Well Prepared

Cardinal Egan discusses archdiocesan planning for Pope Benedict XVI's visit

By MARY ANN POUST

Pope Benedict XVI will emphasize the theme of hope-and what that means to Catholics-on his upcoming visit to New York and Washington, D.C., Cardinal Egan said.

"It's going to be interesting to see how he develops it," the cardinal said in an interview with CNY.

Noting that Benedict addressed that topic in his most recent encyclical, "Spe Salvi," (on Christian hope), the cardinal said he expects that on the U.S. trip the pope will continue to emphasize "that about which we're hopeful," and the role of hope in "strengthening our moral and spiritual life."

Pope Benedict's trip, the theme of which is "Christ Our Hope," will be his first visit to the United States as pope.

Cardinal Egan said that his own hope is that the visit to the New York Archdiocese will offer an opportunity to focus on "what the Catholic Church is all about-the Gospel, prayer and our commitment to justice and charity."

He pointed out that the two main events to be held in the archdiocese will be Masses, one at St. Patrick's Cathedral on April 19 and the other at Yankee Stadium April 20.

The cardinal also said that in planning the trip, the pope made a specific request to visit Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie.

"We were very happy that these were the two places he mentioned specifically," the cardinal declared.

He said that he expects to tell Pope Benedict about his own experiences on 9/11, when he and his secretary, Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, saw the second World Trade Center tower come down from a post outside St. Vincent's Hospital where they were awaiting victims.

He said he will especially speak of the "heroism" he saw on the part of firefighters, police officers and emergency service officers and their leadership in intensive rescue and recovery efforts that followed the attacks.

The cardinal talked to CNY about the April 15-20 papal trip, which begins in Washington April 15 and proceeds to New York April 18, during an hour-long interview at his residence recently.

"I cannot tell you how delighted I am with the visit of the Holy Father," the cardinal declared. "There could be no more perfect way to conclude our year of Bicentennial celebrations."

"The visit will be an immense blessing for all of us," he went on. "We look forward to listening to the Bishop of Rome, praying with him, and celebrating with him as well. It is my prayer that when he returns home on April 20th, we will all be a good deal closer to Our Lord and Savior, whose Vicar here on earth Pope Benedict XVI is."

Expansive and relaxed, the cardinal went into great detail about the intensive planning and protocol involved in the visit, ranging from personal inspections of the sites where papal events will take place to figuring out who will sit where in the various venues.

The cardinal, who will participate in the papal events in New York and in Washington, said that he and his staff-including Sister Janet Baxendale, S.C., a specialist in the liturgy-produced a document several inches thick that spells out every detail at every stage of the New York visit.

"It's everything from what vestments will be worn to how many people will serve the Masses," he said.

The trip will include an address to the United Nations General Assembly, a meeting with President Bush at the White House, the two Masses in New York and one at Nationals Park in Washington, meetings with Christian leaders in New York and with interreligious leaders in Washington, meetings with U.S. bishops and presidents of Catholic universities and colleges, and a youth and vocations event at St. Joseph's Seminary.

Traveling with the pope will be the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the pontiff's personal staff, as well as American cardinals serving in Rome: Cardinal James F. Stafford, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary; Cardinal John P. Foley, grand master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre; Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Cardinal William W. Baum, retired major penitentiary.

American cardinals serving in this country also will join the papal trip in its entirety: Cardinal Egan and Cardinals Sean P. O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap., of Boston; Justin F. Rigali of Philadelphia; Francis E. George, O.M.I., of Chicago; Adam J. Maida of Detroit; Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles; Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston; and retired Cardinals Theodore E. McCarrick and Anthony J. Bevilacqua. Fordham University's Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., will participate in the cathedral Mass.

Although security will be tight and tickets limited by the size of the stadiums, churches and other venues that will host the pope, careful arrangements have been made to allow him to interact with as many New Yorkers as possible during the visit, the cardinal said.

At St. Joseph's Seminary, for instance, the pope will greet young people with disabilities and their caregivers in the seminary's Chapel of SS. Peter and Paul on his arrival there on Saturday afternoon, April 19.

As he approaches the chapel, seminarians will be lined up at either side of the entrance as he walks in. While he is in the chapel, the seminarians will leave to participate in the outdoor youth event.

In the chapel, which is configured in a choir stall arrangement with its pews facing a center aisle rather than facing the altar, the children-many of whom will be in wheelchairs-will be in the aisle and their caregivers in the first row of pews.

The pope will go up and down the aisle greeting the disabled youths, and he will accept a painting that one of them made for him.

Among the other "close up" opportunities for the pope will be the Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where people will be on the steps awaiting his arrival at the Fifth Avenue entrance on Saturday morning, April 19.

