ONLY ONE PERSON IN
THE WORLD CAN TURN A MAJOR CITY UPSIDE DOWN
The Pope did indeed turn Philadelphia upside down without
even trying. The city and the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia went all out to prepare for him as though he were a
superstar. Traveling on the Pennsylvania
Turnpike well over 150 miles west of Philadelphia a week before his arrival,
there were electronic signs warning drivers to expect congestion on the weekend
of September 26-27. On our way to attend
the wedding of a relative in northern New Jersey, we were blessed to stay at
the Retreat House of the beautiful National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa (Patroness
of Poland) in Doylestown, an hour away from the wedding and an hour north of Philadelphia. Jaga worked it out with the Polish priests
there. Almost as big as the original
shrine in Poland, the American Czestochowa has brought Polish Americans
together and people of all ethnic backgrounds closer to Mary and her Son.
After
the wedding, we thought: “Why not make
our wedding trip into a pilgrimage retreat at a fabulous shrine, attend the
World Meeting of Families September 22-25, and see Pope Francis on the weekend?” So we commuted each day by train to downtown
Philadelphia. For once it paid off to be
a senior citizen…..only a dollar each way.
What brought Pope Francis to the
United States was the Eighth World Meeting of Families
in Philadelphia which attracted close to 20,000 people from all over the world
in the huge Pennsylvania Convention Center which covers over three city blocks. The purpose was to bring families together
and to search for and learn about ways to strengthen the family. The idea is that these lay men and women,
priests, and religious return to their own countries to promote and strengthen
families as leaders, teachers, catechists, and models of what marriage and
family should be. This is crucial
because families are the building blocks of Society and all over the world the
institution of Marriage and the Family are in a very serious crisis. When the family disintegrates, Society and
the whole Country will eventually disintegrate into chaos.
Pope
Francis summed it all up in his message printed in the Family Guidebook for the
Eighth World Meeting of Families started by Pope St. Pope John Paul II in 1994:
“The
mission of the Christian family, today as yesterday, is that of proclaiming to
the world by the power of the Sacrament of Marriage, the love of God. From this very proclamation a living family
is born and built, one which sets the hearth of love at the center of its human
and spiritual dynamism. If, as St.
Irenaeus said, ‘the glory of God is man fully alive’, then so a family, which,
by the grace of the Lord, lives to the full its vocation and mission glorifies
Him…….to rediscover ever again the royal road, in order to live and proclaim
the grandeur and beauty of marriage and the joy of being and making a family.”
Each of the four
daily sessions began with a Mass attended by all in a huge auditorium the size
of two football fields side by side with numerous TV screens or jumbotrons. Each liturgy was concelebrated by an army of
priests, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals.
The entrance procession, led by an honor guard of 30 to 40 Fourth Degree Knights in
full regalia, took 15-20 minutes. We
recognized Bishop Conlin and were told that Bishop Monforton was there
too. Joe Schmidt, the diocesan Marriage
Ministry Coordinator, and his family were sent to represent our diocese. Many other couples, some with children and
even babies, attended from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The beautiful choir was accompanied by a
symphonic orchestra with hymns in English, Spanish, and even Vietnamese. Attendees had portable receivers to hear
translations in Spanish, French. Italian, Portuguese, and Vietnamese.
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The
Extended Holy Family with saints Ann & Joaquim, parents of Mary.
The painting, now in the Archdiocesan
Cathedral of St. Peter & Paul of Philadelphia, was created especially for the World Meeting of Families.
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The
theme of the Eighth World Meeting of Families is “LOVE IS OUR MISSION: the
Family Fully Alive” which is “the Sanctuary of Love and Life”.
The organizers brought in nationally known speakers for keynote talks
and breakout sessions with questions such as Bishop Robert Barron, Cardinal
Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila (perhaps a future Pope), Cardinal Robert Sarrah of
Africa, Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, Dr. Scott Hahn of Franciscan
University of Steubenville, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, Pastor Rick
Warren, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Dr. Robert George of
Princeton, Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, President of Christendom College, Dr. Janet
Smith of the University of Dallas, Christopher West, Dr. Gregory & Lisa
Popcak, Curtis Martin of FOCUS, etc. There
were many volunteer guides to direct us to the location of each talk. The concepts of the home as a domestic church
and parents as the principal educators of the Faith were frequently emphasized. See http://www.worldmeeting2015.org. For videos of selected keynote and
breakout talks go to http://www.worldmeeting2015.org/the-latest/congressvideos/.
