Editor's Desk: Summer Vacation?

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 7/18/02)

Despite persistent rumors that he is too frail to travel, Pope John Paul II will be in Toronto next week with an estimated 250,000 young people for World Youth Day. Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde and nearly 200 diocesan pilgrims will make the trip north of the border to be with the Holy Father.

The 82-year-old pontiff will then travel to Guatemala to canonize Blessed Pedro de San Jose Betancur and Mexico City to canonize Blessed Juan Diego, the peasant who saw Our Lady of Guadalupe. In mid-August he will return for another visit to his native Poland.

The HERALD will be with Pope John Paul II nearly every step of the way. Staff writers Linda Busetti and Alfonso Aguilar will be in Toronto and Mexico City respectively to cover the events for the paper.

WYD organizers are excited about the opportunity to be with the pope, despite lower than expected crowds.

"He told me that he's coming, and I believe he's truly living for this," said Canadian Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, national director of World Youth Day 2002.

"His presence is now an icon in the best sense of the word," Father Rosica said. "I think what he represents and who he represents speaks more profoundly than the words we sometimes have difficulty understanding."

In an apparent concession to his age and growing frailty, the pope will arrive in Canada four days early so he can rest outside the city. His four days of relaxation will be interrupted by an official welcoming ceremony July 25. The mini-vacation at Strawberry Island in Ontario will give the pope a chance to get over jet lag.

"He's going to be in nature, near the water, and it's a very beautiful place," said Father Rosica.

The pope will preside over the evening vigil celebration in a downtown Toronto park July 27 and a closing Mass the next day. He will deliver talks or homilies at the opening ceremony, the vigil and the Mass, and pronounce shorter greetings at the Toronto airport when he arrives and departs.

For Aguilar, the visit to his hometown of Mexico City is just the beginning of his international trips for the paper. He will be heading to Haiti in August with Father Richard Martin and a group from Nativity Parish in Burke to cover Operation Starfish, the parish’s ongoing efforts — in conjunction with Food for the Poor — to build housing and medical facilities for the poorest of the poor.

Aguilar will accompany Bishop Loverde and Father Gerard Creedon in September to the Diocesan Mission in Banica. The bishop’s visit to the mission last September was cancelled because of Sept. 11.

There was a time when the summer months brought a slower pace to the newspaper business. Schools recess until Labor Day, advertisers scale back their insertions and the weekly page counts are down. Some papers even shift to a bi-weekly schedule during July and August. But one look at our staff’s itinerary for the next few weeks quickly dispels the notion of a summer slowdown.

And just think, our annual Back to School issue is just around the corner. The bishop will help open the newly renovated St. William of York School in Stafford on Aug. 26. He is scheduled to dedicate the new St. Joseph Hall at Queen of Apostles School in Alexandria on Sept. 28.

Can anyone give me directions to the beach? — M.F.F.

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