Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd after celebrating Mass at the Yankee Stadium in New York, April 20, 2008. (Reuters)

Pope Benedict XVI's Mass at Yankee Stadium (Bronx, NY)

What's Happening Today: Sunday, April 20
2:30 p.m. - Mass at Yankee Stadium
NOTE: This post will be updated as more information becomes available on this topic.

Pre Mass Concert | Yankee Ministers (Via USCCB - PDF format)

The 200th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s designation as an archdiocese (the nation’s first), as well as the birth of four other archdioceses: New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Bardstown (now Louisville) will be highlighted during the Mass.

• 9:00 a.m. - Gates open
• 12:00 noon - The pre-Mass concert begins
• 2:15 p.m. - The Pope arrives
• 2:20 p.m. - The Pope travels around the track inside the stadium in the popemobile
• 2:30 p.m. - Mass begins
• 5:00 p.m. - Mass ends

Text of Pope Benedict XVI's homily at Yankee Stadium Papal Mass:

... The first reading also makes clear, as we see from the imposition of hands on the first deacons, that the Church's unity is "apostolic". It is a visible unity, grounded in the Apostles whom Christ chose and appointed as witnesses to his resurrection, and it is born of what the Scriptures call "the obedience of faith" (Rom 1:5; cf. Acts 6:7).

"Authority", "obedience". To be frank, these are not easy words to speak nowadays. Words like these represent a "stumbling stone" for many of our contemporaries, especially in a society which rightly places a high value on personal freedom. Yet, in the light of our faith in Jesus Christ - "the way and the truth and the life" - we come to see the fullest meaning, value, and indeed beauty, of those words. The Gospel teaches us that true freedom, the freedom of the children of God, is found only in the self-surrender which is part of the mystery of love. Only by losing ourselves, the Lord tells us, do we truly find ourselves (cf. Lk 17:33). True freedom blossoms when we turn away from the burden of sin, which clouds our perceptions and weakens our resolve, and find the source of our ultimate happiness in him who is infinite love, infinite freedom, infinite life. "In his will is our peace".

Real freedom, then, is God's gracious gift, the fruit of conversion to his truth, the truth which makes us free (cf. Jn 8:32). And this freedom in truth brings in its wake a new and liberating way of seeing reality. When we put on "the mind of Christ" (cf. Phil 2:5), new horizons open before us! In the light of faith, within the communion of the Church, we also find the inspiration and strength to become a leaven of the Gospel in the world. We become the light of the world, the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-14), entrusted with the "apostolate" of making our own lives, and the world in which we live, conform ever more fully to God's saving plan.

This magnificent vision of a world being transformed by the liberating truth of the Gospel is reflected in the description of the Church found in today's second reading. The Apostle tells us that Christ, risen from the dead, is the keystone of a great temple which is even now rising in the Spirit. And we, the members of his body, through Baptism have become "living stones" in that temple, sharing in the life of God by grace, blessed with the freedom of the sons of God, and empowered to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to him (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). And what is this offering which we are called to make, if not to direct our every thought, word and action to the truth of the Gospel and to harness all our energies in the service of God's Kingdom? Only in this way can we build with God, on the one foundation which is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11). Only in this way can we build something that will truly endure. Only in this way can our lives find ultimate meaning and bear lasting fruit. ...

Coverage & Commentary

• Benedict Celebrates Mass at Yankee Stadium, by Sewell Chan. New York Times' "City Room" - continually updated during the course of the Mass.

• Discussion: Open Yankee Stadium Liturgy Thread @ Amy Welborn's.

• New Liturgical Movement provides ongoing images and commentary of the Pope's Mass in New York City.

• Canterbury Tales provides us with The Music for the Papal Mass in New York City -- it appears that Dr. Jennifer Pascual (Director of Music) has been far more attentive in choosing what the Pope would appreciate in accordance with his writings on the liturgy.
• Build on 'impressive legacy' of U.S. church, pope urges at final Mass Catholic News Service. April 20, 2008:

  Honoring the bicentennial of four U.S. archdioceses, Pope Benedict XVI praised the "solid foundations" of the American Catholic Church and said "the future of the church in America" must continue to build on that "impressive legacy."

