Pope Benedict XVI, the 264th successor to St Peter, touched down on American soil Tuesday at Andrew’s Air Force Base, where he was greeted by President George Bush, First Lady Laura, and daughter Jenna in day one of a six-day, two city journey that will land him at the White House, National Park, Yankee Stadium, and the United Nations.
        Popes have met with U.S. presidents 25 times over the last 89 years, beginning with Woodrow Wilson and Pope Benedict XV at the Vatican on January 4, 1919. Rarely is much accomplished other than to exchange goodwill, emphasize the sanctity of human rights, and condemn the inhumanity of wars.
        One significant agreement; though, reached between the U.S. and the Holy See came as result of a New York Monsignor, not a U.S. president, and it centered on the Sunday newspaper, of all things.
        When Msgr. Luke J. Evers, rector of St Andrews Church at Duane St and Cardinal Place, near Park Row in Manhattan, visited Rome in 1901, he bent the ear of Pope Leo XIII about the need to have a mass on Sunday morning at 2: 30 a.m to serve the newspaper employees who worked the night shift from 6-2 a.m. This reportedly intrigued the pontiff, who had no idea there was a labor force at such ungodly hours.
        When Evers informed His Holiness that such a mass could attract anywhere from 400 to 600 members, the  author of the labor encyclical ``Rerum Novarum’’ issued a dispensation, paving the way for the Printer's Mass, which was first celebrated on March 24, 1901 at the old St. Andrew’s Church near Park Row.
        In 1904, there were 13 dailies publishing in New York, so the church had a ready-made audience all too willing to attend mass before crawling into bed; others out on the town took advantage of the late night service (some walking in a little blurry-eyed) and fulfilling their Sunday obligation before calling it a night.
        Whatever their motive, the Printer’s Mass was an instant success. According to Eric Robinson from the New York Historical Society, the service averaged 1400 attendants; and became so popular with the local Catholic population that it eventually spread to other cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, D.C., and even London.
        It’s hard to pin down precisely when the Printer's Mass was phased out, but considering that 10 of the 13 N.Y. dailies publishing in 1904 either folded or merged by 1964, as Park Row became less of  a breeding ground for newspaper employees, I can only assume that’s about the time the Printer’s Mass also faded away.
         I did stumble across one New York Times article that reported that the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Cross at Times Square was still holding a Printer’s Mass in 1977 at 12: 15 a.m. No one returned my call or responded to my email, when I asked if or when the early morning service was abandoned.
        If only I knew Pope Benedict’s cell number, I would call (or text message His Holiness) and make a special plea that a ``Blogger’s Mass’’ be commissioned by the Vatican. Heaven knows it would be well attended by obscure struggling bloggers like myself, who need as many prayers as possible.
    -Bill Lucey
     billlucey@bellsouth.net