Saturday, September 26
We began the day with mass at St. John the Evangelist Church with not only the members of our pilgrimage, but we were joined with a few students from Cathedral High School, a congregation of nuns, and other Catholics. It was a beautiful mass with a powerful message in Fr. Eric Augustine’s homily. His homily reminded us that the Pope is not the main reason why were here. He is a man, just like us, who points us and guides us closer to Christ. We are here for the Eucharist.
Following mass, we set off to the north side of the “secure” zone on a two mile trek. We made it through the security tent and staked our claim along the parade route on the Ben Franklin Parkway to attend the Festival of Families. We sat, chatted, and ate with our new friends from the Archdioceses, but also met other friends from across the globe.
As the day progressed into evening, there were numerous entertainment performances including: The Fray, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Evanko, and Jim Gaffigan . The festival also included the highly anticipated Papal Parade. We spotted Pope Francis from a distance initially could not believe what we were witnessing. There he was!!! Our Pope Francis!!!! With much anticipation and excitement, we spotted the Pope Mobile!!! The motorcade processed through the streets and ended up driving right in front of us about 15 feet away. What a dream come true!!! Such a happy, peaceful and joyful leader of our church. By this time in the night it was completely dark, so he and his pope mobile shined even brighter!!!!! Although he was traveling quite rapidly (35-40 mph), we were able to snap a few good pictures and catch him on video. Never thought we would ever see the pope and there he was, waving and greeting us all. Needless to say everyone walked away with a smile on their face.
After Pope Francis had gone by and the Papal Parade had ended, he ended up on the main stage. We decided to move into the center section to get a better view of the stage. From our new vantage point we could see Pope Francis but he was 2 or 3 football fields away. BUT we could still see him. We called the girls to give them an update and really just to be able to say they heard the pope speak. Pope Francis then delivered a dynamic speech focused on the struggles and successes of the human family. He admitted that supporting a strong family definitely comes with challenges and struggles (he even mentioned the struggles with mother-in-laws), but those enemies can be combated with love and compassion. He encourage us all to start with peace, love and tenderness within our own homes and allow Christ and His messages of peace and comfort guide our actions as parents and spiritual leaders in our homes and parishes.
Andrea Bochelli then sang the ‘Our Father’. Not a dry eye on the Parkway.
Pope Francis then ended the Festival of Families by leading everyone in a Hail Mary. Never in our life did we ever think that we would ever pray a Hail Mary with a pope. But they we were, praying with Pope Francis. Dream come true! What an inspiration he is!!
Sunday , September 27
Up and at ‘em… we were down in the hotel lobby at 5am. The small traveling group (8 of us dubbed the Breakfast Club) that wanted a close spot, started walking to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. After a quick stop at the local WAWA for coffee, we walked approximately two miles to reach our entry checkpoint for Mass. With the influx of people in the city, the Mayor decided to close down all¬ the streets . It was a quiet walk, passing many from the National Guard, Philly police, Border Patrol, Homeland Security, ATF, Secret Service and the Pennsylvania State Police. We reached the checkpoint closest to the stage right at 6 am, the time that the gates were opened. We passed through a relatively short security line, exchanging with the friendly folks at the TSA. We made a B-line for the front of the very first coral, knowing that that was our best chance to get a spot with a clear view of the altar, Papal chair and ambo. We found a spot in the front of the first coral that suited us quite well…it was along Pope Francis’ parade route, we could see the altar, his chair and the ambo. And an unknown bonus that came into play later in the day….it also happened to be the drop off point for all of the media folks. We enjoyed our coffee, convinced a secret service agent to let us move a picnic table from the local park over to our spot, then 30 minutes later that agent’s supervisor shot down the idea. So long to the picnic table…hello camping chairs from Gander Mtn. And there we sat and visited for a few hours with our new friends in the breakfast club and our new mass friends that gathered behind us as the minutes and hours ticked by.
