Cardinal Donald Wuerl addresses the media at a news conference on the University Mall.

This morning, dozens of reporters assembled on the University Mall for an inside look at the preparations that are underway for the Sept. 23 Mass on the East Portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during which Pope Francis will canonize American missionary Blessed Junípero Serra.

The reporters stood in the very spot where 25,000 people will gather in six days for the Mass. Before the press conference began, reporters got to witness staff members from the Office of Facilities Maintenance and Operations remove a light pole that stood in the way of the view of the East Portico of the Shrine.

Catholic University President John Garvey; Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington and University chancellor; and Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, took a brief tour of the work underway on the Shrine, including a close-up inspection of the roof and stage that will be the visual centerpiece of next week’s Mass.

During the press conference, President Garvey, Monsignor Rossi, and Cardinal Wuerl all noted the work three CUA architecture students did to design the altar furniture that will be used during the Mass.

With Cardinal Wuerl at the news conference were, from left, Chieko Noguchi, director of media and public relations for the Archdiocese of Washington; John Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America; and Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

“We’re providing the nave for the Mass,” Garvey said. “We’re best of neighbors with the Shrine.”

Garvey noted that on Sept. 23, 500 students from CUA will serve as volunteers and that approximately 6,000 members of the University community would be in attendance.

Cardinal Wuerl said he was hopeful that the sky on Sept. 23 would look “every bit as blue” as the sky this morning.

“Can you envision a better place for this Mass?” he asked.

Wuerl also spoke a bit about the “Francis effect” during the press conference.

“He [Pope Francis] has a way of touching people,” Wuerl said. “We are finding that so many young people especially are touched by Pope Francis.”

Although Wuerl said his office has received requests from approximately 10 times more people than there are spots available at the Mass, he thanked the media present for their role in bringing the Mass to those who will not be able to attend in person.

“Because of the ability you have to reach people all over the world, there will be millions of people assisting in this Mass.”

> Watch press conference video

Members of the media form a semicircle around Cardinal Wuerl on the University Mall.

President John Garvey joined students at the Franciscan Monastery on Serve with Francis Day.

Approximately 530 people spent the day serving at locations such as Carroll Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Catholic University’s community garden, Archbishop Carroll High School, and the Franciscan Monastery, where University President John Garvey helped with work in the garden.

The day of service was part of the Office of Campus Ministry’s programming tied to Pope Francis’s Sept. 23 visit to the University’s campus. Under the theme “Walk with Francis: Joy of the Gospel,” Campus Ministry is inviting members of the CUA community to “Walk with Francis” through events related to prayer, learning, and service. The events are tied to the Archdiocese of Washington’s #WalkwithFrancis initiative, which encourages D.C.-area residents to take a pledge to follow the example of Pope Francis by serving in their community however they can.

Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on Sept. 23 on the East Portico of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. During the Mass, Pope Francis will canonize American missionary Blessed Junípero Serra. The congregation will assemble in the area surrounding the steps of the Basilica, including the 3.6-acre University Mall.

John Garvey

The virtue that we need around the first of October is constancy.  In After Virtue the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre described it as the “reaffirmation in deed rather than in word” of the narrative unity of one’s life. To put it another way, it’s choosing concrete actions that reflect who you are and what you are about.  Choosing those actions has a formative affect. They shape us into the people we strive to be.

It was an important virtue for Jane Austen.  Take Elizabeth Bennett, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice.  When the “conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly” Mr. Collins proposes to her, she refuses despite pressure from her mother, and the knowledge that the marriage would ensure her family’s financial security.  It would be impossible, she says, for her to do otherwise.  That’s because Lizzie knows her own character, and knows that to find happiness in marriage she must respect and esteem her partner for life.

It’s not just a virtue for love stories.  Constancy is for all of our stories.  As MacIntyre observed, if you want to answer the question, “what should I do?” in a particular situation, you need to consider, “of what sort of story . . . do I find myself a part?”  When the alarm goes off at 6 a.m., constancy is the virtue that gets you out of bed in time for Mass, because you are Christian striving to grow in holiness.  It’s the virtue that keeps you in the library when your friends call it a night, because you are student whose goal is to excel in your field.  It is the virtue that gives you the conviction to opt-out of the hookup culture, because you are child of God made for love far greater than that.

