Most weekday mornings find Diane Hurney tuned in to a “Dora the Explorer” cartoon or otherwise entertaining her toddlers at home in Virginia Beach.
But not on Thursday – she has tickets to see the pope.
With a baby sitter posted at home, Hurney will join 45,000 other worshippers that day for a 10 a.m. Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
The leader of the world’s Catholics is visiting the United States for the first time today through Sunday .
“He’s close, never been closer, and I don’t feel we’ll ever get another chance to see him, unless we go to Rome,” said Hurney, a member of Church of the Holy Spirit parish. “The whole idea of being able to celebrate with him is awesome.”
Benedict became pope in 2005 at age 78. He succeeded Pope John Paul II, whose panache and globe-trotting earned him extraordinary popular affection during a 26-year tenure.
The Washington service and another Mass at Yankee Stadium in New York City are the two most public events on Benedict’s itinerary. Admission is by advance tickets that cannot be sold or transferred.
Eighty-seven local Catholics won tickets in a drawing by the Richmond Diocese, which had only 400 to distribute. South Hampton Roads has more than 64,000 Catholics and at least 27 Catholic churches.
The lack of tickets may have cooled by a few degrees the local flush of anticipation around Benedict’s visit, several clergy said.
But the limited access heightens the excitement for ticket holders, including Elizabeth Leese. The stay-at-home mother of two in Virginia Beach said she felt honored.
“I was floored – I didn’t really expect my name would be chosen,” she said. “You think, 'Am I worthy to go?’ There were a lot more people who may have been more deserving.”
Teresa DeLostrinos, a 70-year-old retired personal caregiver, said she and her husband, Oscar, also were stunned when their Virginia Beach parish, St. Mark, confirmed they could go.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime! We have been seeing the pope only on TV or in the newspaper; this is our chance, our very great chance,” DeLostrinos said.
Hurney said she has a ticket for her mother, who will fly in from Camden, Ohio. “When I called and told her we won, she started crying.”
The pope’s unique stature impresses ticket holder Francis B. Kammer, a 22-year-old clerk with the Virginia Beach sheriff’s department.
“In my eyes, the pope is the earthly form of Christ. He’s in charge of the entire Catholic Church and it’s quite an honor to be standing in his presence as he gives this Mass,” Kammer said.
For many parishioners, the highlight of the stadium service will be taking Communion with the pope.
“There’s no words to describe that,” said Catherine Kammer, a 20-year-old college student who will attend with her brother, Francis.
For local clergy, it may come as they assist Benedict in his consecration of the Communion wafers and wine.
“I call it euphoric,” said the Rev. Ernest Bulinda, who “concelebrated” Mass with John Paul II in his Kenyan homeland in 1975 and 1985.
“The Nairobi experience is still with me, even today,” said Bulinda, the priest of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk. “When I look back, I see that as one of the milestones of my spiritual journey.”
For the Rev. James E. Parke, standing with Benedict also will symbolize the vocational bond they share as priests.
“He kind of speaks of a symbol of unity, Christian unity,” Parke said.
Pope Benedict was born in Germany in 1927 as Joseph Alois Ratzinger. He was drafted into the German army during World War II and served a year. He was ordained in 1951 and later became a theologian and professor.
As a cardinal under John Paul II, he gained a reputation as a conservative enforcer of Catholic dogma. He considers relativism – the idea that there are no absolute values or morals – one of the biggest threats to Christianity.
According to a March survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Benedict was unfamiliar to nearly a third of those polled. Half of the survey group rated him favorably.
The survey showed 74 percent of Catholics had a favorable view of Benedict, and that fewer considered him conservative – 58 percent compared with 68 percent last August.
Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com
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Divorce/Annulments, Me, My Ex, & the Diocese
Yes, I know all about Annulments. My ex didn't have to get the letter from friends..I wrote it myself, & she helped me with some of the adjectives. I wont make it a long story, but neither of us were "excommunicated".
contactor va
About your excommunication post...with the Catholic Church (and I went all the way through high school in their knuckle thumpling schools, seriously considering being a nun at one point), don't you know that with the right amount of money papal decisions can be overturned? When my friend sought a divorce several years ago, all that was needed was $500.00 bucks and some letters from family and friends attesting to what a schmuck her husband was, and voila, she was never married! A miracle. Hey, the church has to keep that money coming in to dress up their clergy in such regalia, ridiculous as it is. Now with inflation and the high cost of legal fees for pedophilic priests, annullments are probably up to $2,000. Still a deal for those true believers. Frankly, I find it all sort of amusing.
Let's be perfectly clear here...
...I'm not anti-Catholic, I'm anti religion (except maybe The Force)....};>
I have a hard time following anythign written almost 2000 years ago and rewritten to fit certain individuals' dogmatic lifestyles.
excommunicated
Uh it doesn't make sense. posting guidelines do not specify that it has to make sense..it is certainly not off topic, considering the story, & doesn't have to make sense, considering the other comments...lol
Hitler didn't take no for an answer.
When the Wehrmacht or the SS knocks on your door and says you WILL
join the army, you don't have much choice but to say yes. The alternative is death or go into hiding. In fairness and in defense of Benedict, he did desert the German army after 1 year of service.
Excommunication
As Pope Benedict used to say, "Sieg Heil!"
can't say how the rest of
can't say how the rest of the Catholics feel, but, If I would have won the tickets I would have asked the Pope to have few of you Anti-Catholic Comment Posters excommunicated.
This post doesn't make any sense. How can this man excommunicate someone who doesn't belong to his cult?
Anti-Catholics
I can't say how the rest of the Catholics feel, but, If I would have won the tickets I would have asked the Pope to have few of you Anti-Catholic Comment Posters excommunicated.
*ex·com·mu·ni·cate Audio Help (ěks'kə-myōō'nĭ-kāt') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. ex·com·mu·ni·cat·ed, ex·com·mu·ni·cat·ing, ex·com·mu·ni·cates
1 To deprive of the right of church membership by ecclesiastical authority.
2 To exclude by or as if by decree from membership or participation in a group.
*dictionary.com
Benedict
It recently was revealed that the Catholic Church used slave labor from the Nazi prison camps during WWII. Willing or unwilling, Pope Benedict was a member of the Hitler Youth during WWII.
Nothing was said about the horrors of the Jewish extermination during WWII by the Pope or the Catholic Church.
A half century later, the Catholic Church has quietly paid billions in hush money to cover up sexual abuse by Catholic priests. Even to this day, wayward priests are shipped off to Alaska to cover up their crimes rather than deal with the harmful truth of the sexual predators who celebrate Mass on Sundays.
Amen
Very interesting people
I'm Episcopalian. My best friend is Catholic. We get along extremely well. She's proud of being Catholic. I'm proud of being Episcopalian. Her and I don't fight ever. Apparently some of you need to learn to "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself"
Ed
I am not misquoting Pascal's Wager. You should THINK about what I wrote, and not try to apply it to what you have read from someone else's writings. I choose to believe not because of what may happen if I don't. I was simply pointing it out to you, from my point of view...not Blaise Pascal's.
Again, I have nothing to lose. You are entitled to your opinion.
If you believe in a god, do you believe then that we were created and then dumped here on Earth with no plan? How does that work for you? I am genuinely curious. Do you believe then you will live again after death or we were put here for some super-natural experiment?
JUDGEMENTAL!
Only one will be the judge in the end according to most faiths. The problem for most is that if you preach righteousness and a lifestyle based on fundemental writings of the old or new testament then sit upon billions of dollars while members of your so called flock live in poverty and or are starving then what is an intelligent person supposed to think.
It seems to many that the give give give nature of many churches is not being practiced by those preaching it.
