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Catholic Underground Philadelphia draws 500
Cardinal Rigali will preside at March gathering

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

Would you believe that 500 young adults would gather at a church on a Saturday night to pray, go to confession and rock to the music of Franciscan friars in gray robes?

All that happened when the Catholic Underground (CU) moved into Philadelphia last month for its first three-hour session at St. Gabriel Church, which featured an ardent Holy Hour and a coffeehouse filled with music, chatter and laughter.

The event was a rousing success, with nearly 20 seminarians assisting the crowd and several priests offering confession for nearly three hours.

“It was amazing to see so many young adults present before our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration,” said Abbie Langsdorf, the director of young adult ministry for the archdiocesan Office of Youth and Young Adults. “It is a confirmation that the young adults are craving Jesus in their lives, and are drawn to Him in the Eucharist.”

At the CU’s next session, at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, March 10 at St. Gabriel, Cardinal Justin Rigali will preside over the Holy Hour, and the coffeehouse entertainment will be provided by Crispin, the Catholic funk band.

“I’m very pleased that this significant number of young people come together,” said Cardinal Justin Rigali when he heard the news about Philadelphia’s first Catholic Underground.

“I’m very pleased that the Eucharistic Holy Hour is part of the component of this particular gathering. That is a very powerful recommendation for it. We know that the Eucharistic Holy Hour is a continuation of the eucharistic action and it is another means of participating in Christ’s sacrifice. The experience of the Church shows [Eucharistic Adoration] is a wonderful means of sanctification. And it is certainly during Eucharistic Holy Hour that the young people can count on the Lord to speak to their hearts, excite them to generosity and illuminate them in regards to the mysteries of faith,” the Cardinal continued. “I encourage them in their exchange and I’ll be happy to be with them on March 10.”

The initial CU event on Feb. 10 in South Philadelphia drew young adults and young families from throughout the Philadelphia Archdiocese and surrounding dioceses. As they entered the otherwise darkened church, they saw the monstrance with the Eucharist gleaming in a spotlight, while chants of evening prayer mixed with the scent of incense in the air.

“The Catholic Underground was much more than I imagined,” said 26-year-old Christina Dickerson. She attended with her husband, Mario, and their two young sons, Gabriel, 2, and Alphonsus, 7 months.

“Mario and I remarked that Gabriel and Alphonsus can’t even talk yet, but have been to a Catholic Underground,” Dickerson said. “We want our children to grow up knowing that being a Catholic is something to rejoice about. … We want them to know that all these people came together because they believe that being a Catholic is something to sing about. There is joy in our calling to be disciples of Christ, and when shared it multiplies and multiplies.”

It was also the first CU event for Father Christopher Rogers, the vocations director for the Archdiocese, who gladly joined the priests hearing confessions.
“The prayer before the Eucharist was simple: devout, sincere and traditional,” he said of the Holy Hour.

“I would certainly encourage, support and point people to Catholic Underground, simply because it is all about Jesus,” Father Rogers said. “In discovering Jesus, we discover ourselves, our vocations, our call, the purpose of our lives. This is good not only on an individual basis but for all of us in the Church of Philadelphia.”

For many people who attended, the large number of seminarians helping out was a sign of hope for the Church, just as seeing so many young adults fervently witnessing to the Catholic faith was a sign of hope for the future priests.

“It was wonderful to see the response by the end of the Holy Hour,” said 22-year-old seminarian Tim McGuire. The vast St. Gabriel Church, he said, “was almost completely packed.”

Following the Holy Hour, the crowd moved next door to the parish gym, which had been transformed for the evening’s “coffeehouse.” Hundreds filed inside for refreshments, meeting other Catholics as they got settled for a performance by a band of habit-clad members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who founded the first Catholic Underground in Yonkers, New York.

“That was unbelievable,” McGuire said. “I never realized that a religious order could really jam like that. It was a fabulous night.”

The many young adults in the crowd, including some Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Daughters of St. Paul, were up on their feet dancing.

Meanwhile, people were still lining up for confessions that were set up in a lower room at the coffeehouse.

Then, after the fun and excitement created by music and the vibrant Catholic culture, the evening ended as it began — in prayer. The CFRs led the crowd in praying the Compline, or night prayer, and ended with a hymn sung to the Blessed Mother.

“It was a great testimony to the vivacity of our young adult Church in Philadelphia,” said Capuchin Franciscan Friar Father Paul Dressler, who is a mentor and friend to the young adult community in the Archdiocese.

“I can say, of all of the events — and I’ve been to just about every young adult event — it was one of the very finest moments of spiritual energy that I’ve seen,” Father Dressler said.

Added Father Stephen McDermott, the parochial vicar at Maternity B.V.M. and a CU core team member: “In a time where it seems the Gospel is being smothered, the Catholic Underground offers hope. We are not alone in this battle — in this culture war.

“We are united in our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and our own fellowship — in the fun that we have in listening to great music and enjoying our Catholic culture,” said Father McDermott, who presided over the CU’s first Holy Hour. “The purpose is, now, to take that knowledge and joy back to our own life, knowing that we are not alone — that there are a lot of good people who are out there struggling, too, and we are going to struggle together.

“How God is going to want us to take that back into the world will be different for each of us,” he said. “But the fact is that we have disposed ourselves, and put ourselves in the service of God, so a whole new world has opened up.”

CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.