Washington, DC

Pope Benedict XVI is making his first visit to the United States as Pope and he is starting his visit in Washington, D.C. He is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday, April 15, and will be celebrating his 81st birthday in D.C. on April 16. According to the itinerary, he will be doing a Popemobile route at noon on April 16, but the exact route has not been released yet. The Frequently Asked Questions on the Official Website for the visit says that there will also be a Popemobile route on April 17. I will be on the lookout for when the routes are released, as I probably will try to see the Pope go by, and if I remember I will do a post with the details.

Pope Benedict XVI will be saying mass on April 17th at the Nationals New Park (I wonder if this is why there is such a delay in when ballpark tours not starting until April 19, for which tickets went on sale for today and I got the first ticket for the first public tour). Tickets are free, but you got to be able to get them from your parish. Basically, though, if you do not have them you are not going to get them. They have implemented a strict non-transferable policy and will be checking government ids. Only ones that could possibly sneak in are minors using someone else’s ticket because minors (under 18 years old) will not need to show id. If you do have tickets, then plan to be there before 8:30am when the Procession begins, although the pre-Mass program begins at 5:15am when the park opens. Do not worry about getting breakfast before you leave home (Metro specially opens at 5am to handle mass goers) because the Concession stands will be open at 6am. Also, contrary to attending to a Nats game you cannot bring in any food or beverages to the Mass.

For those that want their souvenirs related to this Papal Visit, there are plenty of options. My favorite is the special Metro Card that you can get at the Metro Center ticket office. It is a Metro One Day Pass for Mass Day (April 17, 2008). It costs $9 and is good all day on the Metro and is even valid during Rush Hour, which normal one day passes are not. Another interesting souvenir I have personally seen is the Build-a-Bear shirt, which is on sale at the Nationals Park Build-a-Bear as well as other D.C. area Build-a-Bear stores. Other souvenirs are available online here and the same stuff is available at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the Catholic University campus.

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St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching this weekend (No, I am not considering Monday part of the weekend, but instead referring to the fact that St. Patrick’s Day is being religiously observed early because the 17th falls within Holy Week.), so it seemed fitting to feature St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in D.C. as the Special Topic of the week.

The St. Patrick’s Parish was established in D.C. in 1794 to serve the Irish immigrants working on the White House and Capitol Building. The church has gone through several versions with one of the previous designs being attributed to James Hoban, the original architect of the White House. The current church building that stands on the same spot on the corner of 10th Street NW and G Street NW (exact address is 619 10th St. NW) was completed in 1884 after 12 years of construction. The style of the present Church building is Gothic and gives it a feel of being even older than it is.

Reading through the short history of this Church, which can be found on it’s website here, I found some interesting facts relating to its history. One is that the second pastor of the St. Patrick’s Church, William Matthews, was the first American to be ordained a priest in the United States. Another interesting tidbit related to the Church is that their pipe organ was the first one in D.C. In 1814, British troops attended Sunday mass here during their invasion and burning of public buildings of D.C. In 1895, this Church was also the host of the First National Eucharistic Congress.

This year’s Solemnity of Saint Patrick mass is being held at St. Patrick’s Church on Friday, March 14, 2008 at 11:30am. Festivities include the Washington D.C. Fire Department’s Emerald Society Pipes and Drums and children performing traditional Irish step dancing.