Text of pope at youth rally

Here is the prepared text as released by the Vatican of Pope Benedict’s address at this evening’s youth rally:
Your Eminence,
Dear Brother Bishops,
Dear Young Friends,
“Proclaim the Lord Christ … and always have your answer ready for people who ask the reason for the hope that is within you” (1 Pet 3:15). With these words from the [...]

It’s good to be polite

Yesterday, I brought my trusty point-and-shoot film camera to church. I was sitting on a folding chair behind the last pew at St. Joseph’s with a gaggle of antsy New Yawk print media. For hours.  But I managed to get the aisle seat.  Politely.
As the Holy Father came down the aisle after the ecumenical service, I [...]

Uplifted voices

At the ecumenical service at St. Joseph’s Church yesterday, the congregation actually sang out loud. And they were good! I couldn’t help wondering if this was attributable to the preponderance of non-Catholics in the group?!
And the hats - did Catholics sing better when women wore hats to church? There were lots of great hats in [...]

Only in New York

You get used to seeing and hearing all sorts of potentially contradictory, cross-cultural things in New York. Yesterday, while the press was cooling its heels on one of the buses near St. Joseph’s Church, waiting for the Secret Service to “sweep” the church before the ecumenical service, a man approached the intersection of 87th and [...]

Text of pope to youths with disabilities

Here is the prepared text as released by the Vatican of Pope Benedict’s address to youths with disabilities this afternoon:
Your Eminence,
Bishop Walsh,
Dear Friends,
I am very happy to have this opportunity to spend a brief moment with you. I thank Cardinal Egan for his welcome and especially thank your representatives for their kind words and for [...]

A coup for the Catholic Channel

The Catholic Channel of Sirius Satellite Radio scored big today: not only did Pope Benedict XVI go into one of their studios, he also recorded a special message for their listeners.
After celebrating Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral this morning, the pope walked to the residence of Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, host of a [...]

Papal Mass music connections

As I was charging through the 100-level concourse at Nationals Park conducting interviews before Pope Benedict XVI’s April 17 Mass there, I stopped short. It was a liturgical version of “Name That Tune,” and I had it in seven notes — maybe less. It was “Go Up to the Altar of God,” written by Father [...]

Escalator to heaven

Like many neighborhoods in our digital age, Brookland, the northeast Washington neighborhood that is home to two major Catholic institutions visited by Pope Benedict XVI — The Catholic University of America and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception — has its own Yahoo listserv. A recurring topic of listserv chat has [...]

Video archive of papal events

As this historic papal visit enters its final day and a half, don’t forget that in addition to the live streaming video available from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ papal visit page, you can view past events from the visit by connecting to a special archive page. The archive page is updated as soon [...]

Text of pope at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Here is the prepared text as released by the Vatican of Pope Benedict’s Mass homily this morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With great affection in the Lord, I greet all of you, who represent the Bishops, priests and deacons, the men and women in consecrated life, and the seminarians of the [...]