Papal Mass.. comments questions and concerns!

I don't know where to start when it comes to the Papal Mass at Skank... I mean Yankee Stadium. Well let me begin there, I am a die hard Mets fan, one of those crazy ones that can't stand the Yankees, and I had sort of make a promise to myself that I would never enter Yankee Stadium and was really excited that it was going to happen, seeing as it's being knocked down later this year. Alas the "Man in White" is the only person who could get me into that Stadium. So yes the Pope is who made me enter the belly of the beast.

The day went very smoothly considering what could have gone wrong. I guess I should really start with the ticket story, I blogged a few entries ago about maybe having a ticket to the Mass, that was a Monday evening. Tuesday morning I was told it was up in the air and that the lady who was offered the ticket had already said she didn't need it. Anyway she calls me on Tuesday takes my name, social security number and date of birth so they can "make sure I'm not a terrorist." I assured her that my background as far I knew was clean, considering how many times it was check for all the schools I worked at. Anyway she said she'd know by Wednesday probably Thursday if her captain could get the ticket. The logical part of me is thinking there is no way this ticket is still around, but my gut feeling was it's still around. Well Friday morning I got a call from the woman, and not only did I get one ticket, but I got two tickets. So I took my mom with me. It was only fitting considering all she and my father have done for me and how many times they sent me to World Youth Days and to Rome so I could see JP2.

So on Friday afternoon I had to drive to this lady's house, which was a good 45/50 mins away from my house. Thank God for navigation systems, the GPS was awesome! So my mom and I dropped my nephew off at school and continued on our way to get the tickets. Once I got the tickets I needed to plan out our day on Sunday, as we had to make our own way into the city. That was done thanks to NJ Transit's webpage and NYC's MTA's webpage.

Going to the Archdiocese of New York for Mass was a coming home of sorts for me. All of my sacraments, well the ones I have received so far, have been conferred on me via the Archdiocese of NY, so I was coming home to my Church. It was strange as all of my other papal events involved JP2, and I kept wanted to bust out the Giovanni Paulo chant not the Benedicto chant. So that make it a bit strange. I wasn't moved to tears like I thought I would be, I was overly excited to see Papa B16, but it wasn't the same. I must say that even with this this being my 4th papal Mass it was the first Mass I felt was like a Mass. I know the other ones were World Youth Day (WYD) Masses and therefore massive, but there was always a feeling of me being unprepared and other things for Mass. 1 million people vs. 60,000 is a pretty dig difference. The age group was completely different too. Some other reasons could be that we camped out the night before and left before Mass in Paris, so this was really my 3rd Papal Mass, and camped out in Rome and Toronto. Rome was ok, Toronto had a highly spiritual battle going on around me, so I guess this Mass was really the first one I could be calm at, the first one I would have a "seat" for, the first one I could dress "up" for, the first one where I could feel like I was at Mass. That's what I noticed, this Mass felt like a Mass, I was able to block out the annoy things around me, and remind myself that it was a Mass. I think talking to Fr. Brian about perfection helped, I keep reminding myself that I like everyone else am not perfect, and I turned to Cardinal Cooke's, fitting as he was Cardinal Archbishop of NY when I was a baby, example of offering up something for the souls of Purgatory and well they seemed to work.

Looking back on my reactions to the Cardinals I can see the "POPEY POPEY POPEY!!!" person in me. I was literally standing on a chair to see over the people in front of me. My mother did tell me that the people next to us would think I was nuts, so I guess the me from WYD did show up, but I think I was more interested in my mom's reaction. I knew what was going to happen it wasn't my first papal event. I did find it strangely amusing the attitudes of people at the Mass, well before Mass anyway. I know that Mass was at a non-traditional site, but NY did an awesome job of making that skanky stadium look well suited for Mass. I knew I was in a baseball stadium, but I didn't feel like I was. Maybe that was God's grace yet again working in my life, or it comes with practice of being able to focus on what's going on at Mass so one feels like they are at Mass.

