Dialog reporter
While hundreds of people from the Diocese of Wilmington made their way to Philadelphia to see Pope Francis at the closing Mass for the World Meeting of Families, not everyone who experienced the pontiff did so from a spot along the Ben Franklin Parkway. Others from Delaware and the Eastern Shore had a different perspective during the six-day visit.
The Diocese of Wilmington distributed tickets to the pope’s Mass in Washington, D.C., at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. One of the people fortunate enough to receive a pass to the standing area at the basilica was Amy Jo Krystek, a new parishioner at Holy Name of Jesus in Pocomoke City, Md.
Krystek, who moved to the diocese from Pittsburgh in July, took the Metro into Washington with an extra ticket since the person with whom she was supposed to go couldn’t make it. She ended up meeting a Guatemalan woman named Sonia Saenz on the train, giving her the extra ticket. They spent the day together.
“We spent our adventure together making a lasting friendship,” Krystek said. “During the homily, she started to interpret for me to the amusement of others around us.”
Krystek had been in Vatican City in April 2014 for the canonization of former popes John Paul II and John XXIII, but she wanted to see Pope Francis again.
“I’m so blessed,” she said.
The choir member
Several members of parish music ministries in Wilmington were fortunate enough to sing as part of the Papal Choir, including Tony DelNegro of Resurrection in Pike Creek. He described a long day that was worth every minute of lost sleep, and a lot of “hurry up and wait.”
He and fellow Resurrection parishioner and choir member Ruth Sanders were told to be at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia by 8 a.m., so, leaving nothing to chance, they left Wilmington at 6 a.m. and were there by 7. They were screened by security and found themselves with a lot of time to kill except for a warm-up at noon.
“We walked up the steps to the art museum, took pictures and that sort of thing. We could also go down into the crowd on the parkway,” he said. “I managed to meet my sister Jennifer there. We chatted about her journey through the city on the train and had some fun talking about the day.”
The choir, he said, was seated behind the orchestra. He was in the second-to-last row, which gave him a great view of the parkway. Seeing all those people “was actually quite awesome. Thinking that most of the people there were Catholics and we’re all there to celebrate Mass together. Wow. Very cool.”
DelNegro enjoyed the opportunity to sing with so many talented performers who shared his faith, and he has heard many comments about how wonderful the music was.
“That means the world to me, that I can make beautiful music that sets the mood for a more divine experience,” he said.
A few days after the Mass, DelNegro said he was still taking it all in. He had to remain focused on his singing despite the excitement of it being for the pope. His one regret is that he didn’t have the chance to meet Pope Francis, but he knows the schedule was very tight.
“It was an enlightening experience that has made me think more about my faith and how I can live more like Pope Francis’ examples. He is showing us all how to do it instead of just telling us to do it. That’s what great leaders do,” he said.
At the airport
Before Pope Francis left Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday night, he met with volunteers from the World Meeting of Families to thank them for their efforts. Patrick Donovan, the director of Catholic Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Wilmington, was there.
Donovan’s wife, Maureen, served on the planning team for the WMOF Youth Congress and was the stage manager for the week. The Donovans had tickets to the Mass and the pope’s talk at Independence Mall, but they gave those to the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales in Childs, Md.
Donovan said at the last minute, his wife was offered tickets to the papal departure. That meant finding a baby sitter for the day and spending several hours in the airplane hangar.
At the airport, “we showed the police our tickets, parked the car next to the hangar, and walked right in. No lines, clean bathrooms, and plenty of food. It was a great blessing all around. I teased Maureen that this counted as ‘date night,’” Donovan said.
Pope Francis entered the hangar to wild applause, Donovan said. The couple was able to get to within about 15 feet of the pontiff. The pope thanked the volunteers and praised the organizers. He encouraged everyone not to let the enthusiasm of the visit wane after he left. After that, Pope Francis blessed those gathered and met with some people in wheelchairs, some children and benefactors.
“I found myself looking at the pope, just watching him be present with the people gathered, especially the younger attendees,” Donovan said. “With everyone trying to get a picture with their phones (which I had done when he walked in), I found myself putting my phone in my pocket and just trying to be present to the moment. A prayer I like talks about the difference between being a pilgrim and a tourist and that kept coming into my head while I stood there in the shadow of Peter.”
Donovan later received a text message from his brother-in-law, a deacon in the Diocese of Tulsa and a captain for American Airlines. He was just a few hundred yards away during the ceremony.
“It turns out that he was one of the pilots on the flight taking the Holy Father back to Rome,” Donovan said. “He had known for some time, but was unable to share the excitement because of security concerns.”
Concelebrating in Washington
Several diocesan priests were at the canonization Mass for St. Junipero Serra in Washington, D.C. Two of those, Fathers Brian Lewis and Joe McQuaide, talked about the opportunity to concelebrate with the leader of the faith. This was the first time a pope had celebrated such a Mass in the United States.
Father Lewis said concelebrating with his brother priests gave him a sense of fraternity and unity. The Mass was made even more special because he attended St. Joseph’s, a Jesuit university in Philadelphia, and took Francis as his confirmation name. St. Francis of Assisi’s joy “was infectious, as is Pope Francis’,” he said.
“It is this joy of the Gospel truth, this zeal for Christ that I hope to bring and share with others in my own share of the priestly ministry,” he continued. “To be in the presence of the pontiff, who is seeking to embody the charism of St. Francis as well as that of St. Ignatius is a double blessing.”
Father McQuaide said approximately 900 priests were at the Mass in Washington. He and Father Lewis had a chance to catch up with seminary classmates they had not seen in a while and to meet other priests.
“Though we didn’t know each other, we immediately had a common bond,” Father McQuaide said.
Being in Pope Francis’ presence was powerful, he said. “Every time a priest celebrates Mass, he says, ‘For Francis, our pope’ and is spiritually united to him. At the canonization Mass, not only were we spiritually united in prayer, but we were praying together with our Holy Father. It was a tremendous gift to be able to spend the afternoon in prayer with our chief shepherd and Christ’s vicar on Earth.”
There was a bonus for Father Lewis. He sat in the front row and had “a direct line of sight of His Holiness and the Mass.”
