by Michael Rizzo
How can you accommodate local college students who couldn’t get to see the pope in person? For some schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the answer was to “bring” the pope to them.
All three Catholic colleges in the diocese, St. Francis College and St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn and St. John’s University in Queens, did have some students at papal events in New York and Philadelphia. But for those who couldn’t get tickets, St. Joseph’s and St. John’s set up TV screens on their campuses to follow the pope’s historic trip.
At St. John’s, the viewing area was placed, beginning with the pope’s visit to Washington, in the narthex, or entry room area, of the school’s St. Thomas More Church. Simple folding chairs acted as makeshift pews facing the screen, positioned around the church’s paschal candle and the gently flowing water of its baptismal font.
Students were encouraged to attend “Five Hours with Francis” and that included the Mass he celebrated at Madison Square Garden Sept. 25, with principal concelebrants Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.
About 50 students gathered on that Friday night and with the lights dimmed, the simulcast began. Students quietly followed the liturgy but you could still see lips moving in response to the prayers being said. Everyone in attendance sat in rapt attention as the Holy Father delivered his homily.
Marissa Ruotolo, a senior psychology/theology double major from St. Luke’s, Whitestone, said she was at the church at 3 p.m. in preparation for watching the liturgy.
“I love Pope Francis,” she said, “the way he embraces children. He is so humble and such a good example to everyone.”
Ruotolo left later that night as part of a St. John’s contingent to the pope’s events in Philadelphia.
“I’m taken aback about how reverent it was tonight,” said Samantha Balloqui, a freshman from St. Bernard’s, Mill Basin. “It’s nice to have people to pray with,” she added, “that want to be part of our religion and to connect with them on a religious level.”
Reflecting the diversity of the St. John’s campus, there were students in attendance from throughout the New York area as well as from distant locations like California and Mexico. Even two new non-Catholic students from India watched the Mass.
“This was good,” Raj Desai said. “I wanted to see the pope for the first time and it was a good experience.”
‘A Spiritual Place’
The idea of putting the TV simulcast in the campus church of the Vincentian-founded university came from St. John’s Campus Ministry.
“It brings it into a spiritual place,” Rob Cote, residence minister for leadership said. “It’s not just watching it on TV that anyone can do in their living room. Even when we were here watching his speeches at the U.N. and Congress, it makes a connection with the Vincentian mission of Catholic social teaching.”
When the Madison Square Garden congregation gave Pope Francis a standing ovation, there was silence at first but then enthusiastic applause as well from the students at St. John’s.
“I was in the second grade when Pope Benedict came here,” freshman Matthew Chan of Fort Greene said. “But this pope really speaks to me about who I am and who we all should be as Catholics.”
Even as the liturgy ended and the St. John’s students were making the sign of the cross along with Pope Francis’ final blessing, the night’s events at St. Thomas More were just beginning.
Pizza had arrived for the group’s own supper feast and Campus Ministry would soon begin a “lock-in” retreat inside the church’s main chapel with prayers for the pope and reflection on what they all had just seen and heard.
For Balloqui, the pope’s message of focusing on the less fortunate means more than just watching one Mass on one night.
“He urges people to do something,” she said. “I’m signing up to do more with soup kitchens and going out to help others that need it.”