Pope Francis is a good contemporary teacher of constancy. Worthy goals, the pope often reminds us, are not enough. We need to continually choose concrete means to achieve them. When, for example, he spoke about human trafficking in his message for the World Day of Peace this year, he reminded us that all people are children of God. That means we must “recognize in every other person a brother or sister in our human family.” But Francis didn’t stop there. He called for concrete acts of fraternity: Avoid buying goods produced through exploitation. Smile at a stranger on the street.

Francis’s point is simple: If we call ourselves Christians, we must affirm that fact in our actions. This is constancy.

As we prepare to welcome Pope Francis to the United States and to our campus in less than three weeks, the Archdiocese of Washington has challenged us to Walk with Francis by making concrete commitments to pray, serve, and act.

There are myriad ways to do this. Pray daily for the Holy Father, commit to reading a psalm a day. We can pray. Visit the elderly in your community, support a worthy charity. We can serve. Stand up for important truths like the dignity of the human person and basic goods such as family life and religious freedom. We can act.

The important thing is to make a specific commitment, and to keep it.

— John Garvey is President of The Catholic University of America. A version of these remarks was originally given at The Catholic University of America’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, September 3, 2015.

Towering behind the outdoor papal altar that was specially designed by CUA architecture and planning students will be the largest Catholic Church in North America and one of the 10 largest churches in the world. The cross atop the Great Dome of the Basilica will rise 237 feet above the pontiff. The dome, made of blue and yellow polychrome tiles and 108-feet in diameter, will provide a beautiful background image for attendees’ photos, as well as their memories.

When Pope Francis looks out at the congregation he will have an impressive view of his own — the landscape and architecture of the largest and greenest college campus in Washington, D.C. Framing the Mall, he will see some of the University’s most historic, grand buildings such as the Collegiate, Gothic-style Father O’Connell Hall (built in 1914) and Gibbons Hall (built in 1911) and the Romanesque-style McMahon Hall (built in 1892).

To anyone witnessing this historic moment there will be no divide between the University and the Basilica. The historic outdoor papal Mass will take place in one spectacular location.

The Basilica, once part of the University, is now a separate entity. But the two Catholic institutions share a close and seamless relationship. “The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is integral to our University community,” says President John Garvey.

The Annual Christmas Concert for Charity at the Basilica.

“It not only adds to the beauty of our campus, but to our faith life as well. From regular Sunday worship in the lower Crypt Church to our University-wide Mass of the Holy Spirit in the Great Upper Church that marks the beginning of our academic year to our annual Commencement ceremonies, the Basilica is the setting for many of the University’s most important moments,” says Garvey.

With support from Pope Pius X in 1913, Bishop Thomas J. Shahan, the fourth rector of Catholic University, launched a fundraising campaign that culminated in the laying of the cornerstone of a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sept. 23, 1920. The first Mass was held in the national shrine on Easter Sunday 1924. The Crypt Church was completed in 1926. The Great Depression and World War II put construction of the Great Upper Church superstructure on hold. The national shrine incorporated separately from the University in 1948. Construction resumed in 1954 and was completed in 1959.

“Since the inception of the Shrine, the University and the National Shrine have been intimately involved, especially regarding the spiritual life of the University,” says Monsignor Walter R. Rossi, Basilica rector. “To this day we continue to collaborate with annual events such as the Christmas Concert for Charity, student convocations, the Mass of the Holy Spirit, and Commencement exercises. Working together now in preparation for the visit of Pope Francis seems like a natural extension of our many joint events which are always a positive, effortless experience thanks to the wonderful cooperation of President Garvey, Frank Persico [vice president for University relations and chief of staff], and the entire President’s office.”

“It would be hard to imagine the University without the Basilica,” adds Garvey. “We are fortunate to share such a strong relationship with ‘America’s Catholic Church’ and its staff.”

As the University and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception prepare to host Pope Francis during his historic visit to the United States, members of the University community share what the Basilica means to them.

