FAITH, FAMILY & MISSION Pilgrimage to Philadelphia

Pilgrims from Charlotte are attending the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia with Pope Francis on Sept. 23-27, 2015. On this blog, Patricia and Steve Guilfoyle of the Catholic News Herald document their journey...

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Two buses from the Diocese of Charlotte left Charlotte and Greensboro in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, filled with pilgrims hoping to see Pope Francis and to attend Mass with him that following Sunday in Philadelphia.

The group of pilgrims with Father Michael Kottar and Deacon Jim Trombley at the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel in Philadelphia.

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Gestures of love

Joe and Diane Rybak of Morganton and four of their six children went on the diocesan pilgrimage to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and apostolic visit of Pope Francis. Here, they pose next to a fun stand-up image of the Holy Father upon their arrival to Philadelphia. Throughout the journey, their witness was a testament to the beauty of family life, as Pope Francis preached.

"Our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life to become faith," Pope Francis said in his homily for the Mass closing the World Meeting of Families.

"Little gestures" of love exist daily in the lives of family and serve to carry on God's love as well. "These little gestures are those we learn at home, in the family. They get lost amid all the other things we do, yet they do make each day different. They are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children. They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion.”

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Throughout the five-day pilgrimage to Philadelphia, Joe Rybak would lovingly carry his son Nathan from the boy's wheelchair to the bus and back. "Nathan is a blessing," mom Diane Rybak says. "Nathan is a blessing to us and he's a blessing to everyone."

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The Rybaks don their yellow scarves in anticipation of going to the Festival of Families on Saturday and to see Pope Francis. All of the pilgrims received yellow scarves for the pilgrimage, and they came in very handy to be able to spot fellow pilgrims amid the sea of hundreds of thousands of people in Philadelphia.

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Let us remember that we are called to serve, and remember those who are serving us. We’ll be inspired then to go back to our community and our family, and to do what? To show our pictures and our videos? Who cares! They’ll be forgotten in a couple of days. But this pilgrimage bears fruit if your love for Christ in the Eucharist will increase and (it) bears fruit in your families. Then this pilgrimage will have been well worth it.

Father Michael Kottar, pastor, St. Mary Help of Christians Church in Shelby, NC

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Father Kottar reflects on the significance of St. Katherine Drexel and the #WMF2015 pilgrims from the Diocese of Charlotte visiting her shrine outside Philadelphia during the World Meeting of Families and apostolic visit of Pope Francis in September 2015.

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PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis speaks often about memory and motion, the importance of remembering where you came from and setting off without fear to share the Gospel.

Read more in our full coverage at www.catholicnewsherald.com.

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Mother and Daughter on pilgrimage together

Lisa and Arial Hobbs left the “boys” at home

Lisa’s husband got her a present, and it was a chance to go to the World Meeting of Families with her daughter.

Arial is one of the small percentage of young people among the 60-plus pilgrims who traveled to Philadelphia from North Carolina this past week. 

While there were several youth tracks for the teens and preteens on the pilgrimage to send their children, Arial stayed with her mom throughout the week.

Arial acted as lector for two of the three Masses said by Father Michael Kottar at shrines in the Philadelphia area.

The Hobbs family attends St. Matthew Church in Charlotte. 

Arial is interested in many aspects of her faith. She got prayer cards and booklets at the World Meeting of Families and at the shrines visited by the pilgrims.

She and her mother talk in a similar way, sometimes finishing each other’s sentences.

Before they headed to the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel on Saturday, they told of a friend of Lisa’s in New Jersey. The friend had arranged a tour to come to the World Meeting, but the friend threw out her back.

“That’s like two to three weeks (for her) to recover,” Lisa said.

Arial explained that they went to the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, and wrote an intention asking for healing for their friend on a strip of paper, in order for “Mary, Undoer of Knots” to help.

The mother/daughter went to the cathedral earlier this week, but they heard by Saturday that her back was better and she was able to make the trip to see the pope as well.

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Here we are at the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel, one of Patricia's favorite stops on the #WMF2015 pilgrimage.

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Kathy Merry, a retired Registered Nurse from Franklin, went on pilgrimage to see the pope, but also visit the Shrine of St. Katherine Drexel.

(Video by Stephen Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald, @CatholicNewsCLT)

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Some papal souvenirs. The big button was free.

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The Priest in the Porkpie Hat and more Ps

So we are coming to PHILLY, in PENNSYLVANIA to see #POPEFRANCIS. So there were three right there.

But I didn’t know that we would have a nice meal and our hotel would actually be in King of PRUSSIA, Penn. So there was another.

But it wasn’t until we went to our first Mass, at Mother of Divine PROVIDENCE Parish, that I began to suspect I needed to be on the lookout for more.