Once the sun came up and the crowds started to pick up a bit, we decided to bust out our homemade pope mitres that we had made in the hotel room a few days ago out of poster board and duct tape (a whopping $1.39 at Wal-Mart). Who knew that those 2 pieces of poster board and white duct tape could start a buzz amongst the crowd. Little by little others gathered started to request pictures of our hats. And before we knew it, local news stations were unboarding their media buses and approaching us for an interview and pictures. Then the next wave of media buses pulled up and the national news started approaching us wanting interviews and pictures. That wave was followed by the international media folks also wanting to chat with us. It was insane!!! No joke, I bet we had our picture taken over 100 times and between the 2 of us and our new pilgrim friends Annie and Alex (that’s right BIG shout out!!) I bet we were interviewed 30 times (some of them live – talk about pressure!!). Julie missed one live interview with FOX News and upon her return was not too thrilled that Doug had mentioned live on national news that she was missing the interview because she was in the bathroom. The guy asked, and Doug couldn’t tell a lie on the day he was having mass with the pope!!! Some of the included local Philly stations, MSNBC, CBS News, FOX News to Catholic TV, Associated Press, Reuters, 2 different stations from France (that was pretty comical!) to one station from Rome and our very own WTHR 13. We tried our best to mention our amazing Archdiocese of Indianapolis, talk up the messages of the World Meeting of Families and our focus on the love and mercy offered to us through the Eucharist. And yes, they of course asked why we made the hats – our response…we are both teachers and we wanted to make something to welcome Pope Francis that was fun, creative and within the budget constraints of 2 Catholic school teachers! All of the media hoopla really made the time pass quite quickly, spotting some familiar faces: Bishop Barren (new appointed auxiliary bishop of LA), Anderson Cooper and Lester Holt.
But the REAL excitement came around 3 pm. We had not really looked behind us much during the day and by 3 we quickly realized that there were a TON of people on the Ben Franklin Pkwy. The excitement really started to build as we began hearing and seeing helicopters fly over, realizing that it was Pope Francis above us. By 4 he was ready to begin his parade lap. It took him by the Basilica Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul (where he had celebrated mass yesterday morning) to bless all of the intentions tied up at the Shrine of Our Lady Undoer of Knots. Included in those thousands and thousands of intentions blessed by the pope today were intentions that many of you had sent to us. Know that they were blessed by the pope today!
As he made his way back onto the Parkway, he of course had to stop and kiss some babies (adorable!!). He rounded the final corner of the Parkway where we got a GREAT look at our Pope Francis. His motorcade was driving much slower today than yesterday, he looked right at our group and waved. We got some great pictures and video. What an amazing moment!!! It all felt to unreal, like we were having this incredibly unbelievable dream. It was a humbling experience and an unbelievable honor to have seen him. He emits such a loving presence and kind spirit. Seeing him in person was simply unbelievable.
But the best was yet to come. We were now ready to celebrate mass with Pope Francis!!!!!!!!!!
10 hours of waiting….well make that 38 years of waiting…..OVER!!!!!!
From our vantage point we were able to follow all of the action up on stage. From the opening song, to the opening prayer, to the 1st reading, to the Gospel , everyone was just in awe of being in the presence of the Holy Father. Pope Francis’ homily was outstanding !!!!! The homily made it quite clear that strong, faithful families are essential to our society. He understands that we all have struggles, we all have wounds, we all have hurts. But through tenderness, compassion and love shown to our children and grandparents AND an openness to the mercy, love and peace offered to us by Jesus, the healing process can begin. Through the intercession of the Holy Family and the grace offered to us through the Holy Spirit, wounds can be healed and the love of a family can become more fully alive!! What an amazing message he delivered in his homily today!
Being at the front of the corral, once mass started, we never really looked around to see just how many people there were now behind us. When it came time for the Our Father, the entire audience spoke in unison. Hearing and saying the Our Father with over 800,000 people was a very emotional experience. Hearing those thousands of voices from behind us helped solidify the fact that we are a Universal Church.
