Pope Benedict XVI arrives Tuesday night for his first trip to the U.S., and although most American Catholics know little about their new pontiff, they’re still flocking to New York City and Washington, D.C., to see him.<\/p>\n
The enthusiasm was quite unbridled among the 250 singers gathered at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Hyattsville, Md., on a recent Monday evening. They were not professionals \u201d\u201d just people from parishes in the Washington metro area \u201d\u201d but they were motivated: They auditioned for the choir, practiced for hours and memorized 134 pages of music. All for a chance to sing for the pope Thursday at Nationals Park, the new baseball stadium.<\/p>\n
At a rehearsal three weeks before their performance, choir director Tom Stehle ran a tight ship, stopping singers mid-note to correct their pronunciation, scolding them for still reading when the music should be memorized.<\/p>\n
During a break, Ann Ingram described her anticipation for the stadium Mass. “We come on Sundays and we get premium gas,” she said of a routine Mass. In comparison, she hopes the stadium Mass will be “premium high octane for a Lamborghini.”<\/p>\n