Personal Pilgrmage, By Linda Hanna

I feel a special connection with Pope Francis. I attribute my conversion to Catholicism, as a young woman many years ago, to St. Francis of Assisi. Having lived my young adulthood during the tumultuous 60's, the early 70's found me deeply unhappy and spiritually desperate. During that time, I happened to pick up a book about the life of St. Francis and through a number of subsequent, related occurrences, my life was totally turned around. I was baptized and confirmed at the age of 30, pregnant with my second child, Brendan. (I remind him often that he was baptized twice J.) Actually, it was my son who called me when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope. He said, "Mom, we have a Pope - and his name is Francis!" I remember I was driving. I had to stop and pull over I was crying so - with joy!

I think this pope is very special, so when he announced his plans to come to the US, I was determined to see him. What follows is a little overview of that trip. I had spent several weeks before, reading the Encyclical and learning all I could about it, writing reflections on it for the Sisters of St. Joseph, and participating in a group planning activities in Rochester around the national Week of Moral Action for Climate Justice.

NOTES ON THE TRIP - SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2015

5:00 a.m., 23rd, I picked up my travelling companions - Sue Staropoli, Ruth Marchetti, Mary Moore, Penny Gardner and Nancy Richardson.  Sue, Ruth, Mary and I live in the Rochester area. Penny is from Honeoye and Nancy from Penn Yan. We arrived in Arlington, VA around 1:30 p.m., had a quick bite and took metro to All Souls Unitarian Church for an interfaith service - 1500 Harvard Street, DC.  We marched 3 1/2 miles  with this group, with signs and song,  to John Marshall park for an evening interfaith service and all night prayer vigil.

This was a beautiful evening of sharing faith and listening to uplifting music, starting with the Jewish group who, ending their religious holiday fast, shared bread with the Catholic Climate group that had been fasting 18 days. It was an incredibly moving experience of human unity.

Sue, Nancy and Ruth camped out all night on the park. Mary stayed with a relative and Penny and I returned to our hotel. Having gotten up at 3:30 a.m., driven 7 hours and needing to do the return trip the following day, I needed the sleep. Penny and I returned to DC and met the others at the Capitol at 6:00 a.m.  We had tickets from Louise Slaughter, so were able to get into an area closer to the building and with a view of the jumbo screens and the balcony from which Pope Francis would greet the crowds after the speech.

Sun rise on the Capitol lawn  (Left to right: Nancy Richardson, Penn Yan; Mary Moore, Rochester; Nancy Marchetti, Rochester; Sue Staropoli, Rochester; Penny Gardner, Honeoye; Linda Hanna, Rochester)

While waiting, I had the frightening experience of getting separated from the group after  taking a porta-potty break. I had left my purse and phone with them to avoid dragging it into the portapot with me.  After a lengthy circulation through the crowds, borrowing a stranger's cell and calling home to try to get cell numbers of someone in my group to call, I gave up and started to pray REALLY hard. After hanging out by a fence and trying to calm myself for quite awhile, I felt an urge just to walk from that point into the crowd. Then, after going about 50 feet, I looked up toward the Capitol, and there they were - about 10 rows up. They had had to move as people poured in, so my original spotting  milieu had drastically shifted.

The multitude continued to flow in and we all waited expectantly for Pope's arrival. The crowds were so orderly and people so courteous. Finally, as we watched on the jumbatrons,  the Pope left the Vatican Embassy (in the Fiat J) and arrived at Capitol Hill about 9:30. We had waited 3 and a half hours for this very special moment. He spoke, in English, before Congress for about an hour - so humbly and caringly. His gentle, holy presence seemed to be sensed by the whole audience. And even though at times he made strong statements about various controversial subjects, his manner was non-judgmental and temperate.

At the conclusion of the speech, he arrived on the balcony to speak directly to the crowds on the lawn - greeted with cheers, tears and much applause. He has such a unique way of establishing common ground and making everyone feel special and connected.

After this appearance, true to his humble nature, rather than lunching with dignitaries and officials, he met with the homeless, elderly and prisoners.  My group departed for the Mall where an interfaith rally had been going on during the Pope's talk to Congress. Sue, Ruth, Nancy and Mary stayed for the music and speeches while Penny and I went back to the hotel to pack up and get ready for our return trip. We regrouped at 1:30 and got back to Rochester by 9:30 - dropping Nancy off in Penn Yan and Penny in Canandaigua on our way through. It was an experience of a life-time.