Communion is when Doug was thumped on top of the head by the Holy Spirit. So there were somewhere between 200 and 300 Eucharistic Ministers (all priests and deacons). They filed into the masses of people walking past us one at a time, escorted by an individual (member of the Knights of Columbus, nuns, etc) who was carrying a Papal umbrella (used to designate where the communion ministers were located in the crowd). As a constant stream of priests past us by we figured that we would, in all likelihood, not get a chance to consume the Blessed Sacrament. Well, the Holy Spirit thought differently. All of the sudden a priest from Arizona (who by his accent was probably originally from Africa) walked straight towards us at the barricade…needless to say the tears started to flow. Doug received the Body of Christ then Julie received. Instinctively, we both squatted/knelt down in the dirt (in the very tight space that we had next to the metal barricade. Well the priest decided to stay right in front of us for the next 10 minutes, distributing the Body of Christ to the hundreds of people standing behind. With our heads bowed down, staring into the dirt, we began to feel hands touching our backs. Some hands were big, some hands were small. There was no Communion “line”. It was just a mass of people trying desperately to find the priest. Since we were knelt down in front of the priest with no where to go, the hundreds behind us were using our backs and shoulders to lean on as they jockeyed for position to find the priest. Then we began to hear voices, “Father! Father! ” they shouted. Some were adults’ voices, some were kids’ voices. Some spoke English, some did not. Some were very calm, some were very eager. Then one at a time, we heard the priest respond, “The Body of Christ. The Body of Christ. The Body of Christ.” This exchange lasted at least 10 minutes. “Father! Father! Over here!” they called. “The Body of Christ”, he responded. As I stared into the dirt weeping with joy and completely overcome with emotions, the Holy Spirit moved me in a way I have never been moved before. I, for the first time, was experiencing what life was like 2,000 years ago. The followers of Jesus would travel for miles in the dirt to seek Him out. Certainly they would have called out for Him, “Father! Father!”. Some would weep, some would cry out for joy. Some were young, some were older. Some spoke His language, some did not. Some would have to lean on others in order to find Jesus. Sometimes those being leaned on upon were unaware of who was leaning on them, but they knew that they were being helpful.
Ultimately He called us all to His message of peace, unity and salvation when He gave of Himself on the cross – the ultimate form of sacrificial love – offering us the Body of Christ. At that moment I felt that tremendous sacrificial love and mercy offered to us by Christ. There are many times in life when we feel like we’ve been knocked to the floor and dirt kicked in our face. Those are the times when our struggles and wounds can be mended and healed by the Body of Christ, if we just call out to Him….Father! Father!
As Pope Francis gave his final blessings on us and the 2 backpacks full of religious items that we had carried along, we took one last look at the hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Ben Franklin Pkwy we realized that we truly ALL are the Body of Christ…young or old, calm or excited, English speaker or Non-English speaker. No matter what corner of the world you are from we are all gathered together as a Universal Church. Sometimes we need to be that person that someone else needs to lean on. Sometimes you may need to lean on someone else. That is what we have to do for each other, lean on each other, support one another (no matter your race, language, ethnicity) in order to lead each other to the Body of Christ. We are ALL the Body of Christ.
As we were packing up our things and ready to head out we spotted Dr. Gianna Emanuel Molla (daughter of St. Gianna Molla) leaving the altar section. Some from our Breakfast Club group had not met her this week so we crossed paths with her one last time, exchanged hugs and blessings and of course got a picture. What a very special, sweet and inspirational woman she is !!!!!! And her “saint mom”, oh boy, we could go on and on about her…..what an amazing story of love and selflessness. What an honor to be in her daughter’s presence.
We hiked the 2 miles back to the hotel. Dropped our bags and decided that we needed to eat something other than smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the bottom of a backpack. We ended up in Chinatown for some much needed plated food. What wonderful fellowship we had at dinner sharing our stories, experiences and perspectives from the day.
One last stop for Gelato and the day came to an end. And the streets of Philly are slowly starting to open up again.
What an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we were able to experience today!!! It is so comforting to have such a loving and supportive faith system to lean upon. We truly are a Universal Church, a Universal Family. What an honor and privilege to celebrate our Family with Pope Francis today. Celebrating the Eucharist is what we are all about and sharing that with Pope Francis was simply amazing!!
Sorry for lack of pictures in this post- once they get uploaded, they'll be added.
