March 13th, was the day of my first Pope.  I had grown to respect and love Benedict during my four years as an undergrad at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, and his writings in fact, were influential in my conversion to Catholicism this past year. But, March 13th was the day of MY first Pope. 

Being Protestant and disdaining, I obviously missed the excitement around Benedict’s election, and I never knew what I had missed.  While to other parts of Merrimack, New Hampshire, it was just another ho-hum hump day of the week, at Thomas More College the event was magnified beyond imagination to a level truly worthy of the occasion itself! As a staff member of the College I was privileged to partake in the celebration of a small close knit Catholic community that reflected the celebration of the Church on March 13th.

During daily morning Mass, College Chaplain Father Healey prayed for a new pope.  At about two in the afternoon, excited shouts could be heard: news had arrived on campus of white smoke seen issuing from the Sistine Chapel. Students were promptly issuing forth from the doors of classrooms in a waterfall of excitement.

In the library, groups of students and faculty craned their necks to watch the coverage of the new Pope’s entrance onto the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica. The only students absent were those currently completing the Rome Semester who were present at Saint Peter’s in the flesh. At the suggestion of the faculty present, one of the juniors was sent to fetch a few bottles of celebratory champagne.

The rest of the afternoon took on a festive mood, to say the least.  Sunshine and excitement reached every corner of campus. Staff and faculty, who were close by, gathered in the main office of the Administration Building, watching via the presidential secretary’s office.  The mailman came and went, a bit of the outside world most likely confused by groups of students scurrying across campus singing in Latin. Every time the web feedback had to buffer, all in the office cried out, probably mystifying the workmen who were installing a new front door to the building that day. There was no NBA game of great importance today, no Stanley Cup championship winner, no Red Sox game, no national holiday, it was March 13th. What in the world could make this whole community of people so ecstatic?

The rest of the day truly was a holiday for all at the College. When that name was announced there was a general hush, not of disappointment, but of excitement, hope and wonder.  Hope that was uplifted when that balcony curtain parted and that humble man stepped forward into the entire world.  It was a day that should have been celebrated by all of the New World, nay the entire world!  Instead of continuing on in mild confusion, mailman and carpenter alike should have been able to pause a while in celebration. That day, the day of my first Pope, made me realize, what an incredible gift a good and strong faith filled community is.  What a day of Firsts on so many levels; the first pope from the New World, the first Jesuit, the first Francis, and my first pope.

At supper, President Fahey gave a short address to the student body expressing the College’s profound gratitude for the election of a new pontiff. Following the speech, a dozen generously-donated bottles of champagne were brought out to toast Pope Francis and his pontificate:

Thomas More College expresses its profound gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the election of Pope Francis.

Following the Magisterial teaching on higher education as found in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the College joyfully lives out its Catholic identity by proposing to its students—and to the world—the truth as found in the person of Jesus Christ and His Church. We prayerfully hope that the witness of Pope Francis be an example and inspiration for the College’s mission to rejoice in the pursuit of truth.