Meryn Cadell "Pope"

With the announcement that Francis would be the new leader of the Catholic church, this Meryn Cadell song appeared in my Facebook feed.

I'd never heard it before, but it a) reminded me that I too had a story about once seeing the Pope, and b) that my memories of the story, are actually more about telling the story of seeing the Pope.  (Meta!)


We were hot, sunburned, and very, very tired.  But also adrenalized.

We'd spent the day in the parking lot outside of RFK Stadium in Washington DC at the punk rock festival known as The Warped Tour.  We'd seen literally dozens of acts, including Bad Religion, The Reverend Horton Heat, a pre-Fergie Black Eyed Peas (they were great) and even Eminem.

There'd been a rumor floating around that Joey Ramone was going to make an appearance, so we stayed long into the day, hoping that it would be so.

Alas, he did not.

On the Metro headed back to where we were staying, we were crowded amongst a few festival goers.  But it was a weekday, so many of the riders were simply folks who were coming home from a workday.

"Too bad he didn't show up," said one of my friends.  "Seeing Joey Ramone would have been like seeing the Pope."

"I saw the Pope once."

"Oh yeah?"

And I launched into the story of how I saw the Pope once.


In 1979, I was 10 years old.  Grew up in a very Catholic family.  Regular church-goers, Sunday School attenders, etc.

At age 10, I was certainly aware of the concept of a Pope.  And with the death of Pope John Paul I a year earlier, the idea of who a Pope was and what he did was a topic of discussion.  But for the most part, the Pope was as abstract and intangible as The Holy Spirit or Heaven for me.

Then came news that Pope John Paul II would be making his first trip to America.  And that his first stop would be in Boston.  It became clear that this Pope was a real guy, and that I'd actually get to see him.

We traveled into the North End of Boston with my folks and my Uncle and Aunt and cousins and found a place on the sidewalk along what we knew to be John Paul's route from Logan Airport, to a Mass he was going to give on Boston Common.

And we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

And waited.

I was only 10, so I'm sure that even if it were just 2 hours it might have felt like 100.  But it was long.

And the sidewalks were jammed.

I remember that the scene was colorful and loud (I know, hard to believe such a thing from Italians).

My cousins and I kept walking back from the sidewalk to a storefront nearby that had a TV in the window, where we charted the Pope's progress in our direction.  Though honestly, being 10, I don't know that I actually knew where I was in relation to the airport, so I'm not sure what good that did.

At some point a roar went up from the crowd, and I pushed forward to get a glimpse of the Pope.

But no, it was just a very proud dog trotting down the middle of the street, cheerily perplexed at why all these humans had assembled for him and were clapping hysterically for him.

More waiting.

Here's what happened next.

We heard some cheering down the street.

I craned my neck to get a look.

A car with a guy with his head out of the sunroof zoomed by, waving.

And he was gone.

"That's it?" I asked my Mom.

"That was him."

"But that's all we get to see?"

It lasted no more than a few seconds.

We waited hours, and it lasted seconds.

"Did you guys see him?" I asked my cousins.

"We watched it on the TV."

And we went home.


"This was before he got shot, so there was no fancy Pope-mobile," I was telling my friends on the Metro.

"It was just an old balding guy hanging out of a limo."

I suddenly realized two things on the Metro.

I had been at a punk rock show all day, and due to my ringing ears, I was telling this story REALLY LOUDLY.

And because of this, I had the attention of all the other riders on the Metro.

Now, you may not think this would be a strange thing for a guy who talks to an audience (on the radio) every day.  But it was.

Because on the radio, no one is looking at you.

I smiled, kind of proud of myself that I was enough of a raconteur (or a big-mouth) to have drawn the attention of complete strangers.  And a bemused smile crossed my face.

I felt a little like a dog in a parade for the Pope.


See some pictures and read a recounting of the Pope's visit to boston, from The Globe and from Boston.com.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Shane MacGowan & The Popes "Donegal Express"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Here's a NSFW song . . . good thing it comes to you on a weekend, when you are hopefully not working.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  Here's a foul-mouthed and hilarious drinkin' and ruttin' song by the one and only Shane MacGowan, which has the added benefit of allowing me to make another round-a-bout reference to The Pope.


Hear the song on Youtube, where you can also find the lyrics!!!

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Smoking Popes "Rubella"

Here's another Weekend Post:

What with all this talk about Popes and White Smoke and such, it seemed like the right time for a weekend post featuring The Smoking Popes.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.
 

Glee "One Of Us"

I've written about this song before, but it popped into my head a bunch of times yesterday as the White Smoke from Vatican had cleared and news stories about the new Pope circulated.

One of the tidbits that seemed to provoke a bit of hand-scratching/bemusement of the media, was that archbishop Jorge Bergoglio was known in Buenos Aires to fore-go a driver or special car, but rather take the bus from his downtown apartment (foregoing the mansion), to his office.

And when he was elected Pope, the new Pope Francis declined to take a limousine back to the place he was staying, opting instead to ride the transport bus he'd arrived in, along with the other Cardinals.

Will this continue?  Could you get on a bus in Rome with plans to climb the Spanish Steps, only to find yourself seated next to the Pope?  Since every news report of the last 48 hours has included the words "humility" and "modesty" can we expect to see the Catholic Church's hierarchy reject the trappings of a Monarch-like existence?


There are a lot of reasons I stopped going to church and stopped participating in organized religion.  I did so long before the clergy abuse scandals came to light, and long before I traveled to Rome.  But that trip in 2003 did as much as anything to steel my feelings that the Catholic Church was not the place for me.

We spent a day in Vatican City, touring the Sistine Chapel, and the many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many halls filled with priceless artwork, statues, sculptures, pottery and gold-covered everything.  I remember lying in bed that night, trying to close my eyes and fall asleep, my brain on overload processing and organizing the completely overwhelming rush of images flickering through my memory.

There was so much money, so much wealth, so much accumulation, that it was hard to square that with the vows of poverty, the life of service, the administering to the poor, that are supposed to be the crux of the church's mission.

If you had a choice between a Pope mobile or a bus, which would you take?  Or a helicopter flown by the Italian Air Force, or the rail-train with local stops, which would you take?   Or having a butler prepare your clothing, or going to the laundromat to wash your vestments, which would you take?

Speaking realistically, even if Pope Francis wants to buy a bus pass, security concerns are unlikely to make that feasible.  He's going to have to ride in the armor-plated vehicle.  And doesn't that eventually corrupt and separate you?

So I'm not as optimistic as the folks who hear "The Pope Takes A Bus" stories and believe it's a new day for the Catholic Church.

Nor am I as cynical as the folks who, hours after Francis was elected Pope, started posting about how his positions on Marriage Equality and other social issues are no change whatsoever from the Church's previous, conservative positions.  Being surprised the Cardinals elected a Pope who holds most of the same positions as his predecessor, is like being surprised the Patriots drafted a football player, instead of, you know, an Olympic Swimmer.

As I toss and turn the "what does this all mean" in my head, and think about the future of the Catholic Church, I eventually circle back to where I have been for sometime.

I stopped practicing organized religion because I don't need anything but my own awareness, to know that I need to recognize both the humanity, and the Godliness, of that person riding next to me on the bus, be he The Pope, or just a "slob like one of us."

The rest of religion, to me, is just a lot of white smoke.


Hear the song on Youtube.