Headed to the convention center Friday morning for the final day of the World Meeting of Families donning our St. Barnabas Walk-a-thon shirts. Friday was walk-a-thon at St. Barnabas and wanted walk with our students even if we are 650 miles away! We encountered some very cute “Pope Puppies “on our route to the convention center. We chatted a bit with their owners who commented on how nice all the visitors to the city were. How can you not be nice to others when there are dogs dressed like the pope?!
As this was our final day at the conference, we wanted to get to all there was to do at the convention center. The Museum of the Bible had a special exhibit open to convention goers. In it there were artifacts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the Gutenberg Bibles, a replica of the Rosetta Stone and numerous historical prayer books and bibles.
We attended the general session which included talks from Pastor Rick Warren, author of the book “A Purpose Driven Life”, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley from Boston presented a talk on the Joy of the Gospel of Life. There were several strong points to remember, joy filled families are based on love of God, are built on purpose, serve others, and fulfill their mission to love. It’s important to see the world through God’s eyes, and faith helps us do just that.
Our breakout sessions included talks about advice from Pope Francis on how to love presented by a panel of individuals who know Pope Francis personally. In the Pope Francis talk, we were reminded that the perfect family does NOT exist, so striving for “perfect” will only add dysfunction. We can always better our family, but “perfect” isn’t the ultimate goal. The other session was about ways to incorporate and emphasize Catholic traditions in your home, especially for families with elementary school age children. Simply going to weekly Mass doesn’t necessarily make you a strong Catholic family. If Mass is the only connection to our faith you’re providing children, it will be easier for them to stray further down the road. As parents, we need to incorporate Catholic traditions in a fun and interactive way. Great resources were provided that we’ll be sure to share with you in the coming weeks.
We attended Mass this afternoon at St. John the Evangelist Church with Archbishop Tobin as the presider. The church was packed, there were lots of people in attendance, not just the 50 from our group. Having Mass together as a group helped reaffirm that we are all here for the same purpose - to love and honor God. Even with a packed church, the entire service only lasted 30 minutes. Not only is this the same church that is hosting St. Maria Goretti’s remains, but also St. John Neuman (father of U.S. Catholic schools) was installed as a bishop at this church and St. Katharine Drexel was confirmed and received first Holy Communion at this, her parish church.
After Mass, all mass attendees were asked to leave the church for a private event with St. Gianna Molla’s daughter. We exited the church but asked the woman at the door if there would be room for us if we waited. She asked that we “stay close”, as there were only a couple of hundred expected, and then the rest of the church would be open to sit and listen. We did just that! After the “ticketed” guests were in their seats, we made our way to the other side. Gianna Emanuela Molla gave a beautiful talk about her parents’ love for each other and about her “Saint Mom’s” dedication to her children. Thank God for St. Gianna Molla – patron saint of mothers, physicians and everyday living.
Later in the evening we were scheduled to have dinner, as a group, with the Archbishop. We left the hotel in a smaller group of 6 or 8 people. We had directions to our restaurant which was on the same square as City Hall- a secure area patrolled by Philly police, Secret Service, TSA, the Border Patrol and the National Guard. We got a bit turned around with the multiple street closings in preparation for the Papal Visit, but we were finally able to make our way to the area were supposed to be in- we even saw the marquee for the restaurant. The police officers in the area told us to go to another street to walk around the block. Being able to see where we needed to go, we told the group of officers that we just needed to go 50 more feet and we’d be at the front door of the restaurant. One of the gentleman said he’d show us an easy way to get to where we needed to go, so we followed him. We followed him through an alley, through an ornate iron gate where we needed to be buzzed in, and finally through the kitchen of our restaurant. As he was opening the kitchen door for us, I noticed the badge that was hanging around his neck. We were being escorted through the kitchen by none other than the US Secret Service! Dinner was delicious, and our host- Archbishop Tobin, couldn’t have been more gracious.
As this was our final day at the conference, we wanted to get to all there was to do at the convention center. The Museum of the Bible had a special exhibit open to convention goers. In it there were artifacts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the Gutenberg Bibles, a replica of the Rosetta Stone and numerous historical prayer books and bibles.
We attended the general session which included talks from Pastor Rick Warren, author of the book “A Purpose Driven Life”, and Cardinal Sean O’Malley from Boston presented a talk on the Joy of the Gospel of Life. There were several strong points to remember, joy filled families are based on love of God, are built on purpose, serve others, and fulfill their mission to love. It’s important to see the world through God’s eyes, and faith helps us do just that.
Our breakout sessions included talks about advice from Pope Francis on how to love presented by a panel of individuals who know Pope Francis personally. In the Pope Francis talk, we were reminded that the perfect family does NOT exist, so striving for “perfect” will only add dysfunction. We can always better our family, but “perfect” isn’t the ultimate goal. The other session was about ways to incorporate and emphasize Catholic traditions in your home, especially for families with elementary school age children. Simply going to weekly Mass doesn’t necessarily make you a strong Catholic family. If Mass is the only connection to our faith you’re providing children, it will be easier for them to stray further down the road. As parents, we need to incorporate Catholic traditions in a fun and interactive way. Great resources were provided that we’ll be sure to share with you in the coming weeks.
We attended Mass this afternoon at St. John the Evangelist Church with Archbishop Tobin as the presider. The church was packed, there were lots of people in attendance, not just the 50 from our group. Having Mass together as a group helped reaffirm that we are all here for the same purpose - to love and honor God. Even with a packed church, the entire service only lasted 30 minutes. Not only is this the same church that is hosting St. Maria Goretti’s remains, but also St. John Neuman (father of U.S. Catholic schools) was installed as a bishop at this church and St. Katharine Drexel was confirmed and received first Holy Communion at this, her parish church.
After Mass, all mass attendees were asked to leave the church for a private event with St. Gianna Molla’s daughter. We exited the church but asked the woman at the door if there would be room for us if we waited. She asked that we “stay close”, as there were only a couple of hundred expected, and then the rest of the church would be open to sit and listen. We did just that! After the “ticketed” guests were in their seats, we made our way to the other side. Gianna Emanuela Molla gave a beautiful talk about her parents’ love for each other and about her “Saint Mom’s” dedication to her children. Thank God for St. Gianna Molla – patron saint of mothers, physicians and everyday living.
Later in the evening we were scheduled to have dinner, as a group, with the Archbishop. We left the hotel in a smaller group of 6 or 8 people. We had directions to our restaurant which was on the same square as City Hall- a secure area patrolled by Philly police, Secret Service, TSA, the Border Patrol and the National Guard. We got a bit turned around with the multiple street closings in preparation for the Papal Visit, but we were finally able to make our way to the area were supposed to be in- we even saw the marquee for the restaurant. The police officers in the area told us to go to another street to walk around the block. Being able to see where we needed to go, we told the group of officers that we just needed to go 50 more feet and we’d be at the front door of the restaurant. One of the gentleman said he’d show us an easy way to get to where we needed to go, so we followed him. We followed him through an alley, through an ornate iron gate where we needed to be buzzed in, and finally through the kitchen of our restaurant. As he was opening the kitchen door for us, I noticed the badge that was hanging around his neck. We were being escorted through the kitchen by none other than the US Secret Service! Dinner was delicious, and our host- Archbishop Tobin, couldn’t have been more gracious.