Abby Shimanek, 8, and her brother, Jack, 6, skipped ahead of their father to board the bus. After a head count, Colleen Sisolak, the church's youth minister, led the group in prayer. As the bus pulled out, sleepy-eyed teenagers passed boxes of Munchkins and balled their hoodies into pillows for another hour of sleep.
Jocelyn Daniels, 17, a junior at Maryvale Preparatory School, listened to the soundtrack of the movie Garden State and watched the sunrise through the windows.
"[Pope Benedict] has so much influence, and he can use it for so much good, so I'm really looking forward to see what he will do on this visit," said Jocelyn, a Glen Arm resident. She said she hoped the pope would ask President Bush to seek solutions for crime and poverty in this country as well as a "good way to get out of Iraq."
For Jane Andrews, 44, of Jarrettsville, yesterday was the second time she had had stood in the presence of a pontiff. As a student at Loyola College in the 1980s, she had had an audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome.
Like many Catholics, she said she knew less about Pope Benedict than his charismatic predecessor. But she hoped his visit would energize the church here.
"The American Catholic Church is struggling, and I think that any presence he can have will strengthen it and reawaken people to the church," she said.
Andrews and Kellie Reynolds, 36, a youth minister at nearby St. Stephen's, herded the group of teens into the long line leading to security checkpoints at the stadium.
Tory and Jess Szczawinski, 16-year-old sophomores at Notre Dame Preparatory School, posed for cell phone pictures in their baggy sweats and flip-flops. John Jenkins, 16, a junior at Loyola High School, wrapped a yellow bandana, emblazoned with the message of love that the pontiff directed to youth, around his head.
But the teens grew serious when asked about the Mass. Tory said she planned to pray for her family and friends. John said he hoped the liturgy would help Americans better understand the pope.
An eclectic crowd milled around the stadium before the Mass. Friars clad in brown robes walked next to Secret Service agents in body armor. Nuns in black wimples chatted with people in traditional African garb. Countless children wearing khaki pants or plaid kilts laughed and joked.
On a shuttle to the stadium, Reynolds ran into an old friend, the Rev. Joseph Okech, a member of St. Stephen's sister parish in Mombasa, Kenya, and one of 800 clergy who joined the pontiff in celebrating Mass.