No lottery,no ring kissing,no palace
This is my 3rd attempt at trying to add my OPINION to this article. The Pilot keeps omitting my comments because I don't believe in anything the Catholic church teaches.So here goes my attempt to get my two cents worth in: I'm a born again Christian and do NOT recognize ANY man as the leader of the Christian church. My boss is a Jewish carpenter who died many years ago for my sins.He never lived in any palace or had people kissing his ring. Nor would he have approved of people being in a lottery for the purpose of being in his presence.
Angelak…
What happens to me? Please, not another Christian misquoting Pascal’s Wager. You should study his concept and you will see the flaws in it. By the way, both Pascal and Luther wrote how reason and logic are incompatible with dogmatic religions, thereby insinuating that it is indeed a delusion. You also assume that I don’t believe in God. This is not true. I agree with you that a belief in a god is not delusional. I was speaking of religion when I wrote my original message. Religion and dogmas are man made and they are delusional. In fact, modern day Christian beliefs are only 500 years old, before that, it was salvation by deeds and it was all based on writings by people that were not even alive during the life of Jesus.
Interesting
What I find interesting is that Christians (Catholic and Protestant) believe in the basic same premise, Jesus, Son of God, died on the cross for our sins. Yet all Christian sects bicker and nit-pick about interpretations over a couple of texts written [metaphorically] nearly 2000 years ago?
I have a hard time following any organized religion that has such polarizing issues. The different Christian sects [seemingly] have riffs as big as the differences between Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Regular folks posting on here
and I usually read the top stories and the comments. I see many of the same folks posting that I thought had plenty of good sense in their head. I was wrong obviously. All of these anti-religion comments, I don't know what to think. I thought most of these people were level headed folks until I read their comments about not believeing in God. The Bible says "to God, a year is like a day and a day is like a year" meaning time is irrelevent to God. When God created the earth, he put a man on the earth named Adam, not a boy but a man. When God created the earth,created the mountains and everything. Maybe all your reasearch is flawed. I have never seen a rock that is 1 day old, or even 1 year. Maybe since God has no sense of time, the rocks and such we get these carbon dating information from were already 60 million years old, since time means nothing to God, that makes perfect sense. The Pope is only a man, elected by other men. He is not holy, or even better than anyone else but the Catholics have their right to think he is holy if they want to.
Pope's "Hat"
*"In liturgical ceremonies Popes wear an episcopal mitre (an erect cloth hat)." I believe this to be the "hat" that is referred to in the previous comment. I doubt the Pope would release it for that purpose. Maybe should have entered the lottery. Might have been able to ask.
*wikipedia
They created their own problems by hiding them
Frankly after the church spent 2 BILLION dollars and closed churches because of the priest sex abuse scandal, they need to examine the operations of the entire organization. The pope's visit is a much needed goodwill trip.
Jim Parke’s comment about “unity” of priests was surprising given the church leadership knowingly hid the sexual abuse from the public and parishioners for years…
Welcome to the Good ole USA
Pope Benedict XVI..I wish I would have won tickets.. No dice. I would like to point concerning child abuse comments, that in my lifetime, I will not mention the church, or the pastor's name, but, I will say the one I am referring to was not Catholic, in fact was Protestant, & it took place in the Chesapeake/Va Beach border area. I grew up 4 houses from this church's property. The pastor/preacher or whatever they are referred to as there, facing allegations of child abuse, involving possible molestation, committed suicide. I think the problem is more related to jobs that have easy access to their victims. Unfortunately this includes, churches, schools, child care facilities, & other occupations previously mentioned in the other comments..
SUCH BITTER PILLS....
If you choose not to believe, that is certainly your option. Freedom of religion is one of the founding concepts of our country. But to spew pour venom against the Catholic Church, without the slightest ackowledgement of the positive aspects of the Church - the Catholic School and College system, the good works of Catholic Charities, and the Catholic overseas missions, which are staffed by religious and lay people alike. To not cite these positive examples as well is unfair and extremely biased.