Leo Nestor
Justine Bayard Ward Professor, director of the Institute of Sacred Music at CUA
Conductor for CUA Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra at Papal Mass
Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

When in 1913 the Board of Trustees of The Catholic University of America donated land at the southwest corner of campus for the construction of a national shrine to honor Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception, who would have imagined that Bishop Shahan’s vision of a “monument of love and gratitude, a great hymn in stone” would keep that corner parcel of land and its eventual basilica so close to the CUA community?

Far greater than merely a beautiful place for our occasional concerts and convocations, it has from its inception been our spiritual oasis. There the University celebrates major liturgies in the Great Upper Church at which our chancellor Donald Cardinal Wuerl often presides. There students, faculty, and staff attend daily and Sunday Masses, regularly availing themselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Crypt Church, the very heart of the Basilica.

In this holy subterranean church evocative of the catacombs, the University community celebrates Eucharist each Sunday of the academic year at 4 p.m. While the Crypt Church with its noble acoustic and tracker organ provide an intimate space for music making, the expanse of the Great Upper Church has become the locus for our annual Christmas Concert for Charity in tandem with the Basilica musicians, which in December celebrates its 26^th year.

On the East Portico of the Basilica on Sept. 23, Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass of canonization of Fray Junípero Serra, apostle of California, at which the CUA Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra will join with many other musicians from throughout the Archdiocese of Washington. Though it is not a parish and is shared with all who come to pray, worship, and confess there, the Basilica is and has always been integral to the spiritual and liturgical life of the University.

Victor David, B.A. 2014
Altar server

I feel that being at the Basilica, both as a student and now as an alumnus of CUA, represents several things. It represented the beginning of my time at CUA when I attended the Mass during Orientation. Then it represented an end as I received my diploma on the east steps during Commencement. And because of my sustained involvement with the Basilica, it represents a continued relationship with both CUA and my faith life. In all these things, the Basilica has been a home, both spiritually and physically — I can’t help but feel at peace whenever I am there.

Serving at a Mass in the Basilica still fills me with great emotion even after having done so for almost five years. Being near the altar, looking out at the congregation, and reflecting on all the beautiful sacred art have truly helped me grow in my faith journey. For me, there is no greater honor as a young layman than to assist the priest in his role to bring Christ to others in the Eucharist. Though sometimes it can be a bit hectic when serving or as a master of ceremonies (the head server) at any given Mass, I can always find solace in the fact that what I am doing is helping others on their journey of faith. And to do that in a place as magnificent as the Basilica, I can’t help but count it as one of the great blessings in my life.

Ajani Gibson, B.A. 2015
Assistant to the Basilica’s director of liturgy

I am responsible for coordinating all the priests who say Mass and hear confessions at the Basilica. I also coordinate the 300 liturgical volunteers who assist at the various Masses at the Basilica throughout the year. During my undergrad years, I was one of the regular masters of ceremonies for the Basilica.

It is a special place. The unique nature of the Basilica is not limited to its size or grandeur; rather, it is found in how the Basilica becomes a home to thousands of pilgrims and many CUA students. You are able to find yourself reflected in the many chapels. For example, my favorite chapel is the Mary, Mother of Africa, Chapel. In it is this beautifully carved mahogany crucifix, which is similar to a crucifix in my home parish in New Orleans. For someone coming from so far and being able to have something I could connect with from home makes the Basilica a safe haven. I think by having it adjacent to campus, we, as a university, are constantly reminded of our responsibility as The Catholic University of America to set the standard for Catholic life for young adults and our responsibility to share the Catholic faith with our country.

Rev. Justin Ross, O.F.M. Conv.
Associate chaplain for liturgy and worship
CUA Office of Campus Ministry

This time of year, you will see students posting photos of themselves, standing in front of the Basilica, to Instagram. Their message is “I’m back home!” For so many students, the Basilica is part of their home and their community at CUA.

And that is perhaps most apparent in their dedication to the 4 p.m. Sunday Mass held during the school year. It is one of three student Masses held each Sunday; the other two are held in campus chapels, one in the morning and one in the evening. They each have a different feel to them. The Crypt Church Mass has a feeling of grandiosity because of the space and the sacred music, yet it’s intimate. The students are readers, servers, Eucharistic ministers, liturgical ministers, choir members, and organ players. It is their Mass, and they are ever appreciative that they have this beautiful sacred space in which to worship.

