Home
|
Faithful elated by ‘once in a lifetime’ experience at Yankee Stadium |
|
|
|
Written by LAURIE STEVENS, Chronicle Writer
|
|
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 |
NEW YORK—Catholics from the Diocese of Toledo cheered wildly from their perch in the stands above left field as Pope Benedict XVI arrived to celebrate Mass for more than 57,000 people in Yankee Stadium April 20.
Groups from Toledo, Lima, Van Wert, Mansfield, Sandusky, Findlay, Fostoria and other communities across the 19-county Diocese of Toledo made the trip to see the Holy Father, and for many people it was their first chance to be in the presence of a pope.
 |
| Faithful from the Diocese of Toledo cheer at Yankee Stadium as Pope Benedict XVI circles the ground in the Popemobile April 20. (Chronicle photo by Laurie Stevens) |
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited in my whole life,” said Julie Doerter, 16, shortly before Mass began at Yankee Stadium. She and other high school students and adults in her group from Lima Life Teen and Van Wert St. Mary sported red hooded sweatshirts with a design on the back that included a cross and the words, “Pope Benedict XVI, ‘Christ Our Hope,’ NYC 2008.”
Teenagers in the group entered a raffle for tickets to the Mass by writing essays about why they wanted to see the pope. Some like Ryan Altenbach, 15, were initially put on a reserve list for a ticket. Ryan said he kept praying for a way to go to the Mass, and nine days before the event, he got the call that a ticket had become available.
He explained he was excited to see the pope because “he’s the leader of our religion, and religion is what we should be focusing on completely in our lives.”
A group of 26 teenagers and adults from Fostoria St. Wendelin High School also traveled to New York. “I just wanted to be at the Mass with all these people of the same faith,” said Duncan Campbell, 15, of Fostoria St. Wendelin High School.
Stan Johns of Findlay St. Michael Parish, who attended with his son Andrew, a student at St. Wendelin, called the opportunity to see the pope an honor and a blessing.
Mark and Mary Cmar of Bellevue Immaculate Conception decided to bring their four youngest children, Josh, 16, Beth, 14, Joan, 12 and Theresa, 9, to the Mass since their two eldest daughters saw Pope John Paul II years ago. “I said, boy, that would be wonderful to take my kids who haven’t seen the pope yet,” said Mr. Cmar. “Like a pilgrimage.”
The family held up a sign made by sixth-graders in Joan’s class at Bellevue Immaculate Conception School that proclaimed, “We love you Pope Benedict! ICS Bellevue, OH.”
With police and volunteer staff issuing directives in English and Spanish, crowds began entering the stadium through security checkpoints at 9 a.m. A “Concert of Hope” with performers including Harry Connick Jr. and Jose Feliciano began at noon, and the cloudy skies of the morning slowly gave way to sunshine.
Doves were released into the air as the arrival of the pope neared, and the crowd stood to begin clapping and chanting “Benedetto!” Teenagers from northwest Ohio expressed their enthusiasm with cheers like, “X-V-I, he’s our guy!”
The pope entered the stadium shortly after 2 p.m. greeted by joyful choruses of “Hallelujah” and a sea of white and gold kerchiefs – Vatican colors – waving to him from the stands while the popemobile lapped the stadium.
Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, welcomed Pope Benedict to the Mass attended by cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and faithful from all 195 dioceses and archdioceses of the nation.
“Your pastoral visit is for all of us gathered here this afternoon an immense blessing for which we are truly and deeply grateful,” Cardinal Egan told the pope, adding that the crowd represented “an extraordinary variety of races and ethnic backgrounds, all united in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of which you are the Supreme Shepherd.”
The integration of English and Spanish into the readings and hymns of the liturgy served as a reminder of that diversity, and the stands erupted into applause when the pope switched to Spanish for the last portion of his homily. Petitions during the prayer of the faithful were read in English, Italian, Polish, French, Tagalog, Croatian and Igbo.
The Mass at Yankee Stadium commemorated the bicentennials of five U.S. archdioceses: Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Louisville, and in his homily Pope Benedict reflected on the “impressive growth which God has given to the Church” in the U.S. over the past 200 years.
“In this land of freedom and opportunity, the Church has united a widely diverse flock in the profession of the faith and, through her many educational, charitable and social works, has also contributed significantly to the growth of American society as a whole,” he said.
He praised the achievements of U.S. Catholics over the past two centuries, but Pope Benedict noted “today’s celebration is more than occasion of gratitude for graces received. It is also a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations.”
He called on U.S. Catholics to pray fervently for the coming of the Kingdom, which he said means “being constantly alert for the signs of its presence, and working for its growth in every sector of society. It means facing the challenges of present and future with confidence in Christ’s victory and a commitment to extending his reign. It means not losing heart in the face of resistance, adversity and scandal. It means overcoming every separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness.”
Pope Benedict added it also means “rejecting a false dichotomy between faith and political life” and “working to enrich American society and culture with the beauty and truth of the Gospel.”
The pope closed with a special word of encouragement to young people, calling on them to “take up the responsibility which your faith in Christ sets before you” and proclaim the unchanging truths that have their foundation in Him.
“They are the truths which alone can guarantee respect for the inalienable dignity and rights of each man, woman and child in our world — including the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother’s womb,” he added, to which the crowd responded with thunderous applause.
Pope Benedict urged young men and women of America to “open your hearts to the Lord’s call to follow him in the priesthood and the religious life.”
Kristin Striker, 21, and Teresa Schermerhorn, 19, both students at Ashland University, said they were touched when the pope addressed young people in the audience. Ms. Striker, whose family belongs to Crestline St. Joseph, also said she thought the pope “was trying to prod us to remember … the faith of our ancestors” in his homily.
Angie Soules, a youth minister who coordinates the Lima Life Teen youth group for Catholic parishes in Lima and the surrounding area, felt the Mass was “a great opportunity for the kids to get to know” Pope Benedict.
“They needed to see this and feel this. It was amazing,” she said.
Father Eric Schild, associate pastor of Fostoria St. Wendelin, and Father Michael Zacharias, pastor of Van Wert St. Mary, were among the hundreds of priests and deacons distributing communion in the stands. Fr. Schild marveled at the logistics of coordinating the monumental task, but he observed that the Eucharist was distributed both efficiently and reverently.
“What amazed me was the people were still incredibly reverent even though we were in a baseball stadium,” he said.
Fr. Zacharias said the experience was no different from distributing the Eucharist in any church.
“Listening to people sing, I just felt like it was one big Catholic parish,” he added.
|
|
Catholic Chronicle of The Toledo Diocese RSS Feed
|