Anyhoo, back to the actual event. I had a nagging feeling that we should be on the first train out of Hawthorne aka H-town, and that was at 6:39am, and the damn thing was 2 mins early by my watch. No big deal, when it's something like that I'm actually early for it. We got into Penn Station about an hour later so we stopped for some good ole Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and some caffeine. We decided to actually sit and eat vs. bringing it with us. We had pleanty of time to get to the stadium. We got to Yankee Stadium well before the 9am gate opening, but we were not alone. We were shuffled along by the NYPD, who asked us to have our tickets out so they could tell us where to go and that's exactly what I did and they told us where to go. By getting there then we didn't have to deal with the protesters who were out. There were a few pro-test-ants aka protestants those Christian people. Actually these morons probably weren't even Christian. A few of the signs caused me to be a smart ass. One asked if I knew Jesus and I said yes I did, I was just at Mass with Him. Another said Constantine was the first Pope and I said no Peter was, read your Bible! Yes it was the signs that asked not the people who were holding them doing the asking.

Oh well, I'm starting to babble, I'm trying to kill time while some pictures from the blessed event print, but I'm just going to get loopy so I'll stop for now and let you ponder the crazies that were outside protesting the Holy Father and the Church.

I've got a golden ticket!

Actually I have 2 golden tickets, and yes they really are gold. It's offical I have tickets to the Papal Mass on Sunday. It's very exciting, and do expect pictures from the Mass and of me actually inside Yankee Stadium. Also expect a blog on the Latin Mass my parish is having tomorrow, I plan on taking pictures of that too.

He's here!!!!

THE POPE IS HERE!!!! YAY!!!!!

I am quite impressed with the speed of the nearly 81 year old Pontiff as he came down the stairs from the plane. The smile on his face was great, and I'm quite happy that Jenna (thanks Fox News) to greet him along with President and Mrs. Bush.

I have EWTN coverage taping on the old TV and I sat with the high def tv and flipped the channels and took pictures with the camera of the TV, so expect a picture blog to come. While flipping the channels I turned to CBS aka channel 2 and burst out laughing and screamed as I head them say "Msgr. Joe Chapel." Father Joe as I met and know him was at SHU while I was there and is good friends and quite possibly a classmate of one the priests I know quite well. So I have pictures and video of that too.

Oh well, I am off to make dinner, but I'm so excited the Pope is here. I'm sure my age and growth mentally, physically, and spiritually is helping but it's totally different from JP2 came in 1995, I didn't get it back then, now I do.

Welcome to the US, Papa B16! We love you!

Oh my Sweet Jesus, how wonderful You are.

*update* Like I said nothing was/is official, the lady who was getting the ticket told them no, that she didn't need the ticket, so now it's all up in the air, but if God wants me there He'll get me there. *update*

I can't even put into words what just happened. My parish had it's liturgy committee meeting tonight and at the end we sit and have cake and talk about life. Fr. George, our pastor, went upstairs to check his messages before retiring the for evening. I'm standing downstairs where the meeting was and I hear Fr. George saying "blah blah, Mary Woolley... Mary you still here?" Yes I am was my response. The following "conversation: takes place on"I have a woman on the phone who has a ticket for Mass on Sunday, you'd have to make your own way into the city, are you interested." Well my response was YES!

As Fr. George put it, "I guess the Good Lord wanted you there." I said I guess so. I was joking around in my twisted little head yesterday about being on 5th Avenue and having Cardinal Egan stop the motorcade so he could get out and hand pick me to go to Dunwoodie for the Youth Rally, and I'd get to meet the Pope. Nothing more than a nice little day dream that I had well thought out, little did I expect this.

The sheer happiness that is running through my body now is indescribable. I liken it to the time when we came out of the Scavi tour at St. Peter's in Rome and not one of us (college students) could figure out a way to thank the priest who ran the class, because we know that many English speaking tours were hard to come by. The more I think about the idea of being at Mass with the Pope, the bigger my smile is, the tears come to mind. Even Fr. George sounded excited for me, which is awesome, because I was beginning to think he and I were not on the same page on things.

