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BANGOR – There’s only one reason Susan Moore would ever set foot in Yankee Stadium – to see the pope.
A Catholic for just two years, Moore, 29, of Bangor is one of 100 people from Maine who on Sunday will attend the Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI during his first visit to the United States.
The pope will arrive in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
After events at the White House and in the nation’s capital, he’ll head Friday to New York City where he is to address the United Nations, meet with Catholic students, visit the site of the disaster at the World Trade Center and conduct Mass at the Yankees’ home stadium.
“Seeing the pope is one of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Moore, a communicant at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, said last week. “I’ve been to New York but not Yankee Stadium. I wouldn’t go see a game there, but I’ll go see the pope.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland found out in January it would be allotted 100 tickets for the papal Mass in New York, according to Sue Bernard, diocesan spokeswoman. Churches around the state put the announcement in their bulletins and tickets were distributed through the chancery in Portland, first come, first served.
Moore and her friend Laura Jamo, 20, of East Millinocket will join about 57,000 other Catholics for the Mass scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Moore grew up in the mill town and used to baby-sit Jamo.
The women, neither of whom has seen a pope before, plan to head to the Big Apple by car on Friday and stay with friends in the Boston area. They’ll stay in Connecticut on Saturday before heading into the city Sunday morning.
The Robichaud family of Hermon plans to fly out of Portland on Thursday and spend the three days in New York City before heading home next Monday. All five family members, David, 45, Linda, 45, Frances, 9, Hannah, 7, and David Henry, 3, will attend the papal Mass.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Linda Robichaud said last week. “We’ll not get another chance to all be at a papal Mass together. It will be a first for our entire family and a great thing for our children because, at their ages, they’ll be able to remember it.”
The only disappointment, she said, is that Hannah, who along with her older sister attends All Saints Catholic School in Bangor, will not be able to take Communion. She’ll have her First Communion on May 5 at St. John’s, her mother said.
“I’m more excited for the children than I am for myself,” Linda Robichaud said. “I really want to create a memory that will strengthen their faith. To be surrounded by that many people who share our faith can only strengthen our faith.”
Moore said she expected the experience to bring her closer to God.
“I’ve become a stronger person through my faith,” she said. “I know I’m going to be overwhelmed but this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I hope to feel a different kind of strength when I walk away from Mass with him.”
Bishop Richard J. Malone, spiritual leader of Maine’s Catholics, last week extended a welcome to the pope from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
“I ask the Catholic people of Maine to join me in prayer that the Holy Father’s presence in our nation will be a time of grace for Catholics and for all men and women of good will,” he said.
That good will apparently did not extend to the grass in Yankee Stadium.
“The Yankees had only one request, and that is that we not touch their grass,” said Mark Ackermann, who is running the Office of the Papal Visit for the New York Archdiocese. “The All-Star game will be there this year and of course we’re all confident that the World Series will be there as well.”
That is not a hope Moore shares. At the end of the Mass, when the pope blesses the people and the items they’ve brought with them, she will hold up the rosary given to her by her godfather, and her Red Sox key chain.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. For more information on the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States, go to www.uspapalvisit.org.
jharrison@bangordailynews.net
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