Pope’s People Count the Days

Marguerite Ewing, whose backyard overlooks the San Fernando Mission, plans to perch atop a step stool with a rented video camera to record the Sept. 16 historic landing of the helicopter that will bring Pope John Paul II to the San Fernando Valley.

Disheartened because she was on the losing end of a church lottery for tickets to a papal Mass in Los Angeles the same day, Julianne Dickinson decided her best bet to see the Pope would be to buy an $85 bus ticket out of the Valley to go the Pope’s Mass in Monterey.

And a group of Latinos from East Valley Catholic churches have been rehearsing the same two-minute folkorico dance over and over in a hot auditorium all summer, perfecting what may be the proudest performance of their lives before 70,000 papal Mass spectators at Dodger Stadium.

A Chorus of Expectation

Throughout the San Fernando Valley, Roman Catholics are echoing a chorus of expectation as the Pope’s visit to Los Angeles Sept. 15 and 16 approaches. Whether it is distributing papal Mass tickets or volunteering to serve as a signer for the deaf at masses, each of the Valley area’s 64 parishes is participating in some small piece of the grand picture.

“I think this is turning out to be one of those great moments in everyone’s lives,” said Msgr. Patrick Reilly, pastor of St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Burbank. “The Vatican will come to us, instead of us having to go to the Vatican.”

In what will be a first-time visit of a pontiff to a California mission, Pope John Paul II is scheduled to spend more than five hours at the San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills. From about 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sept. 16, the Pope will convene a private meeting and prayer service with about 300 of the nation’s bishops.

The residents in the neighborhood of the mission have been caught up in the magnitude of the papal meeting just up the palm-lined boulevard from their homes. For years, they found delight living near the tranquil setting, but now they are bracing for an invasion of spectators, security officials and low-flying helicopters.

As early as two months ago, 31-year-old Maria Enriquez said, she was playing with her twins in her living room when she noticed a man in a business suit driving a car slowly up and down her street. He parked the car and walked around her house and the side alley that separates her home from the mission grounds.

“He came up to my door and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, something is happening here.’ I was scared to open the door,” Enriquez said. She said the man showed a badge, identified himself as a Secret Service agent and asked whether she would allow an officer to stand in her backyard during the papal mission visit.

“I told him I didn’t want any guns around my children, but it would be OK to have someone in the back,” she said. “My house is so close to the mission, I guess they have to check out everything.”

Last week, Los Angeles police held a meeting at Alemany High School, which overlooks the mission from Rinaldi Street, to warn residents about the activities expected Sept. 16.

Only residents with identification will be allowed to enter and leave the neighborhoods nearest the mission, police said. Also, residents must submit to police the name, address and driver’s license numbers of any visitors or guests they expect that day.

Noise Warning Issued

A flyer distributed to residents said they should prepare for loud helicopter noises “that may frighten children or small pets.” Homeowners whose property borders the mission’s grounds were told to keep windows and doors closed and to secure lawn furniture or other items that could be blown away by helicopter-generated winds.

Residents whose backyards offer a view of the landing zone were instructed by the flyer that “you may stand in the rear of your yard to watch,” but must be in plain sight and must not carry objects that “could be mistaken for firearms and cause unnecessary concern among security personnel.”

Although police officials said they cannot predict the number of spectators that will gather near the mission, the eastern part of Brand Park across the street from the mission’s main entrance has been designated for crowds.

“We are telling people that they are going to have no chance of seeing the Pope if they come to the mission. He will not be in view,” Sgt. Louis Page said. “As far as the number of people to expect, we can’t estimate what we’ve never had before.”

A leader of a Catholic feminist organization called Women for Change in the Church said her group hopes up to 300 supporters will demonstrate peacefully outside the mission, protesting with banners that “women have been made voiceless and invisible by the institutional church.”

“The mission visit is a most appropriate place to express our concerns,” group leader Margaret Arnold of Eagle Rock said. “All the leaders of the church in the United States will be there, and they have to be made accountable to us.”

About half a mile directly north of the protest site and across from the mission fields, Holy Cross Hospital will hang a huge welcome banner that hospital officials hope will be seen by the Pope.

Secret Service officials requested that staff members be on hand at the hospital’s trauma unit in case of an emergency, spokeswoman Christina Karlsen said. Outpatient clinics and hospital business will operate as usual, she said.

All this neighborhood activity has prompted Rose Dolson to throw a barbecue the day of the papal visit. “I don’t know if we will be able to see anything, but, with all the excitement, I thought we ought to do something,” Dolson said.