EWTN was there to cover the proceedings
with live and taped interviews. Many book
publishers, lay and religious organizations as Catholic Familyland of
Bloomingdale Ohio, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Medical Association, etc.,
promoted their apostolates in a huge exhibition hall. The Knights of Columbus had probably the largest
exhibit space in the huge exhibition hall, giving away strong double linked rosaries
blessed by Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori, Vatican documents on the
family, information about the Knights, etc. They also gave away transparent backpacks to
early registrants.
Most enjoyable and satisfying was meeting people from such countries as the Philippines, Viet
Nam, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Columbia, Peru, etc. Knowing Spanish made it more fun. When I passed groups of Mexicans with their
common jackets, I enjoyed shouting to them “Viva Mexico; Viva la Virgen de
Guadalupe”. A Vietnamese nun related how
she once feared prison for attending Mass in Viet Nam of the 70’s. Today one can practice the faith there, but
the Church is very restricted as in Cuba.
All of this gave me the insight that we are all one Church of many
different cultures, races, and languages, but all united as parts of the
Mystical Body of Christ in our love of the Lord, our loyalty to the Pope and
the traditional family according to Church teaching. Upon receiving the Eucharist together, we
were in communion with Christ Himself and each other…….a little foretaste of
Heaven.
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| Some of the participants in the Eighth World
Meeting of Families from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Haiti, and the U.S.
The
exhibits had to be taken down for security reasons Thursday evening, a day
before the close of the proceedings at the Pennsylvania Convention Hall. All over Philadelphia there were “Welcome
Pope Francis” signs. In stores people
took selfies with a life size cardboard image of Pope Francis. On Friday most businesses were closed and the
trains were on their reduced Weekend Schedule.
On Saturday and Sunday only train stations with ample parking space were
open; so we had to figure out how to get to the closest stop. No vehicles were allowed in the city. Strategic intersections were barricaded with
concrete highway barriers. It was great
to safely jaywalk in the middle of normally very busy four lane boulevards.
|
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Deacon John Sebastian got hold of
one of the images
and forced Pope Francis to be a Chicago Cubs fan.
Pope Francis is actually much bigger than the image.
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Independence
Mall. On Saturday we walked some 7 blocks from the
downtown train station to the four block long Independence Mall for a program
which included a speech by Pope Francis. Providentially, somebody in the train had given us vouchers which we exchanged
for tickets hung around our necks. The
ticket policy kept the numbers down and kept troublemakers out. We ran into several anti-Catholic groups; in
front of the security checkpoint at Independence Square a large group greeted
us with signs such as “Is the Pope the Antichrist?” and loudspeakers blaring: “Mary is a sinner…….the Bible says to never
call anyone father or papa (Pope in Spanish)”…..only in America. In some Muslim countries, such behavior would
be considered blasphemy punishable by death.
Jaga couldn’t take it and proceeded to evangelize them and a lively
debate between us and them ensued. It
was friendly and we departed giving them hugs.
Later in the day we got into it again with some youths handing out
anti-catholic propaganda and again departed with hugs. At least we diverted them away from other
people and they had to recognize that Catholic Christians know how to love.
People sat on the grass and we sat
on a window ledge. The program included
symphonic music, folk dancing, a song by an opera star, and a speech by Dr.
Robert George on our eroding Religious Freedom which all began at Independence
Hall behind him. Finally, the Pope
arrived. All we could see was a tiny
white speck in the distance, but thanks to eight or so jumbotrons, we had a
very good view of what you saw in your living room. However, we experienced the excitement of
being there, the atmosphere, the comradery with the other people, etc. It was heartwarming to see how his kind face
communicated love to all, especially to the babies he kissed. The Pope spoke in beautiful and clear Spanish
with English subtitles on the jumbotrons, emphasizing the tremendous importance
of the family with allusions to religious liberty & immigration. He humbly concluded with “Reza por mí un
poquito (pray for me a little).