  But in his homily for the final Mass of his April 15-20 U.S. visit, the pope also said the "impressive growth" of the U.S. church has been "not without its challenges," comparing those challenges to the "linguistic and cultural tensions" found in the early church. ...

  [Benedict] said the bicentennial should be "more than an occasion of gratitude for graces received."

  "It is also a summons to move forward with firm resolve to use wisely the blessings of freedom, in order to build a future of hope for coming generations," he said.

Music Selections of the NYC Papal Mass

Argent by the Tiber has the full list of music selected by Dr. Jennifer Pascual, Director of Music/ Mass Conductor.

Related

• New York's papal events feature Pope's German classical favorites April 10, 2008.

How do you do Communion for 57,000? - "Safe, Reverent and Timely"

Candles, Clergy and Communion for 57,000 New York Times, by Sewell Chan. April 12, 2008:

With all its spiritual, political and cultural significance, the six-day visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington and New York next week is also a daunting logistical operation involving everything from candles and catering to cellphones and ciboria, the metal receptacles that hold communion wafers. Coordinating these and other details are high-ranking clergy, Hollywood producers and veterans of political advance teams, who will communicate in New York via two-way radios that double as cellphones and are equipped with global positioning satellite devices.

Among the profound — and mundane — questions they are confronting: How do 530 priests and deacons give communion to 57,000 people in 14 minutes?

“I just want to make sure it’s done reverently and safely,” the Rev. Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, the event coordinator for the Sunday afternoon Mass at Yankee Stadium on April 20, said at a practice Wednesday afternoon.

For starters, the priests — who are coming from as far away as Australia and Alaska — are assigned based on dates of birth, with the youngest (and most able-bodied) assigned to the upper deck, where stairs are narrow and steep and the winds are strongest. Leading priests on the upper deck will be the Rev. Kevin Malick, 28, who is from Staten Island, was ordained last May, works in a parish in New City, N.Y., and is a Mets fan. “I have a level head and a lot of common sense,” Father Malick said. “I’m not book smart, but I’m good at yelling at people.”

His counterpart on the field level, where the eldest priests are assigned, the Rev. Joseph E. Franco, who works at a Yankee-loving Bronx parish, warned five other priests at Wednesday’s rehearsal: “Remember, this isn’t a Yankees game, this is going to be an older crowd.”

Making Communion "Safe, Reverent and Timely"

On Sunday, April 20, about 57,000 people are expected to participate in Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. One challenge is how 530 priests and deacons will distribute wafers in 14 minutes, the time set aside for communion. The Archdiocese has a video [click link for excerpts] to guide priests and attendants through the process.

(Courtesy of the New York Times).

Yankee Stadium Mass Details

Yankee Stadium Mass Details and "The Concert of Hope" - Pope2008 has the precise schedule and rules regarding admission:

Visitors will not be allowed to bring metal, plastic, or glass containers into the stadium, nor backpacks, strollers, totes, large bags, food, beverages, video cameras, or tripods. Diaper bags will be permitted. Still cameras are permitted.

(In other words, want to eat between 9:00am-6:00pm? Bring cash).

Via Pope2008.com: "The Archdiocese of New York has released a 6-minute video explaining how Holy Communion will be distributed at Yankee Stadium. They are encouraging all those who are attending the Mass to watch the video, so that distribution can be safe, reverent, and timely."

Richard Kidd on "arranging for the Pope - and 58,000 others"

Arranging for the Pope - and 58,000 Others - The Telegraph-Journal profiles Richard Kidd of Darling's Island, selected by Dr. Jennifer Pascual of St. Patrick's Cathedral to arrange his hymn, "Feast of Victory" for the Yankee Stadium public mass:

A seasoned composer and consummate arranger, Kidd is a member of the Richard Kidd Quartet jazz band. He teaches music at Rothesay Netherwood School, plays the organ at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Saint John and has played trombone with Symphony New Brunswick for nearly 20 years. In December he assembled a 55-member choir to sing Handel's Messiah with the symphony.

