If you are part of a 30,000-strong crowd of fans at Rate Field, or any other baseball park, you would expect to jump to your feet for any number of reasons, A walk off home run, a spectacular catch at the outfield wall, a grand slam homer, or a runner thrown out at the plate, to name a few.
But you would never hear over the roaring crowd the collective exclamation from 30,000 plastic seats suddenly relieved of their occupants’ weights and snapping upright, as you would have heard many times on June 14th as the faithful dutifully came to their feet during a high mass celebrating a newly elected Holy Father. The green numbered seats seemed to scream out together “What? An American pope? From Chicago? And a confirmed White Sox fan? Holy Father, indeed!”
The weather was beautiful, the crowd polite, proud, and happy. The ballpark help seemed eager to please, and restrictions on seating and other areas was loose to unenforced. They weren’t needed for this diverse group of mostly Catholic celebrants. Absent for the five and one-half hour event were the things that make us cringe, or keep us at home: foul language, abusive signage, and aggressive behavior. Security could have taken the day off.
Many notables spoke of Leo IX. The Pope himself spoke on a pre-recorded message on the jumbo screen that dominates center field, encouraging the young to engage in changing the world for the better. Cardinal Blaise Cupich spoke forcefully and eloquently on the contributions of immigrants, the cruelty and lawlessness of the current immigration policies, drawing many rounds of applause. But not from the guy in front of me, or a few sitting around me, so I guess we still stand divided on this issue.
I am often critical of my Catholic Church for many reasons, especially on its insistence on a celibate priesthood and denial of ordination to women, but on that sunny Saturday, it felt good to be among the many other Catholics celebrating the curious intersection of papal election, civic pride, and baseball fandom.
God bless you, Pope Leo.
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