Monday, September 28, 2015

Mass on Spring Garden Street







Photo of crowd from behind jumbotron (see figures in left second story window.)   All about a mile plus from the Parkway with no other connection to the Parkway crowd.

The Pope's picture on jumbotron in his reverent liturgical posture.


The main public event in Philly during the Papal visit took place with Mass in the presence of 850,000 people on the Parkway,  The back of the altar looked out at the Rocky steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.   And the front faced the Parkway with a view blocks away of Philadelphia's City Hall.    I was in the crowd with a group of young men and women, high school students in Jesuit schools from across North America .   We were stretched along the roadside barrier about midpoint in that view.   Before the Mass when the Popemobile moved past us, the Pope saw our signage and heard the chant "Colegio de Jesuitas" and he gave a clear shout out with a smile and a blessing.

Before the Mass started, I began walking the mile home into North Philly and to the Prep.    A few blocks away I passed a jumbotron in the middle of Spring Garden Street.   As I approached I heard the music of the Gloria and when I got within site saw a couple of thousand people attentive to the Papal Mass.   Two children sat with an adult on a balcony overlooking the street scene dominated by this giant screen.   (And the Eagles game had not yet ended!).


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