March 5, 2008

CUA Staff Remember Last Papal Visit

The Catholic University of America has produced a 10-minute video in which three staff members recount their experiences of the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II.

The staff members who share their experiences in the video are Vice President for University Relations Frank Persico, who in 1979 was executive assistant to Provost C. Joseph Neusse; Associate Vice President and General Counsel Craig Parker, who had recently graduated from law school and was working in the law library at the time Pope John Paul II came to CUA; and Professor of Music Elaine Walter, then assistant dean of CUA’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music.

Intermingled with their memories is archived footage of Pope John Paul II arriving at Catholic University and being greeted at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception by throngs of students, and speaking at the Crough Center — then a gymnasium that seated thousands of people, now the home of the School of Architecture and Planning.

In the coming weeks, CUA will post additional videos of current students speaking about the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI on April 17, 2008. To view the video about the 1979 visit, go to CUA’s Papal Visit Web site at http://papalvisit.cua.edu.

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