San Diego Tickets to Pope’s Mass in L.A. Going Fast

Some of the 12,500 free tickets allocated to the San Diego Roman Catholic Diocese are still available for the Sept. 15 Mass to be celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Los Angeles, a church spokesman said.

“At this stage, a few hundred are left, but they won’t be for long the way things are going,” said Msgr. Francis Pattison, the San Diego diocesan coordinator for the historic papal visit.

Pattison’s office has been with telephone calls and written requests for the remaining tickets. People wanting tickets must fill out an application and requests are considered on the basis of need. Catholics get first priority, he said.

Pattison said the diocese has been pleased with the response and requests for 10,000 tickets were sent to the Los Angeles Archdiocese in mid-July.

‘It’s not just ‘Come and get your ticket,’ ” Pattison said. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

Names on Tickets

Tickets are printed with the name and address of the holder for security reasons.

The 100-plus parishes in San Diego and Imperial counties are handing out tickets that were allotted to them on the basis of the number of member families. Each parish was left to divvy up the tickets “as they saw fit” and those with a waiting list held lotteries, Pattison said.

“Most churches did not need to have lotteries because there was a sufficient number of tickets,” he said. People who were on waiting lists now have tickets.

“When we feel every parishioner that’s going to look for a ticket has done so, we will satisfy more requests,” Pattison said. “Any leftover tickets will be sent back to Los Angeles, where there is a desperate shortage of them.”

Parishioners from the San Diego diocese will attend the Mass in the Los Angeles Coliseum, where over 100,000 people are expected. Each diocese is assigned a section and seats are reserved.

“We have about 210 buses going and also have an Amtrak train reserved for 640 (passengers),” Pattison said.

The Coliseum opens at 1 p.m. and entertainment is scheduled from 4 p.m. until the Mass is celebrated at 6 p.m.

One hundred tickets each were offered to the dioceses in Tijuana and Mexicali as a friendly gesture by Bishop Leo T. Maher, said Pattison.

The general public and Catholics who do not get tickets will have their chance to see the Pope along the 10-mile motorcade route in Los Angeles after his morning arrival at the airport on Sept. 15.