Pope Benedict XVI and Saint Ignatius Loyola

We had a wedding at Saint Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in New York City last Saturday. This was the first time that I had ever been to this church. I had heard that it was historic and quite beautiful. I was very much looking forward to being there until I heard that there will be MANY road closures in Manhattan that day due to Pope Benedict’s travels throughout the area.

Frankly, it is difficult enough to navigate and park a vehicle when we do weddings in NYC, but having roads closed put me in alarm mode. I studied the NYC.gov site to see exactly which roads would be closed and exactly when they would be closed. I plotted out three different travel routes in case of sudden changes of schedule. I packed an equipment dolly in case I had to walk several blocks to reach the church. I even asked my wife Lee Ann to chauffeur me because I was so panicked that even if I get to the church, where on earth would I have to park the car. She agreed to chauffeur me (on her day off) and I was totally relieved.
So, GPS ready, pages of varied directions printed and a two-hour earlier than normal departure… off we went to Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue! It was an incredible day, the temperature was perfect, the sky was blue and the Long Island Expressway was clear and moving. Make the move on to the Grand Central Parkway and heading towards the Triborough Bridge; we were making great time and enjoying the ride… over the bridge and into uptown Manhattan in no time at all. But I knew what was coming.

Make right on to 96th said Karen our Australian GPS voice. Still enjoying the ride and wondering where we’ll finally be stopped… we made the right and a few minutes later we made the left on to Park Avenue. Ten more blocks and we’d be at the church. However, now we can begin to see policemen and police vans EVERYWHERE and they are directing traffic. But they didn’t stop us from turning on to Park Avenue and we can basically see the full NYC skyline and the incredible view of Grand Central from Park Avenue. There is NO traffic and no closures… we are carefully counting down each block as we get closer and closer to 84th, where St. Ignatius Church is. Four blocks to go… two blocks to go… There it is… there is St Ignatius… We slow down to evaluate the situation; there are already “Wedding Today” signs in the road blocking vehicles from parking in front of the church.

“Watch out for that van” says Lee Ann. As she says that, I realize that the van she is referring to is backing up towards us; but it is parked in a legal parking spot on Park Avenue, directly in front of the church. Is it possible that we can move into his parking spot? Is it possible that we can get THE FIRST parking spot in front of the church? We stop to allow the van to move out of his position and allow him to depart. We look at each other in disbelief, we make sure we are clear of the “Wedding Today” no parking signs and make our move. Not even a parallel park… we pull straight in to the first parking spot in front of St Ignatius.

A week of stress trying to determine what to do, what will happen… how will I get there, where will I park, how will I get the equipment from the car to the church? Where will the police stop us from proceeding? And we pull straight into the best possible parking space. We got to the church in less than an hour and had NO ISSUES what-so-ever! NONE!

As I put the car in park, we looked at each other in amazement… then I looked the church… and thanked Saint Ignatius and God himself!