It won't be official until I actually get my ticket, but the woman didn't want to let the opportunity pass by, so I have to call her in the morning to finalize everything. What I can make if it, is that her daughter who happens to be in the NYPD must have had the ticket or gotten the ticket and I think may have to work now, or she works around Yankee Stadium. They will need my drivers license and social security number to do my background check. Thank God I'm clean. ;)

Fr. Brian told us yesterday at Mass about how he felt like Charlie from Willie Wonka when he got his golden ticket to say Mass with the Pope. I had an ear to ear grin on my face because he "was like a little kid" when he opened the letter and literally saw a gold ticket for Mass with the Pope and he showed it. The joy on his face was enough to light up the whole Church let alone a room, I dare say my story will trump his.

So by the grace of God and the wonderfulness of the Holy Spirit I will be at Mass with the Holy Father on Sunday. He is the only person I would set foot inside Yankee Stadium for.

Popey's visit!

Let me preface with where "Popey" came from... My friend Bridget's is from a huge family (she the youngest of 16), and when JP2 came to Newark, her family living literally blocks from the Cathedral Basilica walked over to stand and see the Pope as he passed. I'm not sure but I think it was one of the young nephews at the time who instead of saying Pope, was saying Popey's coming." As a result from this incident in 1995 we started to call JP2, POPEY on one of our World Youth Day trips and it stuck and has carried on to the current Holy Father.

Now onto your regularly scheduled blog.

Why is it that the first article I read in the Bergen Record about the pope's visit starts out with "Yvette Cid is a 52-year-old widow and a practicing Catholic. She also is a lesbian who doesn't want to leave the church." Why they point out that this woman is a lesbian is beyond me, they make no mention of her being a practicing lesbian, but I assume they would like you to assume she is. The Church has no issues with a person being "homosexual" they like a "heterosexual" are called to live a life of celibacy until they are married and well since "homosexual" can't get married they are called to the single life. They are allowed to be Catholic, there is nothing stopping them.

The next paragraph begins with this "As a practicing gay Catholic, Cid is unusual. But her willingness to rely on her conscience, rather than church teachings, is increasingly typical of American Catholics." This statement is disturbing because the reporter is implying that the woman's conscience differs from the Church's teachings. Before this statement is, "The pope and the bishops, they follow the old way, and I understand that," Cid said in a recent interview. "But that doesn't mean I have to leave my faith because I disagree." Well, I'm glad the Pope and the Bishops follow the old way, they are following in the steps of the Apostles, considering that whole Apostolic succession thing, they are teaching Jesus' teachings.

The next section goes on the give some "facts about American Catholics" and it seems like a bunch of gobbledygook to me, but I will go back and try to figure out what the reporter is trying to say.

Following that section is the statement"Pope Benedict, who will arrive Tuesday in Washington, D.C., and travel to New York City on Friday, has a reputation from his days as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as an enforcer of church orthodoxy." I want to know what the heck "enforcer of church orthodoxy" means. I remember 3 years ago sitting on the bed screaming and crying "OH MY GOD THEY PICKED RATZINGER!!!!!" I was extremely happy because I knew nothing would change, the media would treat him like this vicious holier than thou man, and I knew he was no different than JP2. JP2 had the charisma to make the room jump, and the media loved him, but he taught Church teaching the same way Pappa B16 does.

Thinking about it, I find it strangely amusing that my parish is having a "Latin Mass" on Saturday, the 3 year anniversary of Pappa B16's election. I however as much as I would love to be at the Latin Mass have decided it's worth the trip to NYC to wait to see the pope mobile drive past me. As I've said, I can go to the Latin Mass whenever I want, how many times is the Pope going to be in my country and so close. I can never understand why people assume it was Cardinal Ratzinger making the rules or why they blame the Pope for the teachings they don't like. I've said it before, Jesus pissed people off, He got them thinking, He got them angry, He died because people were bothered by Him. It is no different today, the Vicar of Christ is going to say stuff to annoy you if you don't agree with him, the same way that the Clintons and Mr. Obama annoy the hell out of them whenever they open their big mouths.

The next section of the article finds and old person and a young person, a 75 year old woman and a young lady who is a senior in high school. Nothing like covering your bases and getting the middle aged woman who is in the Church but disagrees with and then finding the classic little old church lady and the Catholic high school student.

This sentence/paragraph amused me greatly "His words will be scrutinized carefully." Yes the Pope's words will be greatly scrutinized by you the media, because those of us who have no issues with the Church tend to agree with what he has to say.

