If You Can’t See the Pope in Person

Even if you can’t get to any of the papal visit events, you can still participate in Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip to the United States:

 

• Watch the live streaming of the events at www.uspapalvisit.org.  (If you miss an event, video will be archived here as well.)  In addition, many television stations will have coverage of the events.  Check your local listings for times and channels. 

• Listen to radio coverage of the events on the Sirius Catholic Channel (produced by the Archdiocese of New York).

• Use the texts of the Holy Father’s homilies and speeches as spiritual reading throughout the week (and beyond!).  Texts will be posted on the Vatican website ).  

• Pray the Act of Hope each day for the intentions of the Holy Father.  For April, Pope Benedict’s intentions are that Christians may not tire of proclaiming with their lives that Christ’s resurrection is the source of hope and peace and that the future priests of the young Churches may be formed to evangelize their nations and the whole world.

O Lord God,
I hope by your grace for the pardon
of all my sins
and after life here to gain eternal happiness
because you have promised it
who are infinitely powerful, faithful, kind,
and merciful.
In this hope I intend to live and die.
Amen.

• Make a holy hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament each day of the Holy Father’s visit.  On April 16, pray for the bishops of the United States and all leaders of the Church.  On April 17, pray for all those charged with educating children and forming faith, especially parents, teachers, and catechists.  On April 18, pray for world leaders and all who work for justice and peace.  On April 19, pray for young people and for an increase in vocations.  On April 20, pray for the Church in the United States.

If you, your family, parish, or other group plan to mark the Holy Father’s visit in some special way, please share it with us in the comments section.

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Venue Profile: Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie

On April 19th, the third anniversary of his election as pope, Pope Benedict XVI will meet with seminarians and young people, including about 50 young people with disabilities, at Saint Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, in Yonkers, New York.

Saint Joseph’s is the fifth seminary established for the archdiocese, following seminaries in Nyack, Lafargeville, Fordham, and Troy.

Archbishop Michael J. Corrigan laid the cornerstone for Saint Joseph’s Seminary in 1891. He had decided to relocate the seminary closer to New York City. The seminary admitted its first group of 98 students in 1896.

For the first ten years the seminary was under the direction of priests of the Society of Saint Sulpice (the Sulpicians). Historian Fr. John Tracy Ellis has asserted that Dunwoodie, for the first twelve years of its existence, ranked second only to the Catholic University of America in its contribution to American Catholic intellectual life. The archdiocese assumed control of the seminary in 1906. Priests of the archdiocese make up the majority of the seminary’s faculty and administration.

Pope Benedict will be the second Pope to visit Dunwoodie. Pope John Paul II met with seminarians there on October 5, 1995.

Source: The Archdiocese of New York.

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