cavinti diaspora

Geline Lazaro (photo left) is one of the lucky ones several times over. With over 5,000 people who volunteered their services for the New York Papal visit; she was one of the few hundred that were chosen to serve. That she was asked to serve at St Patrick Cathedral was more than good luck. Geline Lazaro became part of the church’s history. It was the first time in the history of the 19th-century landmark that a pope has celebrated Mass at St. Patrick’s.

In her own words, Geline Lazaro described the experience:

It was a very emotional, exciting and unforgettable experience to be part of the Pope’s visit to the U.S. On April 19, I arrived at [St. Patrick] Cathedral High School around 5:30 A.M. to meet up with other volunteers. A big coach transported us to the Palace Hotel, located at the back of the Cathedral where we were given our assignments.

I was assigned to take care of the VIP guests, i.e., the 3,000 priests, nuns and seminarians who came to New York to either assist the Pope during the Mass, or just to attend it. My duties included welcoming the guests and ‘tearing off their tickets’ after passing the metal detector.

As all of you probably already knows, it was very hard to get tickets to all the places that Pope Benedict XVI visited. Tickets were free, but each parish was only given two tickets. For the St Patrick’s mass, only reserved tickets were allowed to go in. Other tickets were just for ‘curbside’, if you are even lucky to get those.

The Security was really very tight. Secret service agents were above the high-rise buildings monitoring the situation. K-9 units were all over and choppers were flying around the area. Thousands of uniformed cops from NYPD and all surrounding Burroughs were deployed in every section of the city.

Several streets were already cordoned with police barricades. As early as 6:00 AM, thousands of people lined up 10 deep along several blocks of Fifth Avenue, straining for a glance at the pope as he approached the spires of the Gothic cathedral.

The HOLY FATHER stopped in front of the Hotel where we were waiting and waved his blessings. Wearing our outfit complete with IDs and badges, all the volunteers underwent security check by the Secret Service before we could proceed to our posts at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

The Pope is so handsome and always beaming w/smile. When I saw him in person, as if all my problems gone.

Pope Benedict XVI blessed the cathedral with holy water before making his way to the altar. Nuns clutched at his robes, showing an enthusiasm for his presence that has spread among the general public throughout his visit.

The pope referred to St. Patrick’s several times in his homily, using the building’s qualities as a starting point to discuss faith.

“Perhaps more than any other church in the United States, this place is known and loved as ‘a house of prayer for all people,’” the pope said, quoting Scripture. “Each day, thousands of men and women and children enter its doors and find peace within its walls.”

He devoted several minutes to artist Charles Connick’s stained-glass windows, which “flood the interior with mystic light” and said the cathedral’s spires are “a vivid reminder of the constant yearning of the human spirit to rise to God.”

The 2,200-seat white marble cathedral with 330-foot spires, opened in 1879, replacing an old St. Patrick’s cathedral in downtown Manhattan that was destroyed by fire. It has undergone several renovations, adding its stained-glass windows in the 1920s and a new stone altar in the 1980s.