One of the most influential men on the planet is scheduled to visit the United States next week. Pope Benedict XVI will visit Washington and New York April 15-20. The public will have a chance to see the pontiff in person when he says Mass at the new Nationals Park and Yankee Stadium. Other plans for the leader of the Catholic Church include a formal dinner at the White House and a visit to Ground Zero.
If you can’t make it to the Big Apple or our nation’s capital in time for the Pope’s visit you might consider signing up for city tours that take tourists around to sites that are rich in Catholic history.
For example, in New York, tour operators offer daylong trips to some the city’s most prominent Catholic sites including the world-famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The massive gothic-style church on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st streets, near Rockefeller Center is the central church of the New York Archdiocese. It offers a slew of daily and weekend masses that are often packed with out-of-town visitors some of who are not even Catholic.
Pope Benedict XVI is rumored to be making a pit stop at New York’s oldest Catholic church, St. Peter’s. It was built in 1785 and is located at Barclay and Church streets, a block from the site of the World Trade Center. The church sustained damage on 9/11 and is perhaps best known as the site where rescue crews brought the body of Father Judge. Judge was a beloved Fire Department chaplain killed outside the twin towers. A piece of debris from Ground Zero shaped like a cross remains erected outside the church.
The Pope is also planning to visit St. Joseph’s Church on East 87th Street at First Avenue. It is historically a German-speaking church and the Pope, who is German, is scheduled to appear there on April 18th for a meeting with Protestant and Orthodox Christian leaders.
Other noteworthy Catholic churches in the New York City area include St. Malachy’s Church located at 239 W. 49th Street. It is known as the “Actors’ Chapel” because it offers an 11 p.m. Saturday night Mass that attracts theatergoers and cast members getting out from Broadway shows. Many visitors to New York also frequent the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. The Park Avenue church is where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ funeral was held.
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