Blogging from NYC... awaiting the Holy Father

Before I get rolling here, we've decided to link to EWTN's papal visit coverage on the Herald site for complete coverage.

Well... the Herald is up late in New York City and getting ready for the pope's visit. By some unfortunate and bizarre circumstances, I was approved for a credential yet was not assigned to any of the events. Apparently there were quite a few journalists that had this happen. Not sure if they overcredentialed expecting some media folks to pull out or what. Anyhow, I feel for the folks doing the credentialing... it was a near impossible task to make everyone happy. So I'm trying to see if I can beg my way into a couple of events (St. Patrick Cathedral Mass and the youth rally at St. Joseph Seminary).

That said, there are some fringe events that I will try to report on that hopefully will make a more complete picture for folks who will be reading coverage of the main events. Tomorrow night, I will be taking part in a special candelight procession from St. Malachy Church (off Broadway, known as "The Actors' Chapel") to the residence where the pope will be staying. Outside that residence, we will hold a prayer vigil. There are several grassroots events like this sprouting up around the city. A recently organized event also involves the Mass at St. Patrick Church. Tickets were made available for a crowd of 5,000 to welcome the Holy Father outside St. Patrick Church before Mass. If I can't get into the Mass, I hope to be a part of that.

Regarding the Washington D.C. leg of the trip, the diocese was represented at the papal greeting at the White House by Bishop Sheridan and Catholic Charities of C.S. Executive Director Jason Christensen. Michelle Maher, diocesan director of the Office of Total Catholic Education, represented the diocese at the pope's speech to educators at Catholic University. Also, Herald advertising account manager Chris Reynolds took personal time to see the pope celebrate Mass at Nationals Park (and brought a stack of Herald pope issues (April 4). There were 24 other representatives of the Colorado Springs Diocese in attendance in addition to Bishop Sheridan, who concelebrated the Mass.

I was struck today by the presentation of practically the entire D.C. Mass on CNN, which I watched while I was waiting for my flight at Denver International Airport. Because my flight had several delays, I was able to watch the entire Mass. I thought, what other religious leader gets that kind of coverage? Considering how often Catholicism gets mocked on television, this was an awesome opportunity for evangelization.

Here's one touching note from the Mass. It doesn't make me a Jets fan, but it does make me a fan of Kellen Clemens (except if he faces the Eagles). Not often you hear a professional athlete say something like this...

"I don't really know if we fully understand just how special it was. That's a direct descendant of Peter, and there he is giving a blessing and a kiss to our child."

Not sure when and how often we can post, but I'll try hopefully tomorrow night after the St. Malachy event. During the day, I will be dropping off stacks of our special pope edition of the Herald (feel free to comment on it... did you like it/not like it?) at different papal visit locations throughout the city. Please keep all of us pilgrims here in NYC in your prayers. This has to be a security nightmare.