Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Pope's Coming to Town: April 15 - 20

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Well, maybe not my town or your town, but he is coming to New York City and Washington D.C. and the National Catholic Register has been setting up for quite a long time now to give tremendous coverage to this rare event. They are calling their site, Pope 2008

In fact, Pope 2008 will be providing 24 access for those of you who do not have cable access to Catholic television station EWTN. And it is very good access. My computer is not particularly fast and I am view and listening to the rebroadcast of today's Mass and it is playing without interruption.

In fact, Amy Welborn, the "Queen of Catholic Bloggers", Amy Welborn, Charlotte Was Both says "Keep your eye on Pope2008. No one else is even approaching what Tim Drake is doing."

Tim Drake of St Joseph, MN, who is the Senior Writer for the NCRegister, is the guy on the scene for their coverage and he has put up a pretty great website with links not only to the usual suspects, but to all his competitors so you can easily see what others are saying about the Pope's visit.

I note also that Pope2008 has good links for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia, for those of you going, or still considering going to the Pope's visit Down Under. July 15 - 20, 2008.


The virtual pope The StarTribune's Story

Can't make it to the East Coast next week to see Pope Benedict in person? Don't fret. You can experience his visit virtually thanks to the website www.pope2008.com.

Tim Drake, a Minnesotan who is a senior writer for the National Catholic Register, has been tapped to provide a play-by-play account of the pope's activities, beginning with his arrival at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington, D.C., on Tuesday all the way through his last public appearance, a mass at Yankee Stadium in New York City on April 20.

"This is the third papal visit I will have covered," said Drake, who works out of St. Cloud. "But this is taking our coverage to a whole new level."

Drake, who grew up in White Bear Lake, was among 5,000 journalists who applied for credentials. Between the pope's visits to Washington and New York, a total of 1,100 reporters have been accredited, but he's one of the few who will be in both places. Asked if he gets to travel with the pope the way political reporters tag along with candidates, he laughed.

"No, we're left on our own," he said. "The crowds definitely will be a problem."

Some of the scheduling details are already posted on the Pope 2008 blog site if you need to get your Blackberry schedule up to date.

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