We began the day with mass at St. John the Evangelist Church with not only the members of our pilgrimage, but we were joined with a few students from Cathedral High School, a congregation of nuns, and other Catholics. It was a beautiful mass with a powerful message in Fr. Eric Augustine’s homily. His homily reminded us that the Pope is not the main reason why were here. He is a man, just like us, who points us and guides us closer to Christ. We are here for the Eucharist.
Following mass, we set off to the north side of the “secure” zone on a two mile trek. We made it through the security tent and staked our claim along the parade route on the Ben Franklin Parkway to attend the Festival of Families. We sat, chatted, and ate with our new friends from the Archdioceses, but also met other friends from across the globe.
As the day progressed into evening, there were numerous entertainment performances including: The Fray, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Jackie Evanko, and Jim Gaffigan . The festival also included the highly anticipated Papal Parade. We spotted Pope Francis from a distance initially could not believe what we were witnessing. There he was!!! Our Pope Francis!!!! With much anticipation and excitement, we spotted the Pope Mobile!!! The motorcade processed through the streets and ended up driving right in front of us about 15 feet away. What a dream come true!!! Such a happy, peaceful and joyful leader of our church. By this time in the night it was completely dark, so he and his pope mobile shined even brighter!!!!! Although he was traveling quite rapidly (35-40 mph), we were able to snap a few good pictures and catch him on video. Never thought we would ever see the pope and there he was, waving and greeting us all. Needless to say everyone walked away with a smile on their face.
After Pope Francis had gone by and the Papal Parade had ended, he ended up on the main stage. We decided to move into the center section to get a better view of the stage. From our new vantage point we could see Pope Francis but he was 2 or 3 football fields away. BUT we could still see him. We called the girls to give them an update and really just to be able to say they heard the pope speak. Pope Francis then delivered a dynamic speech focused on the struggles and successes of the human family. He admitted that supporting a strong family definitely comes with challenges and struggles (he even mentioned the struggles with mother-in-laws), but those enemies can be combated with love and compassion. He encourage us all to start with peace, love and tenderness within our own homes and allow Christ and His messages of peace and comfort guide our actions as parents and spiritual leaders in our homes and parishes.
Andrea Bochelli then sang the ‘Our Father’. Not a dry eye on the Parkway.
Pope Francis then ended the Festival of Families by leading everyone in a Hail Mary. Never in our life did we ever think that we would ever pray a Hail Mary with a pope. But they we were, praying with Pope Francis. Dream come true! What an inspiration he is!!
Sunday , September 27
Up and at ‘em… we were down in the hotel lobby at 5am. The small traveling group (8 of us dubbed the Breakfast Club) that wanted a close spot, started walking to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. After a quick stop at the local WAWA for coffee, we walked approximately two miles to reach our entry checkpoint for Mass. With the influx of people in the city, the Mayor decided to close down all¬ the streets . It was a quiet walk, passing many from the National Guard, Philly police, Border Patrol, Homeland Security, ATF, Secret Service and the Pennsylvania State Police. We reached the checkpoint closest to the stage right at 6 am, the time that the gates were opened. We passed through a relatively short security line, exchanging with the friendly folks at the TSA. We made a B-line for the front of the very first coral, knowing that that was our best chance to get a spot with a clear view of the altar, Papal chair and ambo. We found a spot in the front of the first coral that suited us quite well…it was along Pope Francis’ parade route, we could see the altar, his chair and the ambo. And an unknown bonus that came into play later in the day….it also happened to be the drop off point for all of the media folks. We enjoyed our coffee, convinced a secret service agent to let us move a picnic table from the local park over to our spot, then 30 minutes later that agent’s supervisor shot down the idea. So long to the picnic table…hello camping chairs from Gander Mtn. And there we sat and visited for a few hours with our new friends in the breakfast club and our new mass friends that gathered behind us as the minutes and hours ticked by.