Cardinal Egan, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and cathedral rector Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie will greet the pontiff's car and walk with him up the steps to the main bronze doors, where he likely will turn to wave and offer a blessing to the crowds gathered on nearby streets before entering the cathedral.

Inside, the congregation of some 2,800 priests, deacons and religious from New York and around the country will greet him with applause as he walks up the center aisle to the sanctuary-where bishops will be seated. He will also walk along the side aisles for the processional and recessional of the Mass.

Arriving in New York on Friday morning, April 18, the pope's first stop will be the United Nations where he will deliver a major address to diplomats attached to the world body as well as invited guests.

Later that day, the pope will speak to national and local representatives of Protestant and Orthodox Christian churches and communions at St. Joseph's Church in the Yorkville section of Manhattan.

St. Joseph's, which was founded by German immigrants, was selected in recognition of the German-born pope's heritage. During that event, a number of the Christian leaders will be presented to the pope, the cardinal said.

He added that the reason the pope's meeting with Jewish and other interreligious leaders will be held in Washington rather than in New York, with its large Jewish community, is that the New York leg of the trip occurs on the weekend of Passover.

"We couldn't arrange it," the cardinal said, "because those days are not days on which the Jewish community would be available, and we deeply regret this."

The Mass that the pope will celebrate at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday morning, April 19, will be the first offered in the cathedral by a pope. Although Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral twice in his papacy, in 1979 and in 1995, he did not celebrate Mass there.

Invited to the cathedral Mass are priests, deacons and religious, including two from every diocese in the country as well as bishops from all of the dioceses. Most of those in attendance will be from the archdiocese, the cardinal said.

"This is largely a New York event, for the New York clergy and religious," he said.

At Dunwoodie later that day, the pope will pray with the disabled children in the chapel, and then will board his popemobile to make his way around the seminary building to the grounds at the rear where he will be greeted by a cheering crowd of more than 26,000 young people.

Besides the teenagers and young adults in archdiocesan schools and religious education, campus ministry and youth programs, the crowd will include seminarians from St. Joseph's, from its Neumann Residence for men considering the priesthood, and from the Cathedral Prep program for high school boys. Invitations also went out to seminarians studying in priesthood preparation programs around the country and to women and men in formation for religious congregations.

"I'm told that over 2,500 are already signed up," the cardinal said.

The program includes a four-hour rally before the pope's late-afternoon arrival, with professional and semi-professional entertainment on the stage. The Blessed Sacrament will be reserved in a chapel in a specially designated quiet section for adoration and recitation of the Living Rosary, said Dr. Catherine T. Hickey, archdiocesan secretary for education, who is coordinating the seminary event. She said priests will also be available to hear confessions.

After welcoming the pope, a group of young people will present him with gifts that include an "I Love New York" T-shirt, Dr. Hickey said.

"Then we will sing 'Happy Birthday' to him in German," she added.

The pope, who turns 81 on April 16, will then address the youths.

At Ground Zero the next morning, the pope will be driven part of the way down to the site on a specially built ramp and then will walk the rest of the way to stand on the ground where almost 3,000 people perished.

He will pray beside a shallow pool and candle in memory of the victims. Then he will greet 24 people representing three groups affected by the tragedy: the first responders-New York and Port Authority police officers, firefighters, emergency service workers and health care professionals; family members and loved ones of people who lost their lives; and people who were injured.

The pope also will greet officials of the states of New York and New Jersey and the City of New York at Ground Zero.

The pope's final appearance in the United States will be the Sunday afternoon, April 20, Mass at Yankee Stadium which, like the seminary appearance, will be preceded by entertainment before the pope arrives.

The largest of the papal public events in New York, with more than 58,000 people expected, the stadium Mass will celebrate the five American dioceses marking bicentennials this year: New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville, which were established as dioceses 200 years ago, and Baltimore, which was established as an archdiocese at that time.

For the occasion, the coats of arms of the five archdioceses will be displayed in right, left and center fields, with the papal coat of arms placed behind the papal throne in the center.

All of the American cardinals will be concelebrating, as will Archbishops Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore and Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville.

New Yorkers from the archdiocese and from dioceses elsewhere in the state and the tri-state area will make up the bulk of congregants at that Mass. However, every diocese and archdiocese in the country was offered a ticket allotment and the vast majority of them will be represented as well.

The Mass will include two choral pieces-the Gloria and the Agnus Dei-by the renowned 16th century liturgical composer Tomas Luis de Victoria.

"The pope is coming to New York, the cultural capital of the country," the cardinal said. "I felt we should do two pieces that are unquestionably masterpieces of ecclesiastical music."

In concluding the interview, the cardinal noted that everywhere he goes of late, he invites the faithful to pray for a grace-filled three days with the Holy Father. "Three days of bright sunshine," he add, "and not a drop of rain."

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