Published: April 14, 2008 11:59 am      

Oakland group heading to pope's Washington Mass

CUMBERLAND - On Thursday, a day after he turns 81, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass surrounded by more than 41,000 faithful in Washington Nationals Stadium on - if The Weather Channel forecast holds up - a sunny, 74-degree day with no chance of rain.

Among the Catholic throng, and seated directly behind home plate in Section 122, will be 10 members of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Oakland who will have boarded a van at 5 a.m., driven to Greenbelt, hopped on and then off Metro, and walked the one remaining block to the new stadium.

"I don't know where they will have the altar set up in the stadium, but even if it is farther away, that won't make a big difference to me," said Chuck Bowman of Friendsville, who will drive the van. "It's just about the experience. With the pope's age, this may be the only trip he makes to the states."

Bowman said he attended the Mass celebrated in October 1995 at Camden Yards in Baltimore by Pope John Paul II. "That day they had the pope in the outfield," he said. "It was very moving."

Betty Eaton, who works with Catholic education for the church in Oakland, said she too was at the papal visit in Baltimore 13 years ago. "I was with a group of young people who lined the parade route for the pope," she said.

Tickets to the Washington Mass were not easy to obtain, local Catholics agree.

"We had to submit our names and birth dates and we were evaluated by the Archdiocese of Washington before we were approved," Eaton said. "The tickets cannot be transferred from the holder to someone else."

Eaton said she is excited about the opportunity to see the pope.

"Just the camaraderie. There will be so many people focused on a Catholic Christian experience. The Holy Father is an important player in the big scheme of our world. I expect it to be very awesome."

Although the Mass in the nation's capital will come one day after the pope's birthday, it will be two days before the three-year anniversary of the day that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to the papacy.

The pope's approval rating among Catholics is at 70 percent, according to a poll released Friday that was conducted by LeMoyne College and Zogby International. As a comparison, a poll conducted in the spring of 2003 found that Pope John Paul II had an approval rating of 87 percent.

The current pope has described this visit to the United States as a pilgrimage of peace designed to promote dialogue between cultures and religions based upon fundamental human rights.

Speaking on the pope's behalf recently, Archbishop Celestine Migliore said "surely, coming to the U.N. as a pilgrim of peace, he will say that we cannot base our relations on the false notion that might makes right, that we cannot build our future on a simple balance of power."

The pope will address the United Nations on Friday.

The pope's visit will be the fourth by a leader of the Roman Catholic church to the United Nations: Paul VI came in 1965 when the U.N. celebrated its 20th anniversary; John Paul II came in 1979 at the start of his pontificate and again in 1995 for the U.N.'s 50th anniversary.



Pope Benedict XVI's D.C. itinerary:
Tuesday
* Arrive in Washington.
Wednesday
Pope's 81st birthday
* 10:30 a.m. - Meet with President Bush at White House.
* Noon - Popemobile route.
* 5:30 p.m. - Meet with bishops of the United States at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Thursday
* 10 a.m. - Mass at Washington Nationals baseball stadium.
* 5 p.m. - Address Catholic educators - presidents of 200 Catholic colleges and education leaders from 195 dioceses.
* 6:30 p.m. - Meet with interfaith leaders at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.



Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.