Once the sun came up and the crowds started to pick up a bit, we decided to bust out our homemade pope mitres that we had made in the hotel room a few days ago out of poster board and duct tape (a whopping $1.39 at Wal-Mart). Who knew that those 2 pieces of poster board and white duct tape could start a buzz amongst the crowd. Little by little others gathered started to request pictures of our hats. And before we knew it, local news stations were unboarding their media buses and approaching us for an interview and pictures. Then the next wave of media buses pulled up and the national news started approaching us wanting interviews and pictures. That wave was followed by the international media folks also wanting to chat with us. It was insane!!! No joke, I bet we had our picture taken over 100 times and between the 2 of us and our new pilgrim friends Annie and Alex (that’s right BIG shout out!!) I bet we were interviewed 30 times (some of them live – talk about pressure!!). Julie missed one live interview with FOX News and upon her return was not too thrilled that Doug had mentioned live on national news that she was missing the interview because she was in the bathroom. The guy asked, and Doug couldn’t tell a lie on the day he was having mass with the pope!!! Some of the included local Philly stations, MSNBC, CBS News, FOX News to Catholic TV, Associated Press, Reuters, 2 different stations from France (that was pretty comical!) to one station from Rome and our very own WTHR 13. We tried our best to mention our amazing Archdiocese of Indianapolis, talk up the messages of the World Meeting of Families and our focus on the love and mercy offered to us through the Eucharist. And yes, they of course asked why we made the hats – our response…we are both teachers and we wanted to make something to welcome Pope Francis that was fun, creative and within the budget constraints of 2 Catholic school teachers! All of the media hoopla really made the time pass quite quickly, spotting some familiar faces: Bishop Barren (new appointed auxiliary bishop of LA), Anderson Cooper and Lester Holt.
But the REAL excitement came around 3 pm. We had not really looked behind us much during the day and by 3 we quickly realized that there were a TON of people on the Ben Franklin Pkwy. The excitement really started to build as we began hearing and seeing helicopters fly over, realizing that it was Pope Francis above us. By 4 he was ready to begin his parade lap. It took him by the Basilica Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul (where he had celebrated mass yesterday morning) to bless all of the intentions tied up at the Shrine of Our Lady Undoer of Knots. Included in those thousands and thousands of intentions blessed by the pope today were intentions that many of you had sent to us. Know that they were blessed by the pope today!
As he made his way back onto the Parkway, he of course had to stop and kiss some babies (adorable!!). He rounded the final corner of the Parkway where we got a GREAT look at our Pope Francis. His motorcade was driving much slower today than yesterday, he looked right at our group and waved. We got some great pictures and video. What an amazing moment!!! It all felt to unreal, like we were having this incredibly unbelievable dream. It was a humbling experience and an unbelievable honor to have seen him. He emits such a loving presence and kind spirit. Seeing him in person was simply unbelievable.
But the best was yet to come. We were now ready to celebrate mass with Pope Francis!!!!!!!!!!
10 hours of waiting….well make that 38 years of waiting…..OVER!!!!!!
From our vantage point we were able to follow all of the action up on stage. From the opening song, to the opening prayer, to the 1st reading, to the Gospel , everyone was just in awe of being in the presence of the Holy Father. Pope Francis’ homily was outstanding !!!!! The homily made it quite clear that strong, faithful families are essential to our society. He understands that we all have struggles, we all have wounds, we all have hurts. But through tenderness, compassion and love shown to our children and grandparents AND an openness to the mercy, love and peace offered to us by Jesus, the healing process can begin. Through the intercession of the Holy Family and the grace offered to us through the Holy Spirit, wounds can be healed and the love of a family can become more fully alive!! What an amazing message he delivered in his homily today!
Being at the front of the corral, once mass started, we never really looked around to see just how many people there were now behind us. When it came time for the Our Father, the entire audience spoke in unison. Hearing and saying the Our Father with over 800,000 people was a very emotional experience. Hearing those thousands of voices from behind us helped solidify the fact that we are a Universal Church.
