July 13-19, 2008 Issue |
Posted 7/8/08 at 12:18 PM
Members of
the media had somber predictions about the Holy Father’s visit to the United
States, just as they do about his July 15-20 visit to World Youth Day in
Sydney, Australia.
What will the 81-year-old Pope have
to say to a generation of media-savvy youth whose role models are worldly
celebrities?
His meeting with youth and
seminarians at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., on April 19 was a kind
of preview of World Youth Day.
Alice von Hildebrand, author and
host of several EWTN shows, whose husband Dietrich was a personal friend of the
Holy Father, said she knows the secret of Pope Benedict’s appeal to the young:
“What is so beautiful about him is, there is a tremendous goodness in this Holy
Father, and this is what young people need to know: that they are loved.”
Teens told me the same thing.
“I know Pope Benedict has done a lot
for the people, and I know he cares. I want to see him and get a better
understanding of who he is,” said nursing student Sherry Ann Frizeau. “My
Catholic faith means always behaving in a way that reflects that God has a
presence in my life; how I interact with my friends, always lending a helping
hand, and going to church every Sunday.”
Amanda Fiumefreddo, 15, had high
hopes for seeing the Holy Father: “When he comes out, I hope I really get
something out of it, I want to connect with him.”
Her mother Cathy said, “I really
feel a strong connection. It’s important to get the word out because there are
many religious children who want to be here, and are faithful children. Not all
teenagers are what you see all over the TV. Look at all these young people who
want to say prayers with the Pope. We all want to walk away blessed, and feel
strong in our faith.”
Joe Clark, 14, whose father is on
his parish council and whose mother teaches parish catechism classes, said,
“I’m excited to see the Holy Father; he’s the head of our Church, and my
friends were impressed that I was going. Some of them are here, too.”
Victor Morales, 14, said young
people aren’t afraid of the faith. They practice it, question it, and defend
it.
“I’m an altar server, and I assist
with my mother’s CCD class. My friends at school have friendly arguments about
the differences in our faith.”
The Holy Father’s U.S. visit was
like a preview of World Youth Day in another way, too.
Victor’s parents are from Mexico,
and he talked about the Holy Father’s outreach to the Hispanic community in the
United States.
“The four marks of the Church from
the Nicene Creed are ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic,’ and ‘catholic’ means
universal, so, we are all one family in the faith. God created the earth, He
didn’t create the borders. We have a stronger tie to the Virgin Mary, as La
Virgen de Guadalupe, and the tradition of Las
Posadas. My father did it in his village in Mexico, and our family
did it one year.”
Despite all that, Victor is every
bit a child of modern America. When asked what he thought the Holy Father would
say, Victor replied, “I think he’s pro-environment, and he’s probably going to
say something about preserving the environment; it’s kind of up to us.”
After the youth rally at Dunwoodie,
the exuberant crowd leaving the seminary walked down John Paul II Boulevard,
flowing down the street like a shaken bottle of champagne, in an impromptu
parade.
Sydney will be seeing the same
phenomenon soon.
The commotion brought out the
neighbors to smile at the spirited crowd. When they reached town, hungry teens
spilled into local eateries, and dozens of Dominican sisters in white habits
filled the local ice cream parlor, creating a sensation.
The rally’s participants reflected
on their experiences.
Gabriela Velasquez, 14, said, “My
first impression of Pope Benedict was that no one could be as sincere and
connected with youth as Pope John Paul, but by everyone’s reaction, I think
that he touched their hearts in a special way that no one thought he would.
“As the Pope arrived at Dunwoodie, I
had no idea that there was going to be so much noise. I mean, every time he
said something, there was a wave of screaming people and fluttering scarves
that went from one side of the field to the other. It was an amazing experience
that I will never forget, and I would totally do it again if I had the chance.”
Christen O’Brien Russell, 18, of New
Rochelle, N.Y., was there with her brother Donald and sister Caileen, both 15.
She said, “I feel sometimes that it
is hard to be a Catholic in this day and age. Just looking around me and seeing
hundreds and hundreds of people, people my own age around me, all here for the
same reason, to see the Pope, seeing all these people so excited and so filled
with love for him, I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool.’ I felt less alone. It
makes me more secure in my faith and in who I am.”
Donald’s brother said, “When the
Pope arrived, you could feel his presence through the people there. Everyone
went crazy. It was so exciting to see everyone cheering for the Pope.” Donald
added, “It was a great time for the Pope to come. Our world is in bad shape. We
needed it.”
Caileen remarked, “It was very
moving to see all those people coming together to see the Pope. It was surreal.
I felt so honored to be a part of it. I always loved being Catholic. Now, I
feel even better about being Catholic.”
Christopher Bordonaro, 17, said,
“The Holy Father is the biggest earthly idol I have. When my friend told me I
got a ticket to see him, it was the best news I ever got. Being within 200 feet of him was awesome. I liked that he
spoke about the difficulties of life in a public school, worldly environment
and gave us different ways to stand up for what you believe in. I like that he
mentioned how God has been removed from the public schools in the aspect of the
creation of the world.”
Chris
has read Michael Behe’s Darwin’s
Black Box and is well versed in
aspects of intelligent design.
John
Keck, 13, said, “You would never think there was shortage of priests and
seminarians because there were so many of them there.”
John
had just visited his cousin Bryan Gray, a minor seminarian at Immaculate
Conception Apostolic School in Centre Harbor, N.H., during the Easter games and
met many seminarians.
“Bryan
has always wanted to be a priest. He has a yearning for the priesthood,” said Eileen Keck,
John’s mother. “John left the seminary with a burden on his heart to pray for
vocations, and we were all impressed with the enthusiasm of the seminarians at
the rally. It was their day.”
Thousands
of youth and seminarians have incorporated the memory of the papal rally into
their experiences as young Catholics in the United States. What will be the
fruit of this meeting with the Successor of St. Peter?
One
encouraging sign has already appeared: In the week following the rally, St.
Joseph’s Seminary has received dozens of letters inquiring about vocations.
Expect that phenomenon again after Sydney.
Father
Justin Semanti, whose youth group, Holy Rosary in the Bronx, plans to attend
World Youth Day, was encouraged by the “preview.”
“It
was a great event here with the Holy Father, and it was encouraging to see all
these young people here with the Pope, showing their love and devotion to him
and the Church,” he said. “Just a real springtime, I think, to bring this about
in New York and to all of America. It’s a really exciting and encouraging time
to be a Catholic, to be a young person in the Church today.”
Leticia Velasquez writes from East Moriches, New York.
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