By Stephanie Menders | Staff Writer
In the early morning of Saturday September 26, a group of eight Salve Regina students loaded onto a bus to travel to Philadelphia. Sleep deprivation was a common theme among the group, but you wouldn’t have known it by looking at them. Excitement overwhelmed the students as they prepared to embark on a six-hour trek to see the Pope.
Fellow mercy school Gwynedd University, located outside of Philadelphia, hosted the students. Students spent Saturday meeting with other Mercy institutions to discuss key issues such as homelessness, poverty, non-violence, and women’s rights.
“It was like a miniature retreat with other Mercy students,” says senior Biology major Kristin McDermott.
The group was comprised of approximately 100 Mercy Students from around the country and 20 administrators. Director of the Mercy Center Dr. Anna Mae Mayer says it was an equally beneficial experience for both the students and administrators. “The students were trained to do advocacy work which they did the next day on our way to the Papal Mass,” says Mayer. “And us administrators got to discuss our plans for events such as the Jubilee coming up in November.”
On Sunday, unable to drive through crowds of over 800,000 people and blockades of tight security, the students walked nearly four miles into the heart of Philadelphia. Students were able to get close to a jumbo-tron to see the live broadcast of Pope Francis leading mass.
“We were standing shoulder to shoulder with people we didn’t even know, but everyone was so extremely excited to be there,” says McDermott. “You didn’t feel a negative thought in anyone’s mind. It was a strong feeling of universal excitement that we were all there for the same reason.”
In addition to Philadelphia, the Pope’s schedule included stops in Washington D.C., where he addressed congress, and New York City, where he visited Harlem schools and lead a mass at Madison Square Garden. “It’s such a rare opportunity for him to come to the U.S.,” says McDermott. “I felt like I had to go.”
Pope Benedict XVI’s April 2008 visit was the last visit by a Pope to the United States. People from all over the world flocked to the three announced locations in anticipation for the first papal visit in seven years. “Standing with people speaking different languages and coming from different countries singing the songs and saying the prayers during mass,” Mayer recalls. “It was very moving; it was an experience unlike any other.”
McDermott says that her favorite part of the day was when a group of priests walked through the crowd handing out communion. “We weren’t really expecting it,” says McDermott. “You just saw crowds of people reaching as far as they could to receive something so precious to them.”
This trip, sponsored by the Mercy Center, was organized and led by Dr. Anna Mae Mayer, director of the Mercy Center, and Dr. Jayme Hennessy, associate professor of Religious and Theological Studies. Salve students who attended included Colleen Cloonan ’16, Lauren Cronshaw ’17, Emily Cuellar ’18, Sara Johnson ’17, Caroline Kelley ’18, Kristin McDermott ’16, Julia Morisi ’17 and Racquel Pouliot ’18.
