Youth from Albany Diocese to greet pope in Yonkers

The 500 adults who won tickets to see Pope Benedict XVI on April 20 at Yankee Stadium aren't the only pilgrims traveling to New York City from the Albany Diocese to take part in his historic visit to the U.S.

Another 200 youths and their chaperons received tickets of their own to attend an April 19 rally in Yonkers that is aimed at young people and seminarians.

"It was a down-to-the wire kind of thing," noted Michelle Stefanik, director of youth ministry for the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. "We were thinking we'd be getting tickets, but we weren't sure."

Last minute

On Feb. 13, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard received a letter from the Archdiocese of New York offering tickets to the rally, leaving only a two-week window to distribute them and respond to the Archdiocese with the names of those who would attend.

"We had to act very quickly," said Ms. Stefanik, noting that she wished there had been time to hold a raffle like the one The Evangelist used to distribute tickets to the stadium Mass.

Instead, Bishop Hubbard directed that 71 tickets be given to the diocesan Catholic Schools Office for distribution, 21 to campus ministries at colleges in the Albany Diocese, 15 to the diocesan Vocations Team for seminarians and the remainder to parishes.

Lucky draw

Thirteen parish names were pulled from a hat that contained all 160-plus parishes in the Diocese; each winning parish was offered a handful of tickets.

Many parish leaders who responded with the names of youth from their parishes told the OEC, "The kids are really excited!"

Said Ms. Stefanik: "It's a monumental occasion."

Long day

On April 19, the young people, their Virtus-trained chaperons and seminarians will leave on four buses from the Pastoral Center in Albany at about 6:30 a.m. for the rally at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.

Ms. Stefanik said that many details about the rally have not yet been released, but that the majority of the day will be spent in prayer and entertainment.

Since Pope Benedict is not expected to arrive until about 4:30 p.m., she joked, "it had better be good entertainment!"

The Albany group is expected to head home no later than 9 p.m.

Curiosity

Ms. Stefanik told The Evangelist that, having experienced Pope John Paul II's easy rapport with youth, she will be curious to see how his successor relates to young people at the rally.

"Teenagers today are committed to their faith, to asking questions about their faith," she added. "They want to know more. This is a great opportunity to start a conversation. It'll be a long day, but one for the record books."

(The Pope's schedule for April 19 will also include a morning Mass for priests, deacons and religious at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, and an afternoon meeting with children with disabilities at St. Joseph's Seminary. For the Pope's complete agenda for his April 15-20 visit to the U.S., go to www.archny.org.)

(03/06/08) [[In-content Ad]]