As hundreds of thousands of visitors prepare to converge on Philadelphia during the weekend of Sept. 26 for Pope Francis’ visit to the city, members of the Cherry Hill community are finding ways to commemorate the event.
From music to drawing, multiple members of the Cherry Hill community plan to welcome Pope Francis to the area through various forms of art.
Christ Our Light Parish will be playing a role in the pope’s Sunday Mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Mike Bedics, Terry Duvall and Christian Kuthal will represent the parish as part of the choir performing at the mass. The trio is part of a small group of singers from the Diocese of Camden who were chosen to perform with the choir.
Bedics, the pastoral associate for worship and music at Christ Our Light, said the three decided to try out when they heard the Diocese of Camden would send a small group to be part of the choir for the Sunday Mass.
“The Philly archdiocese invited the neighboring dioceses to send a few people to help with the big choir on Sunday,” Bedics said.
Bedics said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to perform at first. The choir is having multiple rehearsals prior to the mass, making it a huge time commitment for those participating.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it with the rehearsal schedule,” he said.
After being selected for the choir, Bedics decided it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“It’s very exciting,” Bedics said. “Opportunities don’t come around all the time. I’m glad I did it.”
Cherry Hill High School East senior Sarah Whitty won’t be singing during the pope’s visit, but she did commemorate his visit with another art form. Whitty created a drawing of Pope Francis depicting the pontiff waving as he towers above the skyline of Philadelphia.
“I wanted to include the buildings of Philadelphia so you can say that’s where he’s coming,” Whitty said. “I also wanted to make sure he looks very open and friendly so we know we’re not only welcoming him, but he’s welcoming us in a way.”
Whitty created the picture to help promote the pope’s visit at her home parish, The Catholic Church of St. Mary. Her mom Rita is the webmaster for the parish and asked Sarah if she could do a drawing for the church website.
Sarah’s picture has been noticed beyond her parish. After sending the picture to the Diocese of Camden, it asked to use it in the days leading up to the pope’s visit on its website and social media pages.
Sarah takes art classes at Cherry Hill East and is considering pursuing art as a major in college. Having her picture noticed outside of her home parish was very rewarding.
“It’s always really exciting when people enjoy my art and are interested and using in,” she said.
Sarah said she is looking forward to watching the pope’s visit and hearing what he has to say during his visit.
“I’m really interested to see what he does here and how he influences people,” she said. “He’s such as kind person, and I hope he has a positive impact.”