Over the past couple of weeks Kidd has set himself to the task of arranging The Feast of Victory for a 58-member orchestra and choir of 200. In most churches, the four-verse Easter hymn would be accompanied by a lone piano or organ.

In an interview earlier this week, Kidd described the hymn as "uplifting."

"It's a very happy sort of tune," he said.

Yankee Stadium Papal Stage Unveiled

Via Tim Drake @ Pope2008.com, an artist's rendering of the papal stage at Yankee Stadium. Stig Edgren, president of SEG Events, will be producing this event, along with those at St. Joseph's Seminary and "Ground Zero." According to SEG's website:

Staging productions on a universal scale has always been [Edgren's] trademark - having produced 3 Papal events in the United States, including The Mass At Central Park for over 250,000 people, and the two largest events of the 1987 Visit at The Los Angeles Coliseum and Dodger Stadium. The L.A. Coliseum has also been the site of many other events Edgren brought his expertise to including The XXIII Summer Olympic Games and Nelson Mandela’s ‘Rally For Freedom’.

Distribution of Yankee Stadium Tickets a Difficult Exercise in Fairness

Yankee Stadium Mass proves to be hot ticket - Fairness key issue for priests (Times Herald-Record, March 10, 2008) -- Michael Randall reports on a difficult task facing priests across the New York dioceses:

It's the kind of decision even wise old King Solomon might have tried to avoid.

Imagine you're the pastor of a local Catholic church and your parish has been allotted, say, 20 tickets for Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming Mass at Yankee Stadium.

What's a pastor to do?

In the Hudson Valley, some churches like St. Joseph's in Kingston simply announced the tickets were available and handed them out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Others picked the winners' names out of a hat or other handy container, like a low-tech Lotto drawing.

They used the latter method at Sacred Heart Church in Newburgh, where Bishop Dominick Lagonegro is pastor. They had 43 tickets and more than 120 people asking for them.

The article goes into some detail on how the tickets were apportioned to individual parishes:

Each parish's allotment for the stadium Mass was based on 3.5 percent of its average Sunday attendance in 2006. So, parishes with larger memberships got 50, 60 or more tickets, while the smallest got maybe 10 or 12.

Ticket allotment for the other public event — a youth rally and prayer service at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers — were based on the population of a parish school for those that have them, as well as participation in parish youth groups or religious education programs.

But once those tickets were spoken for, that was it.

Crowds of 60,000 are expected at the stadium and 20,000 in Yonkers, but even that many tickets go fast when you're dividing them among the 395 parishes in the archdiocese and visitors from other dioceses.

as well as the intensive security precautions involved:

Parishes had to give church officials the names of those receiving tickets well ahead of time for background checks. Those with a ticket will have to show it and a photo ID to get in. So if you can't make it at the last minute, you can't pass the ticket off to your grandma or Aunt Harriet or cousin Phil.

Archdiocese of Boston: 3,000 Available Tickets to NYC Papal Mass

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is making 3,000 tickets available for Boston-area Catholics who want to see Pope Benedict XVI on April 20 at Yankee Stadium in New York - the Boston Globe reports:

The Boston tickets can be requested online at boston200.org. Ticket requests must be made by 5 p.m. Feb. 11. The archdiocese is making tickets available only to registered parishioners who are over age 14, and is planning to hold a lottery if more than 3,000 people request seats, said Scot Landry, coordinator of the event. The archdiocese will offer bus transportation to and from New York the day of the Mass.

"Many Catholics have called asking if the archdiocese would have tickets, so we requested a number from the archdiocese of New York, and we were thrilled that they allocated such a large number for us," Landry said. "There's a natural affection for the Holy Father, and this is his first trip to the US, and I think people want to experience it firsthand."

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston will be traveling separately to New York and will concelebrate the Mass at Yankee Stadium with the pope.

