Florida Catholics inspired by papal visit
Mass at Yankee Stadium is a fitting finale.
Posted: 04.23.08
NEW YORK | Among Catholics from across Florida at Pope Benedict XVI’s April 20 Mass at Yankee Stadium were students from the University of Miami and Ave Maria University, families with kids in tow, youth groups, young married couples, older retirees, priests and laypeople.
“It was the most inspirational experience that I’ve had in my life,” said Leila Souza, a parishioner of Incarnation Parish in Tampa, who got tickets through the Diocese of St. Petersburg for herself, her mother and two daughters. “To be in the presence of the Holy Father was to bring up my faith in ways that I cannot even explain.”
Souza had seats with 12 others in her group, just above the field in the main section of the stadium, and was thrilled to see the pope “face-to-face” in the popemobile at the beginning of the Mass. Souza appreciated the pope’s homily, especially his exhortation for Catholics to love others and respect others’ religions.
“That was very important for him to tell people that the whole world has to be united,” she said. Upon coming back to Florida, Souza plans to “pray more, to pray, pray pray,” she said.
Bill Maggio, a member of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Parish in Royal Palm Beach, had made plans to attend the Mass with his wife, Eileen, and their son, Billy. They’d already experienced the pageantry of a papal celebration during their attendance at one of Pope John Paul II’s last beatification ceremonies in Rome, and were “very excited” to see Benedict in Rome.
“We were at St. Peter’s every day because it was so awesome,” Maggio said. Another Floridian at the Yankee Stadium Mass, Dario Mobini, a theology teacher at St. John Neumann School in Naples, also had a papal close encounter in Rome: While staying in the city for a papal event, he met then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as the latter walked across St. Peter’s Square. “We were able to run into him while he was walking to his office. He’s a fast mover,” Mobini said.
Mobini and his wife, Heather, sat behind home plate during the New York Mass, which they called a “joyous occasion.” He said they were impressed by the security presence during the event, by the sheer number of people waiting in line to get into the stadium, and how the New York City Police Department provided escorts for the priests distributing Communion in the stands.
Mobini called the pope’s homily “spot-on,” noting that what he spoke of was “a reminder to us that, as young people, we are to shout the Gospel from the rooftop, to really listen to what God has to say to our hearts and then respond to it. I hope I can be a small challenge to my students. I want to challenge my students to do the same. In today’s society, we don’t really foster a good situation to help them respond to their holiness and look at Christ as the image of love. That’s to me was the challenge.”
The couple had a unique perspective on the pope’s visit to Ground Zero that morning: They were in a hotel room that overlooked the site and watched from above as Pope Benedict prayed for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “The main element of the prayer service was silence,” Mobini said. “Silence can be a strong prayer and sometimes we need to spend time in silence listening to God’s voice, especially in times of prayer and times of tragedy, we need hope.” Bob Knapik and his family, parishioners of St. Teresa in Titusville, saw Pope Benedict twice over the weekend. They first camped out along Fifth Avenue to watch the pope travel from St. Patrick’s Cathedral after his Mass there April 19, an experience which Knapik called the highlight of his week.
“For a mile in either direction, the people were lined up to 10 people deep, and there were all sorts of people singing and praying,” Knapik said. “It was like a pilgrimage.”
From the moment the pope entered the stadium, Knapik said, the spirit was “electric. The high point for me at the Mass was to be able to receive the Eucharist that was consecrated by the pope, and to be able to share it with my family was a wonderful experience.”
Knapik’s 7-year-old daughter, Katherine, was able to meet and take a picture with Concert of Hope performer Harry Connick Jr., and the family was also interviewed by a local New York television station. After leaving the stadium, they took the subway back to their hotel in Manhattan. “When we got off the subway some stranger said, ‘You were at the pope’s Mass!’ To have a stranger recognize you out of millions was amazing,” he laughed.
Katherine’s favorite moment of the Mass was “at the very beginning and the end when he drove around in the popemobile. It was just really, really cool and I really, really liked it,” she said.