Festival of Families. Then came a 14 block hike to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
for the Festival of Families and again we passed through a security
checkpoint. Our daily 45 minute rosary walks
prepared us well. This time we had good
glimpses of Pope Francis in his well lit popemobile at about 8 pm. Although we didn’t know that he would give another
talk there, but we left, tired from a rather grueling day. See the map at http://www.phila.gov/InformationCenters/pope/Documents/WalkingRoutesMap.pdf.
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A view from the altar of the million
or so people who attended the closing Papal Mass.
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For the 4 pm Papal Mass on Sunday we hitched a ride on one of the
two buses that Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Doylestown contracted. All vehicles had to park at the ATT Sports
Complex for professional baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in South
Philadelphia. From there we had to take
a train to downtown Philadelphia and hike 12 blocks to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
security checkpoint for the closing outdoor Mass. There were local police, state police,
National Guard, TSA, Secret Service all over the place. The security was unbelievable. We arrived at the security checkpoint at 10
am and waited in a three block line until 1 pm when we finally got
through. Examining us were Secret
Service agents who said that the security procedure was the same as at the
White House. One group came from Iowa at
about 1 pm and by the time they got through security five hours later, it was
all over.
We slept on the ground along the
mile long Franklin Parkway, waiting for the Pope’s arrival. We again saw him in his popemobile that went
up and down the parkway. Exciting was
the atmosphere and the feeling of solidarity with up to a million other
pilgrims both within and outside the ticketed area. Next to us some guys from Steeler Nation kept
me posted on the game with the St. Louis Rams.
At the Kiss of Peace, one of them greeted me with “Peace…….they
won”. That did put me at peace even
though the Steeler star quarterback was knocked out of the game.
It
was a beautiful Mass with an excellent choir and instrumental
accompaniment. We saw the altar in the
distance, but not the Pope. Again thank
you, Jumbotron for a good view which you, dear reader, also had on EWTN. Again Pope Francis gave his homily in Spanish
with the translation on the numerous jumbotrons. The Pope concelebrated with an army of
priests (at least a couple hundred), who distributed Holy Communion. Each priest brought the Eucharist under a
yellow and white umbrella held by a server. For video or text links to all of his talks
and press conferences in the USA & Cuba with a choice of seven languages on
the Vatican website (English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, and
Portuguese with some in Arabic, click on http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2015/outside/documents/papa-francesco-cuba-usa-onu-2015.html.
Ella and Mary Ann Bokovitz were
there and so was our daughter Naomi, but we didn’t see any of them. She was among three busloads of students from
the Franciscan University of Steubenville.
We contacted her by cell phone, but couldn’t find the flag of Sweden she
was under. There were so many people
that it was hard to move; let alone find one among a million. The students made the 8 hour trip and back in
one day without missing any classes. So
we had five people representing St. Louis Church.
Then we hiked back to the downtown
railroad station for the train to our bus at the sports complex. The line at the train station was five blocks
long with a two hour wait. Again the
loudspeakers, but this time the Latinos, who might have been in the majority,
drowned them out with “Viva el Papa”.
The crowd was very orderly and patient on both days except for just a
little bit of pushing getting onto the train which is common in big Latin
American cities. The Archdiocese of
Philadelphia and the city spent months preparing for this huge
undertaking……first the World Meeting of Families and then the visit of the
Pope. Overall, they did a great job in
organizing it. The only major flaw was the
inordinate amount of time it took to pass through the security checkpoints,
which prevented thousands of people from attending the papal Mass.
In the middle ages pilgrims had to walk
to holy sites for weeks with the danger of robbers. But at least they didn’t have to put up with
long lines, long waits, and security checks worse than boarding an
airplane. It was all a great experience,
but a rather grueling one. For the texts
of all of the Pope’s speeches and homilies in the USA, go to http://www.usccb.org/about/leadership/holy-see/francis/papal-visit-2015/2015-papal-visit-speeches-homilies.cfm and/or http://www.popefrancisvisit.com/pope-francis-u-s-visit-speech-transcripts/.
A Postscript: Why All of This Fuss
Over Pope Francis and the Synod on the Family?
(See the next Blog #163)
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