Post Papa

If you were looking for me on TV, you didn't find me .... our seats were in the fourth pew from the BACK of St. Patrick's Cathedral...in the corner by the gift shop. The priests were all seated in the side sections, alphabetical according to Diocese, so Indianapolis put us way to the back of the south side. I sat next to Joliet, in front of Knoxville and Kansas City. And I was behind a pillar ... so I participated in Mass watching the flat-screen monitor mounted on the pillar. BUT, since we were so far in the back, we got a decent view of B16's arrival at the Cathedral. Then, the recessional brought him down our side aisle, so I was about two feet away from him. He's much shorter than I thought. I could have reached out to touch him, but the Secret Service were pushing people away ... some people said the Secret Service guys nearly body-blocked a bunch of little nuns who stepped out into the center aisle when Papa was passing by.

No, I didn't have to crawl into a porta-potty in full Mass vestements.

Getting through the Secutiry was really pretty simple ... much less the hassle than an airport. The two and a half hours we were in the Cathedral BEFORE PAPA EVEN ARRIVED passed rather quickly. Get a bunch of priests together and they gab as much as anyone ... there was lots of "Oh, do you know...?" and "So-and-so was my classmate". I spotted a group of Sisters I knew form Connecticut, so made my way over to them, and bumped into priests I knew from Toledo and Sioux City, Iowa.

I was defintiely in my travelling mode ... Stephen's apartment was on 73rd Street, and the Cathedral was down on 51st Street ...and I walked it several times. The only time I took the taxi was Saturday morning at 6am on the way to the Mass, and that's only so I didn't get sweaty before a long morning in vestments. I walked down and back on Friday afternoon to scope out my seat, then back up to the apartment on Saturday afternoon, then down and back for Sunday Mass at the Cathedral. I also walked another twenty blocks down and back to meet up with friends for dinnder Saturday evening. I pushed my way through the sidewalk tourists like a native ...

Sunday morning I got to concelebrate Mass at the Cathedral with the Rector there. It was fun processing up that long aisle ... and the place was, of course, packed. I enjoyed getting to see up close where Papa had stood the day before, and get a sense of the Cathedral from the Sanctuary.

I didn't even go NEAR Yankee Stadium. Instead, I took an afternoon taxi to Brooklyn for dinner and overnight with Brendan's Parents. Then they took me to the airport on Monday morning.

Since getting back it's pretty much business as usual ...as the Easter Season winds down, we're planning for summer events like Priesthood Ordinations and the Ordination of the first class of Permanent Deacons for the Archdiocese ... 25 of them. I'm also on the Executive Committee for the big bash for the Archdiocese's 175th Anniversary on May 3, 2009. That will be Mass with ALL the Confirmations for the year at the new Lucas Oil Stadium (new home of the Colts). We're looking to have 30,000 people, give or take ten thousand. So far, the largest Mass I've planned and orchestrated was for only 3,000 ... so this will be a bit more of a challenge...but fun.

In the meantime, there's ordinary business to attend to.