally promoted vocations numerous times, very talented, the whole bit.
Both the Irish step dancers and the traditional Korean dancers. Very neat.
Could have done without:
The dancers with black and white striped shirt - ugh. If you’re going to WYD in Sydney, I apologize in advance, because apparently that’s their claim to fame: they’ll be there too.
Otherwise, Third Day was good, the “Three Graces” were incredibly talented but not a style that worked well (IMO) or really dressed appropriately, and Kelly Clarkson seemed very uninspired. Maybe she was nervous (?) for her solo of Ave Maria for the pope later, but her three song set was nothing special. One of my favorite pictures is this, which shows how one of our guys (Mike) felt about her concert. But nobody cares about any of this… time for the Pope!
A large number of bishops started wandering around at 4:00 or so, and that had the seminarians’ attention for a little while. Finally, on the big screens we were able to see Pope Benedict’s limo pull up to the front of the seminary, where he entered to meet with a large number of young people with various disabilities and their caregivers. We watched all of that ceremony on the screens. When he was finished, he got into the “Pope-mobile” and drove around the perimiter of the crowd, went to the back fo the stage, and…
I should note that there were about 1500 or so seminarians around the front of the stage (I am told) and 25,000 or so young people all together. And the cheering that rose up and really continued for a good long while was pretty remarkable. It’s not just the “rock star” phenomenon - there is genuine love and appreciation for our Holy Father, and it was phenomenal to both be a part of that outpouring of love and to witness how much it energized and really affected Pope Benedict. He was beaming.
The real highlight for us, in addition to hearing Pope Benedict’s words for all of us and simply soaking it all in, was when Pope Benedict came out onto the platforms right in front of us. He did this both at the beginning and very end of the rally, but it was the first trip down the platform that was especially memorable. Pope Benedict came right toward us, and if we did not make direct eye contact (which I think we did!), it was amazingly close. Here’s a(nother) picture:
Yes, he was this close. Well, he was about 15 or 20 feet away, so we couldn’t exactly reach up and high-five our Pope, but it was amazing! The secret service guys around the platform were on high alert and all of that, but it was still very close and absolutely incredible.
Here is a professional Getty picture that shows all of us with our cameras in front of our faces… oh well.
The whole of the rally was a formal welcome by Cardinal Egan, the presentation of some gifts by a number of kids from the local area, and then Benedict’s address to all of us. The details of all of that can be had elsewhere. Here is our view through these events, though–it was pretty fantastic.
Benedict’s address to us really was fantastic. I want to re-read a transcript to fully appreciate all that was in there. It was immediately notable and memorable when he was speaking about the horrors of the Nazi regime of his youth, which was “monstrous.” It was a pretty remarkable moment, I thought. There were some humerous moments, too, and it was clear that he was enjoying the energy and joy of the youth.
I’m going to finally end this mega post, but I’ll simply say it was an amazing trip. All the logistics and difficulties of getting there and back were nothing compared to the joy and tremendous opportunity to be part of this event with the Holy Father. We can’t thank enough those who made it possible!
It was also pretty neat to have media coverage that happened to catch a number of us on TV, as well. EWTN had a number of the guys in various shots. My great uncle, a Jesuit, saw me on tv from Connecticut. My family was at a wedding all Saturday, but my mom even saw me on the 11:00 local news! I still am amazed at that one.
The trip was an amazing experience, one that I am sure all of us will remember forever.
(The 1st, 3rd, and 4th pictures are from our seminary photographer, Matt Lee.)