Trip to see pope was made in memory of mother

"She really wanted to go," said Richard Baldwin of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Albany, seated in the very back of a bus on its way to Yankee Stadium. "She had a very quiet faith but very strong, and she passed it on to me."

He was referring to his mother, Marge, whose enthusiasm for seeing Pope Benedict XVI had pushed him to enter The Evangelist's drawing for tickets to the April 20 Mass.

Mrs. Baldwin already had health problems when her son learned that he'd won a pair of seats, but she was determined to make the trip anyway -- even in a wheelchair, being shuttled from a bus to handicapped-accessible seating inside the stadium.

Loss

The pair had it all worked out -- until Mrs. Baldwin unexpectedly went into congestive heart failure. She passed away on March 14, five days before her 83rd birthday.

Soon afterward, Mr. Baldwin stopped at The Evangelist's offices to cancel his reservation. Mary Breig and Amy DeCelle, the trip's organizers, urged him to reconsider.

"[They] said, 'You should go,'" Mr. Baldwin recalled -- and he realized that he was still interested in making the trip, even in his grief.

'Emotional' time

When the day arrived, he was still wavering on his choice.

"It's very emotional," he told The Evangelist on the bus ride to the stadium. "But I wanted to do this for her, in memory of her."

Remembering his mother's strength in caring for his father for five years after a stroke, Mr. Baldwin was hoping to find healing for his grief through being in the presence of the Pope.

"It's harder this month than last month," he explained. "Things have quieted down."

Reflection

When the day was over, he said his heart was lighter.

"I had reservations about coming, but I'm glad I did," he said. "I feel good about it -- not only for myself, but for my mom. This was, in some ways, a turning point."

Mr. Baldwin also gave part of the credit to his fellow pilgrims, including a man seated near him at the stadium whose own mother had fallen ill and been unable to make the trip, "so we got to talk about that situation."

As the bus sped home, he said, "If I'd decided not to go, I would have wished I did. Some things work out that are supposed to happen."

(04/24/08) [[In-content Ad]]