If you look at the origins of the Basilica, it was conceived as a chapel for Catholic University, which in its early days had already outgrown its small and only chapel in Caldwell Hall. And even though the Basilica has grown into the national church of the Catholic Church in America, it remains a place of worship and spirituality for our students. Our relationship with the Basilica remains strong and it is because of the generosity of its leaders that students can continue to call it part of their campus home.

Several students spoke about the growing excitement around campus in the weeks leading up to Pope Francis’s visit.

“I went to Rome last fall and I got to see Pope Francis while I was there, but to have him come to us instead of going to him is just an amazing thing,” said senior Anne Ahlering. “I think it’s going to bring a lot of life to this campus as well as to all the people who are coming and traveling here. It’s going to be a blessed time.”

“The campus is kind of crazy right now trying to get ready for this, but everyone is really excited to have him here,” said senior Katie Fournier. “It’s definitely an honor.”

Both Ahlering and Fournier said they have been coming to the Mass of the Holy Spirit each year they’ve spent at the University. Now they are looking forward to participating in the #WalkwithFrancis initiative.

“I think it’s great because it brings to life what we’re being called to do,” said Fournier. “We should already be doing these things — praying, serving, and acting, and just sharing the truth that we’ve learned and we’ve studied through this campus. It’s definitely a good push, like, ‘Let’s recommit ourselves to this mission.’”

The Mass, which took place in the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, is held annually at the opening of the school year. This year’s celebrant was Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington and University chancellor, who asked God to invoke the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the University community to strengthen and guide students, faculty, and staff throughout the 2015-16 academic year.

In anticipation of Pope Francis’s upcoming visit to the Basilica and the University, Cardinal Wuerl encouraged students to prepare themselves spiritually by working to make a difference in their community.

Faculty members dressed in full academic regalia attend this year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit.

“Pope Francis challenges us to be ‘missionary disciples,’” he said. “We are not bystanders but rather participants in the great human endeavor to make of this world a better place.

“There is a sense in which each one of us has to make that call and anointing in the Holy Spirit our own,” Cardinal Wuerl said. “This is what Pope Francis asks us to do. We are challenged to take the love and mercy of God and share it with others.”

The cardinal encouraged students to use this upcoming academic year to continue spiritual formation and to ask God’s help in living their faith.

“Here at this university, in addition to preparing for a job and a means to a paycheck, we should also accept that we have a deeper calling — to do our part to help make the world just a little better,” he said. “We come together to ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit because we dare to believe we really can make a difference. We are capable of renewing the face of the earth, or at least trying — at least, doing our part with the help of God.”

Following the homily, Cardinal Wuerl conferred the Canonical Mission — the authorization to teach in the name of the Church — to William Daniel of the School of Canon Law.

In his remarks after Mass, University President John Garvey advised students to live the virtue of constancy in their academic, spiritual, and personal lives.

Members of the University community, including Jeanne Garvey, bring up the gifts during the Mass of the Holy Spirit.

“When the alarm goes off at 6 a.m., constancy is the virtue that gets you out of bed in time for Mass, because you are a Christian striving to grow in holiness,” President Garvey said. “It’s the virtue that keeps you in the library when your friends call it a night because you are a scholar determined to excel in your field. It is the virtue that gives you the conviction to opt-out of the hookup culture, because you are a child of God made for love far greater than that.”

Garvey encouraged students to follow Pope Francis’s example of constancy by taking small, concrete steps to follow Christ. Garvey encouraged students to participate in the Archdiocese of Washington’s #WalkwithFrancis initiative by making concrete commitments to pray, serve, and act. Garvey also pledged to participate in the initiative and said he would serve at the Little Sisters of the Poor in Brookland.

“If we call ourselves Christians, we must affirm that fact in our actions,” Garvey said. “This is constancy.”

