Grandma and Grandpa saw the Pope :)

BRIDGTON Couple Off to See Pope
(Lewiston Sun Journal)

By Daniel Hartill , Staff Writer
Saturday, April 19, 2008

Even as one person in a sea of 55,000 filling New York City's Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Sheila Sullivan hopes to feel something miraculous in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to be this close to the holiest man on Earth," Sullivan said Friday as she readied for the bus trip south. She and her husband, Peter, plan to join a busload of people from St. Joseph's Church in Bridgton.

They expect to leave Saturday morning and pick up Catholics along their route to New Jersey, where they plan to spend the night before attending the Mass in the Bronx on Sunday.

The leader of the Catholic church is scheduled to visit the site of the World Trade Center before addressing the packed baseball stadium.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland was given 100 tickets for the papal visit in the Yankee Stadium, also known as the House That Ruth Built in honor of baseball great Babe Ruth.

The Sullivans signed on quickly for the first-come, first-served tickets. It took little thought, Sheila Sullivan said.

"In a world that has lost its way, he is a beacon," she said. Every era has managed to get the right pope for its time, she said.

Pope Benedict's gifts include an ability to gently preach truths, said Peter Sullivan. Where others might incite anger, Benedict enlightens, he said.

Peter Sullivan hopes to find "renewal" in the pope's presence. "The Christian message needs constant reminding," he said.

Ever since the pope's arrival in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the Sullivans have been watching his every move on TV. Of course, the pair are veteran pope watchers. During a trip to Rome several years ago, they glimpsed Pope John Paul II.

"We saw him in his popemobile," Peter Sullivan said, referring to the bulletproof vehicle the pontiff uses in public appearances.


"Maybe he was more charismatic," he said of the former pope, who died in 2005.

"We lost a holy, holy, holy man," Sheila Sullivan said.

That takes nothing away from the current pope, she said.

"He is humble, intelligent and analytical to the needs of the world," she said of Pope Benedict XVI. "He is a brilliant, brilliant man."