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While the Pope Was in Philly, the Pilgrims Were in the Riverwards


Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families shook up life as usual in downtown Philadelphia. The biggest headlines from the local news revolved around towing zones, school closures and security checkpoints. Center City was a ghost town before pilgrims from across the world descended upon the Ben Franklin Parkway to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis in the flesh.

Life in the Riverwards, however, was relatively calm. Aside from the occasional group of pilgrims passing through, the usually packed East Girard corridor was quiet. Some businesses were closed and those that were open were slow. Case in point: The main bar at Johnny Brenda’s only had three people seated at it during usually packed Saturday brunch hours.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Johnny Brenda’s bartender said as she brought out a glass of Philadelphia Brewing Company’s Holy Wooder beer. Even the Girard Market-Frankford Line station — one of the few public transit stations open throughout the weekend — was relatively light on foot traffic.

If there was one corner of the Riverwards that was buzzing, it was St. Peter the Apostle Church (1019 N 5th St.) and the Shrine to St. John Neumann in Northern Liberties. As pilgrims passed through the neighborhood on their way downtown, many stopped to pay their respects to one of Philly’s holiest sites.

/Thomas Weir

/Thomas Weir

Who is St. John Neumann and why is he important? He was a Bohemian immigrant who moved to the United States, became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia (1852–60) and the first American bishop to be canonized as a saint. As Bishop of Philadelphia, St. Neumann founded what became the first Catholic school system in the United States.

Pilgrims from Vietnam, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada and all across the country came to visit the church and shrine. Locally speaking, a group of pilgrims from St. Adalbert’s stopped by. Volunteers at St. Pete’s estimated that 10,000 pilgrims came to visit the church, shrine and new visitor center throughout the week.

One of the larger groups came from St. Mary’s in Hudson, Ohio, about 45 minutes south of Cleveland. The group got into Philadelphia on Friday night after visiting shrines in Gettysburg.

/Max Pulcini

/Max Pulcini

“We’re on a pilgrimage. We’re on an adventure to find Christ, find the Lord and grow closer together as a community,” Nick Farrell said. He was one of the more excited and animated members of the St. Mary group. Decked out in full American flag gear, Farrell was rallying the rest of group with chants and energy. “So far it’s pretty awesome. We’ve seen a bunch of saints, we’ve been praying a lot, which is always good. Go Jesus!”

The group followed up with a ‘Go Jesus’ of their own, before bursting in with more chants and dance.

Later, another group strolled by St. Pete’s playing guitars and singing in Spanish. They were a group from Denver, Colo., led by Father Tobias from Spain, Father Giovanni from Italy, and Father Emiglio from Italy. Ft. Emiglio’s English was clear enough to describe who the members of his group were.

“These are seminarians from different countries and missionaries who have been sent from their small communities around the world to Denver to study,” Ft. Emiglio said. “They will become ordained as priests in the Archdiocese of Denver and can then be sent anywhere in the world.”

/Max Pulcini

/Max Pulcini

This was Ft. Emiglio’s second time in Philadelphia, a city that is much more Catholic than the primarily Protestant Denver.

“There’s a lot of history and churches in Philadelphia. There’s a lot of the Catholic experience here that we can’t get in Denver,” Ft. Emiglio said. “We also know Archbishop [of Philadelphia] [Charles] Chaput from his time as Archbishop of Denver. He was the one who ordained me as a priest. We love him and want to support him as well as we come to Philadelphia.”

The group didn’t have tickets to see the pope, but Ft. Emiglio said that didn’t bother them too much. “As much as we’d like to see the Holy Father, we’ll be happy and blessed just to hear him.”

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