PHILADELPHIA — Hundreds of Arkansans took a nearly 24-hour bus trip to feed the homeless and celebrate their faith with hundreds of thousands of other Catholics at the World Meeting of Families this weekend.
“Seeing the Pope? That’s a bonus,” organizer Catherine Phillips, 53, of Booneville said Saturday.
More than 250 Arkansans made the pilgrimage to Philadelphia for the World Meeting, a Catholic celebration of families held every three years. The buses drove straight to Pennsylvania after leaving Arkansas on Thursday afternoon. The riders said that to pass the time, they sang songs, slept and watched videos or coverage of the pope’s first trip to the United States.
Those on buses chartered by Christ the King Catholic Church in Fort Smith and Springdale’s St. Raphael slept on pews in the sanctuary of Old First Reformed Church of Christ in downtown Philadelphia.
As part of the church’s weekly ministry regarding the homeless, the Northwest Arkansas group served breakfast Saturday morning and handed out clothes and toiletries. Phillips said the group wanted to embrace Pope Francis’ message and didn’t want to be tourists during the trip.
“We want it to be about service. That’s the spirit we wanted this pilgrimage to have,” she said. “It was an incredible experience. We were all blessed to be a part of this ministry.”
Garrett Yoes, 22, of Fort Smith spent much of his morning talking with homeless people as they ate breakfast.
“I got to hear some of their life stories,” he said. “I have a big heart for the poor.”
Yoes said he slept near the organ in the Philadelphia church’s choir loft, calling it “a camping trip in the city.”
His home parish is Christ the King. He joined the trip because “I wanted to meet the pope. Honestly, who doesn’t?” Francis’ trip to the United States included a stop in Philadelphia for the World Meeting, held in the United States for the first time.
The Arkansas volunteers prepared and served the breakfast of apples, biscuits and gravy, eggs, coffee and juice. There were concerns whether grocery stores would be open in the area so, “they literally brought it all the way from Arkansas,” said Old First’s pastor, Michael Caine.
With tightened security and road closures because of the pope’s visit, Caine said he was initially concerned that volunteers wouldn’t make it into the city to serve Saturday’s breakfast to the homeless.
Having the Arkansans stay at the church and provide the food Saturday and today was a boon for homeless people in the area because many charities weren’t providing their normal services while the city hosted the World Meeting of Families. More homeless people than usual ate the breakfast Saturday, he said, adding that he saw many faces he didn’t recognize.
“The pope’s visit has been very hard on the homeless,” Caine said, pointing out that many of them sleep in the public spaces where the pope spoke over the weekend, and that is where charities normally reach those people. “Obviously, none of that was going to happen this week.”
North Little Rock’s Immaculate Conception parish sent three busloads of people from churches around the state. The 164 people who rode the central Arkansas buses stayed in a hotel an hour and a half outside of Philadelphia in Lancaster, Pa.
Immaculate Conception Youth Director Christie Powell, 55, of Morrilton organized the central Arkansas buses originally just for her teens, but then extended the offer to other churches. People of all ages soon joined, including several babies who made the trip with their parents.
Powell said she was most excited to see the young travelers get excited about their faith.
“It’s really cool to be a Catholic right now. I can see the excitement building. If we see the pope, that’s the cherry on top,” she said. “We’re just going to depend on the holy spirit to lead us.”
She hopes the youths adopt Francis’ message of having a servant’s heart.
“We should all try to do like he does and all he does is be like Jesus,” Powell said. “If we all did that, this world would be a better place.”
As they rode into Philadelphia from Lancaster on Saturday morning, the buses were stopped along the highway by the arrival of Pope Francis’ plane and his drive into the city, Powell said. The group snapped photos of the plane and motorcade.
In blaze-orange shirts with “Arkansas” written across the backs for easy identification in the crowd, the central Arkansas travelers joined their red-shirted Northwest Arkansas counterparts for a lunchtime Mass at St. Augustine Catholic Church. The Mass was led by Arkansas priests on the trip.
In Philadelphia, Francis celebrated Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, spoke outside Independence Hall and attended the festival of families, a Saturday evening event that was part of the World Meeting.
Today he is to visit inmates in the Curran-Fromhold prison in Philadelphia, meet with bishops and celebrate an afternoon Mass with an estimated million congregants on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway before returning to Rome.
Dozens of Arkansans waited along barricades Saturday afternoon to see Francis pass in a Fiat on his way to speak about immigration and religious freedom outside Independence Hall.
Rita Strickland, 66, of Sherwood said she’d seen previous popes but had never gotten so close before.
“You could just feel the spirit coming out of him,” she said.
Anne Blaylock, 66, of Sherwood said she nearly cried when he drove past. She started to get emotional again talking about it.
“It’s just a joyful kind of thing,” she said. “I mean, this will never happen again in my lifetime.”
Tony Spahn, 73, of Greenwood was beside himself Saturday.
“I just couldn’t believe it. I got within 15 feet of him, 20 feet,” he said. “I feel so blessed to be here.”