Photos from the Papal Visit to Washington, D.C.
April 18th, 2008 by Br. Peter Totleben, OP
As a part of his Apostolic Visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI was in Washington, D.C. from April 15 to April 18, 2008. The pope had several engagements during this time. The Dominican community at the House of Studies in Washington, D.C. got to be close-up for several of these events. Below are links to the pictures that we took.
On the morning of April 16, the Holy Father was greeted at the White House, where a number of our brothers attended. Br. Pius, posted about this already. Here are our photos of this event.
Later that evening, the Pope came to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to celebrate Vespers and address the bishops. Our Dominican community had several prominent roles in this event. Br. Pius Pietrzyk was one of the deacons to the Holy Father at Vespers. He took some behind the scenes photographs, and blogged about the experience here. The other members of our community were invited to be present at the Shrine in two places: some of our brothers were on the steps of the Shrine to greet the Holy Father, while others were in the Upper Church of the Shrine in order to usher invited guests to watch the Vespers that was taking place in the Crypt Church below. These latter brothers got very close views of the Holy Father when he entered and left the Shrine. For both groups of people, the ones in and outside the Shrine, some of our brothers put on a preaching program to prepare for the Holy Father’s arrival. Frs. Joseph Barranger, John Corbett, and James Cuddy, O.P. preached inside the Shrine, while Fr. Dominic Legge, Br. Hugh Vincent Dyer, and Br. James Brent, O.P. preached to the people on the steps of the Shrine. Here are photographs of this event.
The next morning, Thursday, April 17, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in Nationals Stadium. Many of the members of our community heard confessions, concelebrated, helped to distribute Holy Communion, or served as deacons. We were seated on the field for the Mass, and so we were able to get a close-up view of the Holy Father. Here are some of our pictures.