Communion is when Doug was thumped on top of the head by the Holy Spirit. So there were somewhere between 200 and 300 Eucharistic Ministers (all priests and deacons). They filed into the masses of people walking past us one at a time, escorted by an individual (member of the Knights of Columbus, nuns, etc) who was carrying a Papal umbrella (used to designate where the communion ministers were located in the crowd). As a constant stream of priests past us by we figured that we would, in all likelihood, not get a chance to consume the Blessed Sacrament. Well, the Holy Spirit thought differently. All of the sudden a priest from Arizona (who by his accent was probably originally from Africa) walked straight towards us at the barricade…needless to say the tears started to flow. Doug received the Body of Christ then Julie received. Instinctively, we both squatted/knelt down in the dirt (in the very tight space that we had next to the metal barricade. Well the priest decided to stay right in front of us for the next 10 minutes, distributing the Body of Christ to the hundreds of people standing behind. With our heads bowed down, staring into the dirt, we began to feel hands touching our backs. Some hands were big, some hands were small. There was no Communion “line”. It was just a mass of people trying desperately to find the priest. Since we were knelt down in front of the priest with no where to go, the hundreds behind us were using our backs and shoulders to lean on as they jockeyed for position to find the priest. Then we began to hear voices, “Father! Father! ” they shouted. Some were adults’ voices, some were kids’ voices. Some spoke English, some did not. Some were very calm, some were very eager. Then one at a time, we heard the priest respond, “The Body of Christ. The Body of Christ. The Body of Christ.” This exchange lasted at least 10 minutes. “Father! Father! Over here!” they called. “The Body of Christ”, he responded. As I stared into the dirt weeping with joy and completely overcome with emotions, the Holy Spirit moved me in a way I have never been moved before. I, for the first time, was experiencing what life was like 2,000 years ago. The followers of Jesus would travel for miles in the dirt to seek Him out. Certainly they would have called out for Him, “Father! Father!”. Some would weep, some would cry out for joy. Some were young, some were older. Some spoke His language, some did not. Some would have to lean on others in order to find Jesus. Sometimes those being leaned on upon were unaware of who was leaning on them, but they knew that they were being helpful.
Ultimately He called us all to His message of peace, unity and salvation when He gave of Himself on the cross – the ultimate form of sacrificial love – offering us the Body of Christ. At that moment I felt that tremendous sacrificial love and mercy offered to us by Christ. There are many times in life when we feel like we’ve been knocked to the floor and dirt kicked in our face. Those are the times when our struggles and wounds can be mended and healed by the Body of Christ, if we just call out to Him….Father! Father!
As Pope Francis gave his final blessings on us and the 2 backpacks full of religious items that we had carried along, we took one last look at the hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Ben Franklin Pkwy we realized that we truly ALL are the Body of Christ…young or old, calm or excited, English speaker or Non-English speaker. No matter what corner of the world you are from we are all gathered together as a Universal Church. Sometimes we need to be that person that someone else needs to lean on. Sometimes you may need to lean on someone else. That is what we have to do for each other, lean on each other, support one another (no matter your race, language, ethnicity) in order to lead each other to the Body of Christ. We are ALL the Body of Christ.
As we were packing up our things and ready to head out we spotted Dr. Gianna Emanuel Molla (daughter of St. Gianna Molla) leaving the altar section. Some from our Breakfast Club group had not met her this week so we crossed paths with her one last time, exchanged hugs and blessings and of course got a picture. What a very special, sweet and inspirational woman she is !!!!!! And her “saint mom”, oh boy, we could go on and on about her…..what an amazing story of love and selflessness. What an honor to be in her daughter’s presence.
We hiked the 2 miles back to the hotel. Dropped our bags and decided that we needed to eat something other than smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the bottom of a backpack. We ended up in Chinatown for some much needed plated food. What wonderful fellowship we had at dinner sharing our stories, experiences and perspectives from the day.
One last stop for Gelato and the day came to an end. And the streets of Philly are slowly starting to open up again.
What an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we were able to experience today!!! It is so comforting to have such a loving and supportive faith system to lean upon. We truly are a Universal Church, a Universal Family. What an honor and privilege to celebrate our Family with Pope Francis today. Celebrating the Eucharist is what we are all about and sharing that with Pope Francis was simply amazing!!
Sorry for lack of pictures in this post- once they get uploaded, they'll be added.