Father Michael Kottar mentioned more than once in his Mass that we had arrived on the feast of PADRE PIO.

Even then I was willing to give it a pass.

But after Mass, Father Kottar got out of his vestments and came out in his black clerics. And he was wearing a black PORKPIE hat.

No doubt about it. We needed to be looking out for Ps on our papal pilgrimage in Pennsylvania.

So I blogged a request.

PRAY for us.

On day 2, the Ps seemed to recede, and I thought maybe my instinct on verbal linguistics was just a one-day thing.

Even despite the large number of PIZZA PLACES in Philly. Offering basically New York style, and by the slice. But that was about it -- for day 2.

Father Kottar, who organized the pilgrimage, talked about PIETY and PATIENCE within the family during more than one of his homilies.

Then Pope Francis talked about PEACE at the U.N. and Congress.

Day 3, which included trips down to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, we got a doozy of Ps.

There were street vendors everywhere, selling an odd mix of items.

"Cotton candy, trail mix, rosary beads!" one said. But another was my go-to P person.

“PEANUTS, PRETZELS, POPE dolls!”

Loved it.

On a more serious note, there were two other Ps I was following. I dubbed it my PERSONAL PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

Starting on our first day at the World Meeting of Families convention, I began tracking my physical activity. My FitBit told me I took 16,156 steps and walked 7.5 miles that day.

It almost did me in, but I felt ready for a new day on day 2. (But I definitely carried a lighter backpack from that point on.)

On Day 2, 10,639 steps, for 4.94 miles.

On Day 3, 15,860 steps, for 7.36 miles.

On Day 4, 13,393 steps for 6.22 miles.

Normally I do about 10,000 steps in a week, not in a day. That's what an office job will do for you.

I am positive most of the pilgrims walked farther than I did.

But for me, that was a total of 56,048 steps, for 26.02 miles.

Days 3 and 4 included long walks from a SEPTA subway station to security checkpoints. On Day 3 we actually got through security and found a spot near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where we could see Pope Francis go by.

Day 4, only a few of the pilgrims got through security, and even then, Mass had already ended by the time most got through.

I walked slower and slower as each day passed. Days 3 and 4 were also hard because they included a lot of standing around waiting at security, or going those miles in line only an inch at a time.

"Yay," I said at one point. "I moved five steps."

Seeing the pope on Day 3 might seem like the most "holy" moment to other folks. It was indeed very cool.

But on Day 2, we visited the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul. A couple of architectural features on the wall reminded me of the church of my youth, St. Raymond's in the Bronx. And the interior layout, with smaller altars lining the walls on each side, reminded me of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

There was a side altar with a Celtic cross as its central feature, and a statue of St. Patrick to the left. But I was thinking, because of the Celtic cross and St. Patrick, that it had to be St. Brigid. The statue featured an eagle and it was holding a book. It just didn't seem like St. Brigid.

So I asked an elderly docent who the woman was on the statue on the left.

He gave a sympathetic smile and said he gets that question a lot. He started talking about how the altar is dedicated to Irish immigrants to Philadelphia, but in honor of an archbishop of Pennsylvania Archbishop Patrick John Ryan. (The PRELATE of the archdiocese, according to Wikipedia.)

I was thinking, "He's going off the rails here."

He went on.

The St. Patrick statue is for his first name. And the statue on the left was actually for his middle name: St. John the Evangelist. The youngest of Jesus' disciples, St. John is generally depicted in classical art without a beard, and this statue had long, flowing hair.

So I got a lesson and a smile at my own stupidity. I knew that the symbol of St. John is the eagle. The book, the Gospel of St. John, should have been a dead giveaway. Silly me.

But it was the side altar to St. Joseph that gave me my moment. It depicts the foster father of Jesus holding his infant son in one hand. I gave a donation and lit a votive candle and said a prayer that I could be the man and father I am meant to be.

Which includes getting into better physical shape.

I got up, walked around just a few more steps, and my FitBit started vibrating and lighting up. That's what it does when it records the 10,000th step in a day, which is the "goal" it has preset into it.

Perfect. Possibly a prayer was answered. At least it was a sign of encouragement.

It has given me much to think about.

Or should I say, PONDER?

— Stephen Guilfoyle, Catholic News Herald (@CatholicNewsCLT)

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PHILADELPHIA — Pope Francis ended his trip to the United States with a call for Catholics to keep the enthusiasm of the visit, while continuing to welcome newcomers and care for creation.

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#WMF2015 pilgrims -- including these 1,200 people from the Dominican Republic -- flooded to the SEPTA subway station after the papal Mass concluded. The extremely long waits on line were made bearable by musicians and singers like these. Deo Gratias!

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#CLT pilgrim reaction, part 2

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#CLT pilgrim reaction, part 1