Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
New York City prepares for ‘The Francis.’

New York City prepares for ‘The Francis.’

Last updated on: September 23, 2015 at 9:02 pm by CNA Daily News

New York City prepares for ‘The Francis.’ 2015-09-23T21:02:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

New York City, N.Y., Sep 23, 2015 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Everyone and everything from singers and priests to the cathedral itself in the New York archdiocese are making final preparations for the Pope's next stop during his first papal trip to the U.S.

“I'm ecstatic,” Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie, rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, told CNA.

“He generates so much charism, his way of talking with people, his way of approaching the world and the various problems we deal with is very engaging.”

Msgr. Ritchie said that the Pope's first stop in New York City will be an evening prayer service at the cathedral – in some ways a very average service for a busy and unique city.

“The Pope is doing something that is not extraordinary, but quite ordinary, but it will be done in an extraordinary way,” he said. “What we’re going to be doing Thursday night is the evening prayer of the Church, which is basically the same anywhere in the world.”

The evening prayer, also called “Vespers” is an integral part of the Church’s liturgical life. “Vespers is prayed by all of the priests, all deacons, many religious orders, some sisters, some brothers,” Msgr. Ritchie explained.

“It is prayed as a pious activity by many laypeople, who join their personal prayer with that of the Church. It is a liturgical act, even if it’s done just by the priest in private, because it is a part of the liturgy of the Church.”

The service, he said, consists of psalms, readings of the scriptures. The papal vespers on Thursday will also feature a homily given by Pope Francis.

“What we will be doing is a part of the daily life of the Church and sharing that with other people.”

The vespers service will also contain musical settings for the psalms, and hymns, sung by the Cathedral’s Choir and orchestral players.

“We’ve been planning this actually since February of this year,” Dr. Jennifer Pascual, Director of Music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral told CNA.

“We’re starting off with a prelude concert of entirely sacred music,” she said, adding that the music for the prelude and vespers services will include “a whole repertoire from Palestrina of the Classical Baroque through the Romantic through living composers of today.”

The Cathedral’s choir and other choirs from New York City will also provide the music for the Pope’s Mass at Madison Square Garden on Friday Sept. 25. Mass parts for the Eucharistic prayer will all be said in Latin, at the request of the Vatican.

The choir will also sing “Pescador de hombres,” “which I understand is the Pope’s favorite hymn,” at the Mass, added Dr. Pascual, with a full orchestral arrangement.

Liturgies and music are not the only things being prepared for Pope Francis’ visit: the 136-year-old building of St. Patrick’s Cathedral itself is also receiving its own final touches before Thursday’s Vespers.

The renovation process started the nine years ago when parts of the facade of the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral began to fall down. Reconstruction “began in earnest,” Msgr. Ritchie said, in 2012.

“We were ready to finish in December of this year, then all of a sudden we began to hear rumors that the Pope might be coming to New York.” Msgr. Ritchie and other members of the Cathedral staff sat down with builders and architects, he said, “and we looked at schedules and said it is possible” to finish the renovations by the Pope’s visit.

“We put in some more effort and we worked some weekends and people bent over backwards to make sure the work is done.”

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

Previous Post

September 23, 2015

Why Pope Francis is here, according to Bishop Robert Barron

Next Post

September 23, 2015 Pope Francis: Imitate Saint Junipero Serra, be trailblazers for Christ

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Paul taught the Galatians that circumcision is necessary for salvation.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE