The Pope's Visit to Iowa

[Bishop Maurice John Dingman] I like to say that this whole thing has been providential. God wants it and he's going to get it. And I don't think you can explain what has happened here, from the very beginning to the point to which we have come at the present time. It really doesn't have an explanation except to say it's providential.

 

[Saint John Paul II] Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the land is God's gift entrusted to people from the very beginning.

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[Major General Harold Thompson] I can't even describe the feeling that occurred at this event. It was remarkable.

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[Marty Jorgensen] All of a sudden, the crowd literally changed.

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[David Oman] Well, this was the first of its kind ever event in the state of Iowa. It turned out to be the biggest event of its kind ever in the state of Iowa. Flying in here on that helicopter with Governor Ray looking down at a quarter million people. Who has ever seen that? When have we ever seen that? It never happened in the history of the state prior to October 4th, 1979, it hasn't happened since.

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[Monsignor Frank Bognanno] Everybody in the U.S. thought, this is it. Like Paul VI, this is his one visit to the United States. This is it, boy.

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[Bishop Dingman] To a pilgrim Pope, we a pilgrim people extend our heartfelt welcome.

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(applause)

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[Narrator] For one day in the fall of 1979, Iowa's capital city became the capital of the Christian world. Pope John Paul II, the head of the Roman Catholic Church at the time, made rural America his pulpit to deliver a message of conservation and gratitude to a crowd of thousands.

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[Narrator] On May 18th of 1920, Pope John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyla in the southern Polish town of Wadowice. His journey to the papacy would take him through difficult times on a global scale. At the age of 18, Wojtyla moved with his father to Krakow to attend university where he studied philosophy, theatre and multiple foreign languages.

 

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[Narrator] But Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 disrupted his academic plans and for four years, the future Pope worked hard labor in a rock quarry to avoid deportation by the Nazis.

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[Narrator] In 1942, Wojtyla entered the underground seminary, a clandestine theology program operated by the Archbishop of Krakow. Following the war, he was ordained into the priesthood on November 1st, 1946 and sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate of philosophy in 1948. His first assignment in the priesthood was at the rural parish of in Niegowić in southern Poland. Wojtyla rose through the ranks of the church quickly. By the age of 38, he became the youngest bishop in Poland. In the early 1960s, Wojtyla had a front row seat to significant changes in the church with the second Vatican council. And, in 1967, he was assigned the status of Cardinal. Wojtyla was elected to the papacy in October of 1978, following the death of Pope John Paul I, who had been Pope for only 33 days. Wojtyla chose the name Pope John Paul II in honor of the two previous pontiffs. He was the first non-Italian Pope since the 16th century. Throughout his papacy, Pope John Paul II traveled almost 700,000 miles and was the first to visit several different countries in the same year.

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[Monsignor Bognanno] Well, the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church worldwide. And historically, he has always been the Bishop of Rome, that is how you become Pope is you are elected Bishop of Rome. Okay, this happened for 2,000 years. So, but the Pope likes to go out now that he's Bishop of all these people, different countries. Well, the only Pope that really had visited is Pope Paul VI. He came to the United Nations, gave a nice talk in New York, went back to Rome.

(speaking in foreign language)

There he is! There he is!

[Monsignor Bognanno] Pope John Paul, he had a bigger vision. I'm going to go throughout the world. I think he visited something like 120 different countries during his time as Pope. And, in fact, when he came to Iowa, or the United States, everybody in the U.S. thought, this is it, like Paul VI, this is his one visit to the United States. This is it, boy.

(crowd cheering)

[Narrator] The newly-elected head of the Catholic Church was eager to visit the United States as Pope. Many dioceses in cities across the country extended invitations to the Pontiff. Among those appeals was a handwritten letter by a farmer from Truro, Iowa encouraging the Holy Father to visit rural America. The invitation was delivered to Vatican officials by Bishop Maurice Dingman, head of the Des Moines Diocese at the time. Dingman's kindness endeared him to his community.

[Bishop Dingman] We have a common heritage, we can all address our Father together, and we can speak from this knoll, this hilltop and we can embrace the whole world.

[Governor Robert Ray] Bishop Dingman cared about people. He had a way to make religion live and I had a high regard for the man. And he was chiefly responsible, once the invitation was issued.

[Bishop Dingman] I guess what people most often ask me is, how important was he in this whole process? And my answer is that it would never have happened except for Joe Hays.

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[Joe Hays] The letter is dated 19 July 1979, to His Holiness Pope John Paul II. We here in St. Mary's, Iowa were delighted to hear of your reported visit to the Midwest. Possibly one of the most young and enthusiastic groups of representatives in the church in America today is our own rural life people. The title of our program is Strangers and Guests Toward a Community in the Heartland with a grassroots study on land. The study originates from the Bishops of regions 7, 8 and 9. We here are especially pleased to have a real rural Bishop, our own Maurice J. Dingman of the Diocese of Des Moines. Our regional director is Monsignor Paul Connelly from here in St. Mary's, Iowa. Our prayer here in the Heartland of the United States is that more people become aware of our program, develop a true concern for our land and its use by mankind. In this way, we can be a stepping stone in the proper use of our land for the betterment of mankind. Also, it is our request and desire to share company with one of, if not the most humane Pope's of the church, Pope John Paul II. In the event that you are to be in the area as reported in October this year, we would very much appreciate an audience with you. Please give firm consideration to our plea and pray for us in our cause. Yours in hopes and prayers, Joseph A. Hays, Truro, Iowa.

(churchgoers singing)

Hallelujah.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

[Joe Hays] I think there's arrangements for it -- but I went ahead with it. I pursued an idea that I had, an inspiration or whatever you want to call it and I think it was really neat. And I have a real good feeling -- I was told that the Pope did read the letter. And he said, I think it would be very good that we go to the Heartland of America. And that there just makes you get lumps in your throat. So, I feel really good about that. I'll be sure to ask him and talk to him about it whenever I see him. I'm going to say, did you really get to read the letter? And I think he's going to say yes.

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[Bishop Dingman] He initiated it. His was the voice of the Spirit to me and I often say that the best ideas come from people. Bishop, listen to people. And this is what I did.

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[Narrator] A visit to Iowa by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church seemed an improbable ask. But Pope John Paul II's own rural background at his first parish assignment in rural Poland, along with his desire to meet followers, helped make the visit to the breadbasket of America a reality.

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[Bishop Dingman] When I heard that he was coming, it was naturally a feeling of elation. We had worked hard, we had planned, and the answer was delayed for a number of days and finally it came and after the moment of elation then it was a matter of let's get to work.

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[Monsignor Bognanno] Bishop Dingman and I were driving in the car about two days after Bishop Marcinkus told us that the Pope was really going to come to Des Moines. And he asked me if I'd be the general coordinator for the entire visit. I was happy to do it. I was looking forward to the challenge. I was a little bit scared. And I knew we had to do three things. We had to pray, because we were going to be at the mercy of the weather.

[Announcer] It has been raining here in New York this morning, Steve, but despite the rain the people are turning out again to see Pope John Paul II.

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[Monsignor Bognanno] I knew we were at the mercy of the weather. The other events in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, they were all going to take place indoors. We weren't going to be indoors. So, we made the decision, we needed to ask every parish in Des Moines, we're going to assign you a day of the week. Every day we had people praying for the weather. Two weeks ahead of time people were already praying for good weather. Prayer answered.

 

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[Narrator] As ruler of the Vatican City State, a sovereign independent territory, the Pope's visit would present state and local leaders with numerous challenges.

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[Narrator] An event of this kind had never taken place in Iowa. From the Governor's Office to local businesses, a working Midwest mindset would play a critical role in planning and execution.

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[David Oman] Well, Bishop Dingman told Governor Ray that this was in the works and it was going to happen, and it was going to happen on pretty short notice. Governor Ray had been used to dealing with disasters and big events good and bad for about a decade having been Governor so long already. So, he was prepared for it. He was very excited about it. And he knew immediately this needed to be an ecumenical event, it needed to be completely bipartisan, everybody should have a chance to participate and the whole of state government would be as helpful as it could be to the diocese and to the state.

[Governor Ray] It was about 10:30 as I recall and I was working in the lower office and the telephone rang and someone else answered it. But when I came on it was Bishop Dingman. And Bishop Dingman was a wonderful, wonderful person. And he said, Governor, he said, we might have a possibility of having the Pope come and visit us. And I sat up pretty straight when I heard that. And I said, well tell me about it. And he told me about what had happened and how it came about. And then he started to talk about well, but we wouldn't have any idea how many people would show, we wouldn't know where to put him or how to get him in and how to get him out. And he almost talked himself out of it. And he said, maybe we just shouldn't try to do it. And I said, Bishop, you don't have any choice, we have to do it. And that kind of lit a spark and he felt like he had some help.

 

[Narrator] The first of many challenges facing church leaders and other officials was time. Once the visit was announced, organizers had only 46 days to plan and execute the Papal visit to rural America.

[Monsignor Bognanno] We had to drop a master plan and we did that in about three days of seclusion where all we did was with the news print and all of the ideas and things that had to get done, we drew up that. Then we had to staff that plan. And we already had good personnel from the chancery that would help us. But we needed some expertise, especially in the area of logistics. We needed somebody who could come in and really help us organize the operations of this whole thing. So, Governor Ray's office got a hold of us and said they would be happy to let us have Colonel Thompson.

To develop an effective organization that would have all of the various players --

[Thompson] I was in my office and the Adjutant General, General Robert Gilbert, called me and said hey, the Pope's going to come to Iowa and they would like to have a meeting with you and the Bishop to go over some of the planning things that you think would be the smart thing to do. And so, I questioned the Bishop, I said, are you sure that you want to do that at Living History Farms? We're so restricted with routes. Oh yeah, he said, that will be the great place because this is going to be a rural, concentration on rural Iowa by the Pope. And so that becomes a part of the whole scheme. Joe Hays wrote this letter saying you need to come to rural Iowa and meet the people that are in the breadbasket of the world. That ultimately caught the Pope's attention to the fact that he was going to come to some rural community and he wanted to meet people.

[Announcer] We make our way across the country to Des Moines, Iowa. I think that all the people in Iowa tomorrow will --

Thompson: I would say that the Pope coming to rural Iowa is such a significant happening because the Pope basically went to metropolitan areas up to this point and he was just a new Pope, he was 59 years old.

 

[Narrator] Recognizing the magnitude of the moment, local filmmakers approached the Des Moines Diocese with an idea, to document what could be the largest gathering of people in state history and to shine a spotlight on how worshipers brought forth the Pope's visit to Iowa.

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[Marty Jorgensen] At one point in our film, October 4, there are all these newspaper clippings. Well, I'm the kind of guy that I see a headline or something in the newspaper, that could be important, and I just started saving them. And then it occurred to me, you know, this is a big deal and somebody ought to document it. We got the job because we went and offered to do it, for money of course, but I don't think others were approaching it. But for me it was going to be a big darn deal.

(intermittent chatter)

He takes pictures for both publications. See, I have a hard time just putting two national people up there and no local. I mean, I just think -- and I have a hard time putting the R&T without one person for a book. And I have a hard time trying to figure out who we're going to X out after that.

Do they need exactly eight feet, or can they live with approximately seven feet?

I don't know if they'll do it or not. Jack, do you want to talk with this guy if I get him on the phone?

Yeah, but let's check with -- I think he's got somebody that's 95%.

Okay, I may have this popcorn guy --

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[Bishop Dingman] When you involve a lot of people, you take a risk. If this had been done a few years ago, the Bishop would have taken this thing and he would have done it himself. I think doing things monarchically, if you want to call it that, from the top down is safer. I could not do that in the kind of church in which I live today. It had to be the people and we had to take the risk.

 

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[Marty Jorgensen] The construction that was going on at Living History Farms, right there, there were guys up in the air, there were guys on the ground. Let's capture the event as it unfolds and obviously there's going to be more to the event than the day of. The biggest story, we thought, would probably come leading up to the event and to be able to observe that.

[Narrator] Businesses from around the metro were enlisted to provide the infrastructure for the visit, with the Des Moines Diocese picking up much of the tab. Heavy equipment for construction, fencing and new roads were just a few of the needs that required resources. The price tag for the Pontiff's visit in 1979 ranged between $1.2 and $1.4 million dollars. 45 years later, those same costs would measure four times as much.

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[Monsignor Bognanno] Much of the spiritual effect or the building of faith very quietly and gradually happened to all of us prior to the visit. I almost see the buildup to the visit as even more significant than the visit itself in a sense.

[Monsignor Bognanno] He will go on those platforms so that people can get a little better view of him because --

Hi, how are you?

Fine, thank you.

[Joe Hays] I think one of the things that helped us very much in this Diocese was the fact that Bishop Dingman has always insisted on our Diocese being very faithful to the concept of the church that you find in the Second Vatican Council in terms of the fact that the people all share the responsibility for the church, that everybody has a gift to bring, everybody has something to offer. And by the Holy Father coming, it said to many of them, this is an opportunity for me to kind of evaluate that whole aspect of my life.

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People just kind of surfaced and volunteered their time and materials and skills and labor and a majority of those people were non-Catholics who just, again, felt that they wanted to be identified with an experience. And they felt a part of it, they wanted to be a part of it, and without them it never would have come.

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[Marty Jorgensen] If you've ever built Legos or anything, sometimes you start and you don't know exactly what you're getting, but once it starts to form itself now you know it's starting to talk back to you. Oh, this isn't the story of the Pope, this is the story of the people, this is the story of everybody coming forward.

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[Joe Hays] People just were interested in doing the best that they could together and there were a lot of people with just an amazing amount of talent who were willing to share that. That I think in the end is what made it successful is the fact that people just had something to give and they gave it the best way they knew possible and somehow it all fell together. Amazing.

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[Bishop Dingman] We did this not just with Catholic people, but we did it with people of every denomination and ultimately it became a civic celebration and the whole community was involved.

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[Monsignor Bognanno] Well, we got the word out in the community once the Pope is coming. Then we had a lot of people just volunteer. Can I help? Can I help? Of course. But we needed some really skilled people, so we did tell the presidents of different companies in Des Moines, Meredith and Principal and everything, if you have an extra vice president around who would like to get involved, we could probably use them. So, some of these companies volunteered their staff. So, we got some really, really expert type people involved in this.

 

[Thompson] I got the Labor Day weekend and so I went home and I worked across the weekend to put together the staff structure that I needed, in other words somebody that was going to be in charge of transportation, someone that is going to be in charge of parking, someone that is going to be in charge of the security of Urbandale and went down through all the staff that I would need. And so, once I completed that, then I worked on the plan, how to execute something like that because it was going to be extremely difficult to get everything done in 30 days. I went to work on Tuesday morning, I got on the phone and I started calling the very best people that I knew that could handle this job. I called our bus company in Des Moines and said, I need a person that can handle mass transit on my staff to take care of that part of it. And I called the city of Des Moines and asked them for someone that would direct my traffic. And, of course, I had in mind the Des Moines Traffic Director and that is who they gave me. And I just went down the line. And I never got turned down one single time as I went down through and formed that staff. And they all did it, you know, within their primary jobs with the companies. In other words, the companies ate those 30 days and just let them dedicate themselves to me. And that was so critical for the planning and the execution.

[Narrator] State, local and community leaders worked together to overcome enormous logistical challenges to ensure the visit of Pope John Paul II was successful. Officials were expecting the largest crowds ever to descend on the Des Moines Metro area. To move the masses smoothly, General Thompson had an idea that required the help of a higher power.

[Thompson] How do we get the Interstate closed? Everybody told me it would never happen when we came up with the idea. Well, I went to Governor Ray and I explained the situation to him and the amount of buses that we were going to have because I had it figured out. We could potentially have 26 miles, linear miles of buses. And God bless him, he got on the phone and he called the White House and he worked with the White House staff and they gave us the approval.

[David Oman] Having to close not one, but two Interstate highways, and turn I80/35 out here, parking around Living History Farm into a linear bus parking lot, nobody had thought of that before and nobody has done it again. Well, you think about the Iowa State Fair. On most days there are 100,000 people at the State Fair. But that's their -- people know where they're going, they have their favorite parking spot, it all works. Here you had two and a half times that many people coming in never knowing, really not knowing where to park or what to do. So, a lot of good planning was done. And then back to the question about communications. That had to happen really well and thoroughly so that everybody when they got up that morning knew where to be, where to leave their car, how they were going to be transported here, where they had to walk and then all done in reverse after the mass. And it worked, thankfully, due to that really good planning led by General Thompson.

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[Thompson] Okay, now there's one area that I'd like to briefly talk about. This is the time for people to get uptight because we're getting very close. And I've noticed a little bit of stress starting to show on some people in the last couple of days. So, I say, there's nothing that we can't handle yet. Let's stay cool, calm, collected like we've been since we began this whole thing to make sure that it comes off well.

[Thompson] I think leaders, that's the key to this whole planning event. When you go out and you solicit leaders and you put them in charge of the various assets and you tell them what they're expectation is that you need to have produced, then anything can happen. I mean, that's why I'm so positive on Iowa, we have so many great leaders in this state and some of them just came and volunteered directly to me. And so, I mean, it just kind of -- no way could it not succeed just because everybody -- I told them at the front, I said, I've developed a plan and we're going to execute this plan flawlessly. Maybe it is not the best plan, but a flawlessly executed plan that is a mediocre plan can succeed in a spectacular way.

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[Narrator] As the ruler of Vatican City, Pope John Paul II's trip to Iowa was an official visit by a head of state. Such a high-level event required detailed coordination between the organizers, the public and the press.

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[Thompson] The media was absolutely critical to our communications with the public because we couldn't, we didn't know who was going to come for sure. I mean, we knew a lot of Catholics were going to come, but we had no idea how far they would come. We were thinking that if people come out of St. Louis in large numbers or out of Kansas City, Minneapolis, then we could have a million people here. It all kind of depended on their ability to get here in mass.

 

Okay, so they're going from the Hilton.

That's right.

[Thompson] We started saying, well, we've got to get the plans out there, we've got to have everybody monitoring it. Well, we didn't have any problem with that. The press was there every day of that 30 days monitoring our planning and our execution of the project. And a lot of them were having serious questions whether we could actually pull this off, the biggest gathering in the state of Iowa ever and at a place that was remote at best. We said, well, if you'll help us, we'll give you the plans and if you'll get them out to the public then you'll be a great assist to us in seeing that people are well handled once they come here. They did a great job. The Register did a full spread of all of the satellite parking areas that we had arranged, the walking pilgrimages into the site and kept the public informed as the planning and the preparations progressed. I often wondered in the back of my mind if because about halfway through that everybody started talking about, we could have half a million people, we could have -- and we started to worry that maybe we were discouraging some of the people to come just because they didn't want to interface with such a huge crowd. And it may still have been true. I'll never know the answer to that. All I know is that we planned for up to a million people, but we really targeted in that area of 400,000 to 500,000 people is what we really planned for. And as it ended up, we had 350,000. So, we came quite close to our targeted planning.

 

[Oman] Well, the Governor had most of the time a really good relationship with a lot of the media. He was accessible, he always was one who told the truth and was positive perspective the job and how he related. So, we knew there was going to be an incredible amount of media interest locally, statewide, nationally and from media from around the world. How do we deal with that? How do we help them do their job, cover the Pope, and honestly make Iowa look pretty good? I think we all knew this was a phenomenon, this was an event that we had never worked on before. There had been presidential visits. We had had important people come to Iowa from time to time, come from Iowa and come home and be celebrated. But nothing like this had happened in the history of the state. Obviously, we knew the press would be extraordinarily interested in knowing what was going down, what was coming and how Iowa can not only look good but pull off a first-class event. The Governor also knew, and around him the team, that we had to communicate with Iowans about the logistics, how this was going to happen, how they could get here, the ingress to the farm. How would they get home and do it all safely? We had to think about weather contingencies.

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[Oman] But all of that had to be thought about. And local government played a role, the county, the counties around Des Moines, the business community let people stay home, not work that day, so they could come to the farm and take part in the mass and be a part of this special event. It was an all-in effort led by the Governor. But a lot of other people did a terrific job as well.

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[Oman] We also knew that the paper of record at that time was the Des Moines Register. And at that time about half a million people would read the Sunday Register and several hundred thousand the daily Register. It was the paper of record. So, that paper came to the office, talked to us about coverage, as did all the press and we had briefings for the press and how to prepare, locate people and cover the event.

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[Oman] The Register had a very unique request, which was an aerial shot of a quarter million people around and on this farm right here. How do we get that picture? The FAA banned air traffic, no planes, no choppers, no TV flying around, drones didn't exist.

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[Oman] The Register wanted to have a photographer on the chopper. That didn't work, wouldn't work. So, the Governor was a terrific, avid, amateur photographer. He loved to shoot pictures all the time. So, the result was, well maybe the Governor could be the photographer of record for that event for the aerial shot. He loved doing that. Helicopters circled, he took some pictures at a low altitude. After the chopper landed, he got out and this is when you didn't have digital cameras, took the film out of the camera, David Yepsen from the Register was right there, we handed it to him, stuffed it in an envelope. And then the Register had to have couriers take the film offsite. Everybody was trying to come in and they had to get the film off away from the alter and away from where the chopper was and downtown. And they got that done and the picture ran the next day. The Pope's picture was on page one, but the picture, the aerial shot taken by Bob Ray was on page three.

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[Oman] And he loved that, he loved that photo credit.

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[Governor Ray] I won an award that day. The Des Moines Register had asked if I would take a picture of the crowd because no one else could fly over it. And I did and it turned out okay. But because no one else could get the shot, I was the one who got the award.

 

[Narrator] Pope John Paul II's visit to the United States lasted seven days and took him through five states, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Illinois. His final stop would be Washington, D.C. and although he was not the first Pope to visit the United States, Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the White House.

 

[Announcer] As we watched His Holiness arrive here in Boston in the rain, we couldn’t help but think of the sunshine that has been forecast for his visit in Des Moines this coming Thursday. The significance of his arrival in our country was witnessed by the large delegation on hand for the welcome. First Lady Rosalyn Carter, distinguished members of Congress, Tip O'Neill and Senator Kennedy and distinguished members of the church as well. This coming Thursday, the welcoming honors will go to Bishop Dingman of the Des Moines Diocese along with Governor Ray and Mayor Olson and their wives. As you can see by the crowds along the motorcade route today to the Boston Commons for the papal mass, rain didn't reduce the numbers of the enthusiastic crowds who turned out to see their Holy Father. A crowd of thousands, the likes of which we're expected to see this coming Thursday at Living History Farms. Living History Farms, a bit larger than Boston Commons, should be able to accommodate even greater numbers than those that came to see the Pope here. With Pope John Paul in Boston, I'm Dave Nixon for NewsCenter 13.

 

[Jorgensen] The other thing in making a film like this is that you shoot all the film and you sort of remember and have it in your head and you get the sound back and you start to listen to it again and it reminds you, but it's not until you start putting the film together that you make other realizations. And when, I think it was Father Bognanno at the time, not Monsignor, but he said something about feeling like he was on retreat and this whole thing was providential.

[Monsignor Bognanno] For some reason, this morning I got this funny feeling that I'm kind of going on a retreat these next couple of days. And I thought, well that's crazy, I'm supposed to be worried about things these next two days and frantically running around. But I don't feel that way at all. I just feel very much at peace and I just feel like it's going to be a holy moment and a peaceful moment. And I think God is going to show us that it really is out of our hands, it has always been out of our hands, and it's going to be put out of our hands on Thursday.

[Jorgensen] And I didn’t really know what that word meant, except I went and looked it up, and it's true. Everything we were doing, it was going to happen that way. If it was going to rain that day, it was going to rain. If it was -- if the camera was going to break, that was going to happen, but it was out of our hands.

[Monsignor Bognanno] Well, it was kind of a spiritual experience, as I mentioned in the film, that I honestly had the feeling of peace, that God has planned this thing, it's going to be just fine and dandy. It's out of your hands, buddy. So, that's how I felt. I felt like Secret Service is here, the musicians are here, the choir is here, the rabbi is here, it's going to happen. I'm not going to make it happen. I'm just kind of doing some of the little stuff to help it. But no, God is in charge and it's his man coming, he's going to make it work.

 

[Reporter] An hour before the Pope's late arrival, it looked like only 3,000 people had shown up when 20,000 were expected. But it's estimated about 7,000 were actually on hand to greet the Pope. Among them, Bishop Dingman, Mayor Olson and Governor Ray.

[Governor Ray] We want you to realize that we know how you speak with a powerful impact. And your words have great meaning for us. If only we listened. We realize also that we must remember that if change is to occur, they need to begin with us as individuals.

(helicopter sounds)

[Narrator] Prior to his arrival at Living History Farms, Pope John Paul II visited the Irish Settlement of St. Patrick in Cumming, Iowa.

[Announcer] There you hear the church bells. It's going to be rung in honor of Pope John Paul II as he comes to this country parish.

(bells ringing)

(helicopter sounds)

[Cleo Sedlacek] St. Patrick's Church has been a fixture on this Iowa hillside for more than 100 years. People who live here say the church building hasn't changed much in the last 25 years at least. But this afternoon's brief visit from the Pope made this building a cathedral and profoundly changed the lives of the people who worship here. Most political leaders and entertainers wouldn't know how to act in a small town. But Pope John Paul II was a country priest himself and he blended just as naturally with the people from St. Patrick's as he has with people in cities all over the world.

 

[Pope John Paul II] My pastoral journey through the United States would have seemed incomplete without a visit, although short, to a rural community like this. How many Catholic parishes have been started like yours in the early beginnings of the settlement of this region? A small unpretentious church at the center of a group of family farms, a place and a symbol of prayer and fellowship, the heart of a real Christian community where people know each other personally, share each other's problems and give witness together to the life of Jesus Christ. On your farms, you are close to God's nature. In your work on the land, you follow the rhythm of the seasons. And in your hearts, you feel close to each other as children of a common father and as brothers and sisters in Christ. How privileged you are that in such a setting you can worship God together, celebrate your spiritual unity and help to carry each other's burdens.

[Sedlacek] Then the Pope walked back through the parishioners, touching as many children as he could along the way.

[Sedlacek] What did it feel like to have the Pope come up and notice you especially?

[Parishioner] Oh, it's kind of wonderful, you know. I was just standing there and he came up to me and it was pretty great because I've never seen a Pope before.

 

(music)

Wonderful, I've been here since midnight and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

(music)

And today is just beautiful, even though it's chilly out here. And the people, I just -- to stand on the hill just gives you shivers.

(music)

[Narrator] Fourteen miles north on Interstate 35 awaited a ceremony filled with pomp and circumstance unlike anything seen before in Iowa. Hundreds of thousands of people had walked, some for several miles from locations surrounding Living History Farms, to stake their place for the day's events. Organizers had prepared a program of music, celebration and interfaith messaging, ready and waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father.