What follows next is more gobbledygook to me, people trying to sound smart but it's not working. "Liberal Catholics say they hope that the pope adopts a pastoral approach that emphasizes dialogue, reconciliation and social justice." The terms liberal and Catholic should never go together. The Pope is a pastor, so that would imply that he had a pastoral approach, and I don't know what they want to dialog about, be reconciled with/for, and goodness knows I hate the term social justice. I had to teach a class called social justice and it was the stupidest class every, it should have been called. "The Works of Mercy" but again that's the old version, not this now enlightened version we have today.

Next in the article are two I want to say opposite statements from people, one from "a Midland Park resident and a retired theology professor at Marymount College." I don't know why we need to know where this woman lives, but she says, "I would hope that he would come pointing out that one out of three people globally live on less than a dollar a day and our church needs to respond to that," and "I hope he encourages the American church to be a pastoral, communal church." Why would the Pope come to tell us that one out of 3 people globally live on less than a dollar a day, we see plenty of the "save the starving children" commercials to tell us that, and if people paid attention to their "Operation Rice Bowls handouts, they would know that too. The Pope doesn't need to come and tell us what's going on in the world, he's here to tell us Catholics what to do in areas of faith and morals, and yes he'll tell us to take care of the poor, but we need to care for the poor at home too.

Next you find these statements, "A Hillsdale man who is more conservative said that the church has gotten off-track during the last several decades, and that the pope should strive to bring people back to the basics of the faith. 'There is this concept that some Catholics have that if you don't think something is wrong, then it's not wrong,"' Philip Krey said. Wonder what statement I agree with. I don't think it's the Pope's job to bring America back to the fold, that the job of the priests and bishops who are in the country. While the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, he's not Jesus so therefore can't be everywhere, and even if he did bring the American Church back to the glory of the olden days, someone would have an issue with it.

Apparently the only thing that happens in the Church is clergy abuse and the scandal that followed. Last time I checked that was 6 years ago, seriously, it sucked it was a black eye for the Church, but do you need to bring it up every time a prominent Catholic comes to visit. There's a decline in priests because people don't want their children to be "religious: more emphasis is placed on carrying on the family name than calls to vocations. I've said many times if God places the right man in my life and we get married, and I have all sons, I'll gladly foster any vocations, and God can take them all into the priesthood. I know I'm not normal, in the last 6 months 2 priest have called me crazy on separate occasions, one because my friends are married and have more than one child, actually most of them have 2 kids, and the other priest called me "the good kind of crazy, our crazy" I consider both of my parents to be good devout Catholics but I don't remember them fostering vocations or talking about vocations to their children. I don't even remember the sisters who ran my grammar school talking about vocations and they wonder why their numbers are low. Such an emphasis is placed on the decline of priests, and that is because you don't see priests on TV, unless you watch EWTN and if you're watching EWTN, you likely have your head screwed on correctly. ;) When I happen to catch Bishop Sheen's show on EWTN I sit and watch it, and Bishop Sheen died 2 days before I was born and his show captures me, meaning that if one speaks the truth of the Church that it is timeless.

The article goes on the mention the dewindling numbers of Catholics and mentions two parishes in the area, Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, and St. Mary's in Pompton Lakes. Now I know of both parishes, I'm not a 100% sure on Presentation now but when I was church hopping they seemed to have a decent young adult ministry program, and I have yet to hear any bad comments about them, St. Mary's on the other hand I have countless stories on, and I have heard that it's getting better, but when the "not so conservative" complain about the parish you know it can't be good. I don't mind the paper quoting the pastor of Presentation, but my thoughts on St. Mary's were, "of course you'd pick the most liberal Church in the area to be quoted." These two parishes are the largest in the area. I know Presentation get a good few young adults and young people into it, again I'm not 100% sure on what happens as I haven't been there in quite a while. St. Mary's and the dealings I have had with staff members, scared me, to the point where I with a lowly BA would have to correct the person with the Masters and a good few years of experience and of course that was not liked.