Following Mass, all students who pledged to participate in the initiative received blue wristbands marked #WalkwithFrancis. In his closing remarks, Cardinal Wuerl noted that if everyone wears the bracelets during the papal Mass on Sept. 23, it will be a visual reminder of the University’s commitment to service and prayer.

President Garvey Pledges to Walk with Francis at Mass of the Holy Spirit from CUA Video on Vimeo.

John Garvey

The jubilee year, which will begin on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), will be a special time for the Church to “to be a credible witness to mercy, professing it and living it as the core of the revelation of Jesus Christ.” This, Pope Francis says, is particularly important today because the “practice of mercy is waning in the wider culture. In some cases the word seems to have dropped out of use.” There seems to be “no room for mercy” in the modern world.

But it’s not just the practice of offering mercy that we have lost. It’s also the practice of asking for it.

Our apologies are often not apologies at all.  We say we apologize if we offended—without acknowledging that what we said or did was in fact an offense. We characterize misdeeds as “mistakes” or “poor decisions.”  More often than not, we don’t apologize at all.  Instead we let things blow over.  Maybe we go out of our way to be kind to the person we have wronged.  But rarely do we say, “I was wrong for having done X.  I am sorry for it, and I ask your forgiveness.”

But offering mercy and asking for mercy go hand in hand.

First, to honestly admit guilt to another requires me to admit guilt to myself.  And when I am conscious of my own failings it’s easier to forgive the failings of others. When the scribes and the Pharisees considered their own sins, they abandoned their plan to stone the woman caught in adultery (Jn. 8:5).

Second, when we ask for forgiveness, we create the opportunity for mercy.  And once we have experienced mercy, we are more likely to believe it is possible and to ask for it.  There is a wonderful scene in the classic children’s story The Wind in the Willows where Mole ignores his friend Rat’s advice and consequently overturns Rat’s boat, ruining his picnic lunch.  The poor guilty Mole exclaims, “Ratty, my generous friend!  I am very sorry indeed for my foolish and ungrateful conduct  . . . Will you overlook it this once and forgive me, and let things go on as before?”

It is a moment of suspense and vulnerability.  Mole has put the fate of their friendship in Rat’s hands and can only wait for his judgment.  Rat’s reply is unanticipated generosity: “That’s all right, bless you!”  Forgiveness is experienced as a wonderful and undeserved gift.

Confession is a wonderful place to begin asking for mercy.  And during the Jubilee Year of Mercy Pope Francis has commended frequent reception of this sacrament.  On a practical level confession teaches us how to make a good apology. It offers us, as Pope Francis says, the opportunity “to touch the grandeur of God’s mercy with [our] own hands.” Once we have experienced God’s mercy we can be credible witnesses of mercy, professing and living it.

— John Garvey is President of The Catholic University of America.

John Garvey

Why? Every day, multiple times each day, the sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated in churches around the world. At the Basilica alone Mass is said six times a day — seven on Sundays. Faithful Christians pray in their own homes and quietly do their best to follow Christ each day. What is it about the pope that attracts the attention of millions, believers and atheists alike? Martin Luther put the question more forcefully to Pope Leo X almost 500 years ago:

“If all who are in the Church are priests by what character are those, whom we now call priests, to be distinguished from the laity? . . . Holy Scripture makes no distinction between them, except that those, who are now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords, it calls ministers, servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the Word, for teaching the faith of Christ”

Reams have been written about the scriptural roots of the papacy, the need for a teaching authority in the Church. I won’t add to that here. I’d like, instead, to consider the purpose of such a visible head of the Church. Luther does have a point. Since Christians are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9), they all, as Luther puts it, “are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God.” Why is the Pope’s example so meaningful to so many people?

To better understand the visibility of the Church, Pope Francis has pointed to the visibility of its founder:

“To understand the relationship, in the Church, between her visible and spiritual reality, there is no other way but to look to Christ, whose Body is the Church . . . Even in Christ, in fact, through the mystery of the Incarnation, we recognize a human nature and a divine nature, united in the same person in a wonderful and indissoluble way. This applies in a similar manner to the Church. Just as in Christ, human nature serves the divine in accordance with the fulfillment of Salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible reality serve the spiritual reality of the Church.”