See Also: AmericanPapist: Not Your Average Catholic!: AmP Tip: How to get tickets to see Pope Benedict XVI in April American Papist

New details emerge for getting Papal Mass tickets

Catholic News Service has provided us with the latest update:

Pretty much the only chances the general public will have will be at Masses at the Washington Nationals' new baseball stadium, with a capacity of about 45,000, and Yankee Stadium in New York, which has a capacity of perhaps 65,000.

The youths and seminarians rally at New York's St. Joseph's Seminary also is listed as a public event, but Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the New York Archdiocese, told Catholic News Service the 15,000 to 20,000 spots will be filled primarily with people from the New York region and some of the approximately 5,000 seminarians in the country.

... Also yet to be decided in both cities is whether the pope will have a motorcade route where people may line up for a chance to see him, said Zwilling and Gibbs.

More information will be made available after January 1st at the Web sites of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Archdiocese of New York. Also check back here for the latest updates.

Poll: New Yorkers “overwhelmingly applaud” Pope’s April visit

From the Catholic News Agency:

A new poll of New York City residents indicates that a majority of New Yorkers think Pope Benedict XVI's scheduled visit in April will be good for their city, and most New York City Catholics have a favorable attitude towards him.

According to a survey conducted by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, 70 % of New Yorkers think the visit will be good for the city, while only 15 % do not.

Eighty eight percent of Catholics specifically thought the visit would benefit New York, while only 9 % disagreed.

And a continued high-demand for papal tickets:

Twenty nine percent of New Yorkers, including 60 % of Catholics, would like to attend the Pope’s mass at Yankee Stadium.

Considering the population of NYC is roughly 8.5 million people that means about 2.4 million people might want to attend Yankee Stadium (which seats ~50,000). Talk about a hot ticket.

Archdiocese of New York: "No Ticket Scalping!"

Free tickets to Pope's Yankee Stadium Mass tempt scalpers, By Corky Siemazko. Daily News November 14, 2007:

Thou shalt not scalp tickets to the upcoming Papal Mass at Yankee Stadium.

That was the warning Tuesday to potential profiteers from the Archdiocese of New York, which said it will distribute the coveted tickets through the parishes — and they're free.

"We want to emphasize that," said diocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling. "Tickets are free of charge."

Zwilling spoke a day after the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict would be making his first U.S. visit as leader of the Catholic church.

Secret Service To Protect The Pope During NYC Visit

Secret Service To Protect The Pope During NYC Visit, by Ruschell Boone. NY1 News November 15, 2007:

The Secret Service has offered its protection to Pope Benedict XVI for his April visit to New York City and Washington.

The agency says it is standard practice for heads of state.

The report goes into great detail on the planning of the papal mass in Yankee Stadium:

With only five months to prepare for Pope Benedict's arrival, the Archdiocese of New York says it is starting to hammer out the specific details of the visit, including the public mass scheduled at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, April 20.

The service will be free, but only about 60,000 tickets will be distributed as early as January. As the host, most will go to parishes within the Archdiocese of New York.

“And then we'll have a certain number of tickets for the neighboring dioceses, places like the Archdiocese of Newark, the Diocese of Brooklyn, the Diocese of Bridgeport, and the Diocese of Rockville Center in Long Island,” said Joe Zwilling of the Archdiocese of New York. “So we'll make sure the bishops of those places will have a representation of their faithful present as well.” [...]

“In Central Park we had to bring everything and we had to build it from the ground,” he said. “In Yankee Stadium we will have the facilities already there. Very practical things like seats, like concession stands, like bathrooms already in place.”

After having its first committee meeting on Tuesday, the archdiocese is also trying to decide how many languages will be used during the service.

“Creole and Spanish and German and French and English and Tagalog and I'm trying to think of some of the other ones we've used in the past,” said Zwilling. “You can really bring them all in there.”

According to the report, the Saturday, April 19 mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral will be reserved for "about 2,500 priests, deacons and bishops."

And according to the Times Herald Record "There's still one variable in the plan — the name of the parish that will host an interfaith service has yet to be announced." (NYC plans for pope, hoping for perfection, by Michael Randall. November 14, 2007).