There's a quote from one of the Jesuits at St. Peter's in Jersey City, this priest says, "I think he should gather people together, Catholic intellectuals and laypeople, sit down for a couple of hours and say, 'Tell me the truth.' " The Pope doesn't need to sit with the layity to hear the truth, he teaches the truth, he's not stupid he knows what's going on in America and in it's churches. It not like all of a sudden Cardinal Ratzinger magically forget everything when he became Pope, give the man some credit. Of course I wonder what type of lay people this Jesuit wants to have sit with the Pope, I know they wouldn't invite me, simply because I would agree with the Pope.

The article when mentioning the two largest parishes in the area also mentions that laypeople are actively leading many aspects of parish life. This would be why so many people are so damn confused when it comes to the Catholic Church. As a woman who has worked for and would love to work for the Church again, I can see that laypeople don't always know what they are doing. The priest at St. Mary's is worried about a return of clericalism, does that mean he's afraid that he's going to have to do more work that as a priest he should already be doing. Just because you think you found the right lay person means that your off duty Father, come on, you're a priest it's not a 9-5 job and you should have known that when you got into it.

The article mentions of all things the Pope telling the Bishops to tell their priest and deacons that they need to purify the sacred vessels or as the put it, "the special policy that allowed laypeople to clean chalices used during Communion." Do I dare say that Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Eucharist are not supposed to be the ordinary ministers, but the priests are, I mean that's true. My parish has the priests and deacons purify the sacred vessels, and then the laity "cleans" them, normally at the Mass I attend it ends up being me, and people look at me like I'm nuts when I slowly wash them and take my time putting them away. Hello, these are the vessels that hold Jesus in them or have your forgotten that too.

The article closes by mentioning that the Pope has not said what he's going to say when he comes to the US other than he is coming to preach the Gospel. Guess what, that's what Jesus did too, do you think Jesus knew weeks in advance what He was going to say to his disciples, no He probably didn't, so if God didn't work that way, why expect a simple human to be any different.

Of course the article couldn't officially close without mentioning Yvette Cid, the lesiban from the beginning of the article and she says she's interested in what the "pope has to say---up to a point." Well what do you expect, most people are interested in what the Pope has to say up to a point, most people just don't want to hear it.

This is the last statement in the article, "God is about love, and that's how I look at it," she said. "If I am going to get condemned on my Judgment Day, all I can do is turn around and say, 'I loved another human being.' " This was said by Ms. Cid. Yes God is love, and that is how we are supposed to look at it, I seem to remember an encyclical titled God is Love written by a Pope Benedict, so she might be on to something there, but nothing the Church hasn't already said. No one speaks of Purgatory anymore, who says you'll be condemned, I know my ass will be in Purgatory with the flames of Hell licking my ass purifying me for Heaven. Jesus did tell us to be perfect as you're Heavenly Father, but God's smart and knows that we're not perfect, and He offers us countless chances to return and repent for what we have done. God is Love and He doesn't want to see His children in Hell, He wants them with Him, so He will do what He can to bring them all home, like any good father would do.

What follows here is the part of the article that I said I would have to go back and read again to try and figure out what they were trying to say. I'm going to add that in here, but blog about it later. It is 1:15am and I do have to be at work at 7am, and I need to be functioning to take care of a 2 year old and 4 year old. ;)

So here is what the article says, and my comments will follow:

When Pope Benedict XVI makes his first papal visit this week to the United States, the 80-year-old prelate will face an American flock that has become increasingly resistant to Vatican authority, especially on the church's human sexuality teachings.

Indeed, the percentage of Catholics who regard church leaders as the final authority on abortion, homosexual behavior and non-marital sex declined from one in three in 1987 to one in four in 2005, according to surveys prepared by Catholic scholars and administered by the Gallup Organization.

That doesn't mean, however, that American Catholics are rejecting their faith. The surveys also show that large percentages of Catholics agree that the most important teachings include helping the poor, Jesus' resurrection, the sacraments and Mary as mother of God.

"They aren't just rebelling," said William V. D'Antonio, one of authors of the book "American Catholics Today," which examines how Catholics have changed during the course of several decades.

One of the more striking findings, D'Antonio said, was that support for church leaders on sexual issues declined among older Catholics — those born before 1940, who generally have high levels of commitment to their faith.

"They may have grandchildren or grandnieces and nephews who have come out as gay," D'Antonio said. "And what they are now saying on some of these teachings is: 'Our lived experience doesn't support the teaching.' "