Ewing, 59, said the police officer who inspected her backyard for security purposes told her she would have one of the best views of the helicopter arrivals and departures.

Pope ‘in My Backyard’

“All these years, the most activity I’ve seen out there has been the priests and seminarians playing football,” Ewing said. “Now, I’ve got the Pope practically in my backyard.”

Some residents, however, are disturbed by the restrictions. “I really don’t care about the Pope,” said one woman who did not want to give her name. “I’m leaving town that day, so I don’t have anything to do with it.”

But some people want everything to do with the Pope’s visit.

For the past week, Norma Wedewer of Valencia has diligently supervised the distribution of papal Mass tickets at her parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Newhall. Then she volunteered to answer telephones at the archdiocese’s papal visit office 35 miles away in downtown Los Angeles.

“I just wanted to do my little part,” she said.

At Our Lady of Perpetual Help, as well as most Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the distribution of papal Mass tickets was done largely by lottery. The winners got their tickets this week.

“It’s been like handing out presents,” Wedewer said of the ticket distribution. “One lady just left the rectory, and her face was literally glowing.”

Dickinson, 44, a parishioner at St. Bernardine’s in Woodland Hills, was a lottery loser.

“Oh, I was so disappointed,” Dickinson said. “ I really wanted to see the Pope, and I doubt I’ll ever make it to Rome.”

So last week, when the West Hills woman saw an advertisement in the newspaper offering an $85 all-night bus ride and ticket to the papal Mass at the Laguna Seca Raceway during the Pope’s visit to Monterey on Sept. 17, Dickinson signed up.

“I tell you, I was determined to get to a Mass,” she said. “Just to be there with the Pope and see him, it will be worth the bus ride.”

Similar sentiments were voiced among those Valley Catholics who have volunteered to be a part of the papal events.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to sing,” said Pedro Lira, 55, one of eight choir members at St. Catherine of Siena’s Church in Reseda selected to participate in the 1,200-member papal Mass choir. For weeks, the St. Catherine choir members have met on their own after the papal rehearsals to practice the hymns.

Seeking Perfection

“When you are a part of something so important, you want to be perfect,” choir member Mary Janus said.

For years, holiday shows for friends and family have been the high point for a group of young Latino folk dancers at St. Ferdinand’s Church. But, on Sept. 16, they will be dancing center stage at Dodger Stadium at a pageant designed to celebrate the ethnic diversity of Los Angeles. The Mass is expected to draw about 70,000 people.

“This is the biggest dance in my life,” said Ana-Lupe Morado, 17, of Sylmar, adding, with a giggle, “It’s bigger than the prom.”

Although he is no dancer and has no ticket to the Mass, it is Clemente Chavez, 60, of Pacoima, who may well be the proudest person associated with the dance troupe. Both of his grown daughters are dancing.

“You know, for 21 years, my wife and I drove them back and forth to all the rehearsals. We didn’t want them to forget their Mexican roots,” Chavez said. “And now, to think they are dancing for the Pope. I’ll never forget this.”

THE POPE VISITS SAN FERNANDO MISSION

Street restrictions in the San Fernando Mission area for the Sept. 16 papal visit:

Street Closures: San Fernando Mission Boulevard will be closed between Stranwood and Sharp avenues from 3:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. A one-block section of Columbus and Noble avenues between Brand and San Fernando Mission boulevards will be closed. City transportation officials said Brand Boulevard will remain open to traffic unless the number of spectators in the area necessitates closing it.

Restricted Neighborhood Access: Only residents with identification will be allowed to enter the neighborhoods inside the perimeter of Rinaldi Street, the Golden State Freeway, Brand Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. The North Valley Occupational Center will conduct classes as usual. Students and staff will be asked by traffic officers to show identification.

Parking Restrictions: Parking will be prohibited on the south side of Rinaldi Street between Sepulveda Boulevard and the Golden State Freeway, along both sides of Brand Boulevard between Stranwood and Sharp avenues, and along the east side of Sepulveda Boulevard between Rinaldi Street and Brand Boulevard. Signs will be posted the midnight before the Pope’s arrival and removed after 4 p.m.

Crowd Control: The Pope’s visit to the mission is not open to the public, and he will arrive and depart by helicopter with no public exposure. Nevertheless, police said, spectators will be allowed to gather in the eastern area of Brand Park across the street from the main entrance to the mission.