Problems, yes there have problems, and abuse of children by clergy is certainly at the top of the list. Add on any other problems you want - going the entire way back to the Crusades, and for every problem I'll give you five examples of how the Catholic Church has made this world a better place for all of mankind.
What is it with the anti-religion rants?
At first I was disappointed when I heard that only ticketholders would be able to see the public masses that Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating. After reflecting on it, can you imagine if EVERYONE who wanted to go went? How much grid lock would there be? How many people would complain if people are injured either getting to the event or when they are there? And then what about the Pope's safety? As for the anti-religion messages, many overlook the fact that we humans are not perfect and it is humans with our failings that are behind the evil. It is religion that is trying to teach us to move beyond our weaknesses. As for those calls to stop abusing children, the Catholic church is trying to address this issue. The process of becoming a priest is not an easy road. Many point fingers as if only priests abuse children, but abusers are in other occupations including teachers, sports coaches and police officers. It just happens that priests are in a very visible authority figure role.
Assumptions
Just because there was a lottery drawing for the tickets does not mean that it had anything to do with the amount an individual contributes to the church. When there is a limited number of seats, something has to be done to fairly distribute the tickets.
As for the religion being oppressive and Catholics being hypocritical, I for one will be the first to say that I am in no way perfect, but at least I'm trying. Maybe you should step back and take a look at why you are so judgemental and stereotypical.
It is very easy to criticize what we are unfamiliar with, but there are many different religions. Let people have the freedom to practice whatever works for them without judgement, just as you don't want someone criticizing your faith.
What is god?
The universe is around 16 billion years old. The Earth is just over 4 billion. Now, statistically speaking, there must be life elsewhere out there. If said life formed a billion, a million or even 100,000 years ahead of us, what could they do? What kind of accomplishments would they have performed? How would we view them?
As God(s).
This is just one view, a view that doesn't require faith, just logic.
And yes, the Catholic Church is repressive and responsible for millions of deaths in the name of God. They have chosen to turn their heads to the additional scriptures found in the Egyptian desert (among other things) rather than have their form of religion collapse.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a spiritual person. I believe a man such as Jesus existed and did a lot of good for that part of the world. But I also believe he was just a man and died for his cause, but not the son of God.
Tickets for religious events, better seats etc!
Makes you wonder what has hapeened to real religion.
I have read and searched for a verse, chapter or paragraph stating your standing in the religion of your choice is based on your $$$ contribution.
I don't care who
is coming here. This religion continues to be repressive. And most of the members are hypocritical to espouse one thing but do another. PS. Please stop assaulting the children!
Gee Ed.
With that bumper sticker philosophy I am surprised that you aren't a world leader.
Psychosis is defined not by how many suffer from it, but rather by science. It is diagnosable and documentable with science.
A delusion isn't real. If you don't believe that someone or something is out there, supernatural, not of this world and is responsible for your being, that is your call. It is not a delusion to believe in a creator.
All things came from somewhere and a delusion would be to think that they just *poofed* into existence.
There are at least a hundred thousand folks that think there is no God in any form or fashion but rather in a scientific stretch of maybe's and statistical improbabilities (Big Bang theory or any likeness). So,by your standards, I guess you too are delusional and part of a religion that does not believe in a god.
Welcome to the club Ed. What happens to me if I am wrong? Peace of mind, longer life, hope...but what happens to you?
The fish hat guy is coming!!!
If one person believes in a delusion, it is called psychosis. If a hundred people believe in the same delusion, it is called a cult. If a hundred thousand people believe in the same delusion, it is call religion. Wasn’t it in the early 1990’s when the Catholic church finally came out and said that maybe Copernicus might be right? Big religions like this have been the cause of most of the major problems and deaths in the world as well as the biggest roadblock to reason, philosophy, science and the advancement of society in general.