Students travel to New York to see pope
Students get the chance to see Pope Benedict XVI.
By Rustin Dodd (Contact)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Rachel Shieber was back in Lawrence on Monday, but the Kansas City, Mo., junior, said she couldn’t stop thinking about Sunday.
Shieber was one of three University of Kansas students who traveled to New York this weekend to see Pope Benedict XVI, and attend a papal mass at Yankee Stadium.
Shieber, Adam Hauser, Roeland Park junior, and Greg Wellnitz, Neosho Rapids senior, joined a 50-person group from the Archdiocese of Kansas City, which traveled to New York on Saturday.
“It was very humbling,” Shieber said.
Shieber, Hauser, and Wellnitz were three of 57,000 who packed Yankee Stadium to see Pope Benedict celebrate mass on Sunday. The day’s events concluded a six-day trip of the United States for Pope Benedict.
After sightseeing in New York City on Saturday, Shieber said the group woke up at 7:40 a.m. on Sunday and headed for Yankee Stadium. When Pope Benedict entered the stadium in his Pope-mobile, Shieber said the crowd greeted the leader of the Roman Catholic church with cheers and chants of “Benedict.”
“I started tearing up a little bit,” Shieber said.
Shieber and Hauser earned the opportunity to go on the trip by winning a writing contest at the St. Lawrence Catholic campus center.
The topic of the essay contest was, “In what way can St. Lawrence help KU,” Shieber said.
Back in Lawrence on Monday, Shieber said the experience of seeing the Pope in person had not quite sunk in yet.
“Usually when the priest walks into St. Lawrence, there’s not applause,” Shieber said.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
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