Posted on 09/18/2015 12:32:57 AM PDT by Vision Thing
According to Joshua Gonnerman, a doctoral student in historical theology at the Catholic University of America, it’s been anything but business as usual on campus for the past few weeks.
“I honestly wouldn’t describe it as much as a buzz or an energy so much as an insanity,” Gonnerman, who has a ticket to attend the Papal mass at Washington’s Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, says with a laugh. “What with all the preparations and the security measures that are being put into place, it’s just … everything is just going crazy.”
It’s a sentiment that, at present, appears to be shared in Washington, where federal workers have already been encouraged to work remotely by Beth Cobert, the Office of Personnel Management’s acting director.
According to House Speaker John Boehner, who reportedly assembled a task force of over 100 House and Senate aides to help manage crowds, roughly 50,000 visitors are expected to descend on Washington.
“More and more people have been coming through the doors [of the Catholic Information Center (CIC)] to attend mass, ask questions about the pope, visit and buy a keepsake or two,” says Mitch Boersma, chief operating officer of the CIC in Washington, adding that Pope Francis bobble heads are a crowd favorite.
Boersma, who will head to Andrews Air Force Base with his wife and a group of young adult Catholics from across the Archdiocese of Washington on Tuesday to greet Pope Francis when he lands, says he hopes “to get close enough to make eye contact” with the pontiff. If given the chance, he says he would ask the pope to pray for his family, persecuted Christians, and unborn children and their mothers.
While Pope Francis is officially traveling to the United States to attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, a conference held every three years and created in 1994 by Pope John Paul II to “strengthen the sacred bonds of families across the globe,” he will first stop in Washington before moving on to New York City and then Philadelphia.
On Wednesday, he will visit the White House before riding in a parade, hosting a midday prayer with U.S. bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and finally saying the canonization mass of Junipero Serra, an 18th-century Spanish Franciscan friar who served as a missionary in Mexico and California, at the Shrine.
While in New York, Pope Francis has plans to address the United Nations General Assembly, hold an interfaith service at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and World Trade Center, and, again, ride in a motorcade parade.
During his time in the States, Pope Francis will also spend considerable ministering to the poor, imprisoned, and underprivileged.
As the New York Times reported, he is estimated to conduct seven meetings with “ordinary people” throughout his stay; previous pontiffs have, according to that same report, made two such visits at most.
“Whereas John Paul II was trained as an academic philosopher, and Cardinal Ratzinger and then Pope Benedict was trained as an academic theologian, Pope Francis, I think his primary identity would be as a pastor,” says Ryan T. Anderson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “I think Francis has a different papacy. I think he is not so much speaking to high-level global debates … he is trying to reach out in a field hospital way.”
Experts like Kathryn Jean Lopez–a senior fellow with the National Review Institute and founding director of Catholic Voices USA—believe that this focus on ministry has succeeded in striking a chord with a global audience, leaving onlookers speculating whether or not a “more popular pope,” so to speak, could draw larger crowds in the nation’s capital than previously seen during papal visits.
“People see Jesus Christ in this man because he’s looking you in the eye, and he’s embracing you. So much of the power in his communications is the gestures,” Lopez says. “When he kneels down in a confessional on live TV, as he has done now on more than one occasion at St. Peter’s, this is a man who starts a conversation with, ‘I am a sinner.’ That’s how he identifies himself, and that is compelling to people, that is welcoming to people.”
CUA student Gonnerman says the pope’s “strong emphasis on mercy” as well as his insistence upon “the need to care for the poor and the environment” is something he’s personally delighted in. “I have two dear friends who have come back to the church because of Pope Francis,” he says.
When asked what he would say to the Holy Father if given the chance, Gonnerman pauses, at last declaring quietly, “Thank you, I suppose.”
He's got a thing for the Power Corridor.
I was more excited when the Pope who wanted to tear down communism came.
It’s sad that we’ve been reduced to nostalgia, but it seems that humanity peaked with Reagan, Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II. It’s been downhill ever since.
yeah. The country is SO MUCH worse than when Reagan took over, bless his soul.
The PC police, the debt, a traitor in the white house, and on and on and on...
He intends to make himself a key part in the Progressive takeover of the western world for the glory of Islam.
Somehow, if the Pope was against abortion, Planned Parenthood, and homosexuality, things there in DCisneyland would be different right about now.
Absolutely dreading this. I hope the damage to the Faith by this papacy will be minimal.
What time is the pope’s campaign appearance with Bernie?
Rather see a televangelist. There isn’t much difference these days.
Well, the marxist kenyan homosexual is excited that Pope Che is coming.
Barry even invited his tranny priest friends.
Reminiscent of Khrushchev’s first visit...
+1
Happy to say that I had the privilege of attending a Mass that he said in Washington, DC, in the early 1980s.
So this pope will be surrounded by gays (obama) and transgenders and socialists (obama).
I work a few blocks from the White House. The city is going to be pretty well shut down, at least in my area. I am taking vacation time and just staying home. Metro is going to be a nightmare, too. Thanks, Pope.
The Vatican needs to sell ALL of it’s vast real estate holdings and give that money to the poor. Only then will the Pope have any credibility when he bashes capitalism, supports illegal aliens and faux climate change.
This Pope still has many pedophiles in his church and continues to protect them. The hypocrisy of the Catholic Church reaches all the way to heaven.
The Pontiff is a corrupt Marxist who has zero credibility amongst intelligent citizens of the USA
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.