(music)

[Monsignor Bognanno] From the very beginning, one of the first things the Bishop did once we got word, he got a hold of all of the heads of the different churches in Iowa, Methodist, Lutheran, etcetera, rabbis and different synagogues and he had a meeting at his house, I remember there were like 20 of them there, and explained to them the Pope is coming to Iowa, I want all of you to be a part of this. So, it was like an occasion where we just no matter what your faith was or any faith, you're welcome, everybody is welcome. That was the thrust we were trying to give to this thing.

(music)

[reading by Rabbi]

[Interfaith Prayers] In preparation for this event, we have felt loved, wanted, accepted. We have prayed for each other. We have deeply cared for one another. It is my prayer that that same spirit of love will transform our lives, our homes, our community, and our land, from this day forth and forever more.

(music)

[Jorgensen] When the helicopter began to approach, all of a sudden, the crowd literally changed. It didn't get quieter, the noise became a little bit different. And we could just see the helicopter coming in. And I was wondering, am I going to be able to see the Pope through the window? And I could see this little white figure in there.

(music)

 

(music)

Glory to God in the Highest.

[Jorgensen] From that moment on, everything seemed to be more reverent.

We praise you. We praise you.

[Jorgensen] The church has its liturgy and its all the things that they do and it just seemed that now that the Pope is here there is a reverence in the crowd for this moment. And I don't know how to explain that because it's different for however many people that are there, but it's the same. It was a, we all know what this is, don't we?

(crowd singing)

[Bishop Dingman] The providence of God is very evident in this event and in all of rural America. As we gather on this knoll, with the beauty of God's handywork about us, may this occasion be a celebration of thanksgiving as well as a reminder of our responsibilities to the whole world. We are a pilgrim people on a pilgrimage. We have practiced hospitality and we have tried to mirror simplicity in our every effort. To a pilgrim Pope, we a pilgrim people, extend our heartfelt welcome.

(applause)

[Oman] What was his message? What was the lasting memory beyond the colorful, emotional, memorable event? The Pope talked about conserving our land and the farmers of Iowa and around the Midwest, the bread basket of our country doing the best they can to take care of the land and preserve it and save it because in the homily he talked about feeding the population of the world and how important that is. God created these assets here so that people could eat and to not take it lightly.

[Pope John Paul II] Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. The land is God's gift entrusted to people from the very beginning. It is God's gift given by a loving creator as a means of sustaining the life which He had created.

[Bishop Dingman] I saw him as hierarchical. I saw him as in that awesome position as the Vicar of Christ, the head of the Church, the man known around the world, but I also saw him as a person and I was never more at home with anyone.

[Pope John Paul II] To all of you who are farmers and all who are associated with agricultural production, I want to say this. The church highly esteems your work.

[Oman] Having one of the world's leading denominational leaders come here in an ecumenical way, talking to all Iowans, Americans and people around the world using that pulpit to talk about important matters, particularly how important the land is and the soil and the water and the rain and the sunshine that we see outside today, was true that day, and how important it was for Iowans to be generous with their resources God given and to be grateful for that and to conserve and preserve the land. That was unique. It was emotional. And the message was lasting. And none of us have experienced anything quite like that again.

(music)

[Governor Ray] Well, it made me feel good about Iowa. It made me realize that Iowans really do care about important matters. And it was important. The Pope is world renowned. People look up to the Pope and the Pope gives direction and there's an acceptance of the Pope, regardless of your religion. And I think Iowans sensed that, felt it, wanted to be a part of it.

(applause)

[Bishop Dingman] The mass has ended. Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

[Crowd] Praise be to God.

(music)

(music)

Glory and praise to our God.

[Monsignor Bognanno] One of the insights I gained from the entire experience was the realization that this man is a real catalyst to pull together people of goodwill, military, government, business and religious. They work together. And that was a new perspective on the church and perhaps a new role for the church in the future that I had never really appreciated before.

Glory and praise to our God

Who alone gives light to our days

Many are the blessings He bears

To those who trust in His ways

Every moment of every day

Our God is waiting to save

Always ready to seek the lost

To answer those who pray

Glory and praise to our God

Who alone gives light to our days

 

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