Christ uses his visible humanity to save us as humans, and human beings are made of soul and body. We learn through our senses: We need to hear the good news. We need to taste and see. We need to touch Christ’s pierced hands and side. Christ did not simply preach the Beatitudes and leave. He taught all of our senses by the example of his life and death.

We still need that example. That’s why we need the saints. As Pope Benedict XVI observed, “The true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth against every denial, are the saints, and the beauty that the faith has generated.” The Pope too can be a visible sign of God’s love for us. Of course, the pope’s visibility means he can also be a cause of great scandal. That has at times been the case in the history of the papacy. All the more reason to celebrate the visit of a faithful servant of the servants of God.

— John Garvey is President of The Catholic University of America.

John Garvey

But who is to effect it? Given the scope of the problem, one might think Pope Francis would call on governments, the EU, or the United Nations. But instead Pope Francis addresses the poor and underprivileged:

“What can I do as a craftsman, a street vendor, a trucker, a downtrodden worker, if I don’t even enjoy workers’ rights? What can I do, a farmwife, a native woman, a fisher who can hardly fight the domination of the big corporations? What can I do from my little home, my shanty, my hamlet, my settlement, when I daily meet with discrimination and marginalization? . . . A lot! They can do a lot. You, the lowly, the exploited, the poor and underprivileged, can do, and are doing, a lot.”

The call for the small, daily, and concrete action of the individual has been a hallmark of Francis’s papacy. In his general audiences Pope Francis has been known to give homework assignments: Look up the day of your baptism so you can celebrate it; memorize the beatitudes. In his recent encyclical Laudato Si’ he offered several concrete steps any person could take to care for and appreciate creation: Say grace before and after meals (227); wear warmer clothes instead of turning up the heat (211). It’s the kind of practical advice your dad might give you.

It’s also the kind of practical advice that removes any excuse we might have for inaction. No matter the scope of the problem — whether it’s environmental degradation, human trafficking, or poverty — there is some small step we can take to contribute to its solution. And that small step often requires a conversion of heart from love of self to love of God and neighbor.

Pope Francis’s pragmatism is also not without principle. It has theological roots. As he reminded us in his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium,

We may be sure that none of our acts of love will be lost, nor any of our acts of sincere concern for others. No single act of love for God will be lost, no generous effort is meaningless, no painful endurance is wasted. All of these encircle our world like a vital force. (279)

This certainty arises from our faith that God can and does act in every situation and does so through our small and insufficient efforts. As St. Paul reminds us, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor 4:7).

— John Garvey is President of The Catholic University of America.

John Garvey

These are the Kodak Moments of the papal visits (today, I suppose they would be Instagrammed). As we prepare to welcome Pope Francis to campus on September 23, these are the sorts of moments we imagine and look forward to.

But there are also many practical preparations that are inevitable parts of such an event. The Facilities Maintenance and Operations staff at the University are busy preparing the grounds for the papal visit. Folding chairs must be rented. Audio and video systems will have to be set up for recording and broadcasting the papal Mass. These sorts of preparations are less exciting than the actual visit. Such practical matters can seem like distractions from more spiritual things. And they can be. It reminds me of the story of Martha and Mary in the Gospel of Luke. Martha is so busy preparing things and serving Jesus that she misses out on his visit, while her sister Mary sits at the Lord’s feet.

But there is another story in the gospels that also comes to my mind as we prepare our campus to welcome Pope Francis. Before he celebrated the Last Supper, Jesus sent his disciples to make arrangements for securing the upper room to celebrate the Passover. They went into the city, they scouted out the space, and they made a reservation. These utterly practical matters were part of the preparation for the institution of the Eucharist.

Christ established a visible Church, a Church that has faces and takes up space and occasionally sits in folding chairs. And as the Second Vatican Council observed in Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church, the visible and spiritual elements of the Church are not two separate realities, “They form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element.” One of the most remarkable things about our faith is that we believe that God works through these human elements to accomplish his plan for the world.

Seen in this light, the practical preparations for Pope Francis’s visit seem anything but mundane.

— John Garvey is President of The Catholic University of America.