By George P. Matysek Jr.
gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
Twitter: @ReviewMatysek
LINTHICUM HEIGHTS – They were among the most precious items Rabbi Steven Fink of Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore tucked away in his luggage at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport: chocolate chip cookies baked by his mother, Old Bay crab seasoning, Utz crab chips and Berger cookies.
The planned recipient of the bevy of Baltimore’s best? Pope Francis.
“My message for him is that I hope he likes my mother’s cooking,” a smiling Rabbi Fink told the Catholic Review Feb. 29, not long before he and eight other interfaith and ecumenical leaders were to step onto a plane as part of a pilgrimage to Rome to ask the pope for his blessing on their efforts to bring peace and healing to Baltimore.
Turning serious, the rabbi said he wanted the pope to know that “there are many good people working together to try to make Baltimore a more vibrant and more healthy city.”
“I’ve never met a pope,” he added. “I’m very excited. He really is a holy man. He’s a visionary, and he wants the best for all humanity – not just the Catholic Church.”
In a press conference prior to the delegation’s departure, Archbishop William E. Lori described the pilgrimage as a “journey of prayer.” It will be a time for the leaders to pray together, for Baltimore and “recommit ourselves to working on behalf of those we are blessed to serve, especially the most disadvantaged and those who have no voice,” he said.
“The one thing I would want (the pope) to know is that we’re standing together and that in a culture that is often so dis-unified, this is an instance when people of faith are coming together and that we are committed for the long haul to address not only the temporary problems, but also the deep systemic problems that beset so many of our neighborhoods,” the archbishop said.
The Rev. Dr. Frank Reid of Bethel AME Church in Baltimore said it was “no accident” that the pilgrimage will take place nearly a year following the death of Freddie Gray Jr. in police custody and the civil unrest that followed.
“The pope has proven by his trip to Mexico and other areas that he’s concerned about the least, the lost, the left out,” Rev. Reid said, “and coming up with answers to institutional problems.”
Members of a Baltimore pilgrimage group to Rome are, from left: Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden; the Rev. Dr. Al Hathaway, Bishop Wolfgang D. Herz-Lane; Archbishop William E. Lori; William McCarthy Jr.; Imam Earl El-Amin; Rabbi Steven Fink; Father Donald Sterling and the Rev. Dr. Frank Reid. (Maureen Cromer/CR Staff)
The Rev. Wolfgang D. Herz-Lane of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said the response to last year’s unrest “brought out the best in the faith community.” Faith leaders were at the forefront of the “peaceful protests” that happened in Baltimore, he said.
On the day of the April 27 riot, he said, one of the most memorable moments was when 150 religious leaders walked arm-in-arm through the streets, “pleading for peace.”
“At one point,” he said, “they knelt in the middle of the street offering a prayer. It really did make a difference.”
Father Donald Sterling, pastor of New All Saints in Liberty Heights, said the Baltimore delegation to Rome “represents the diversity of Baltimore.”
“It’s an opportunity for us to focus collectively and uniquely on a variety of issues and possible resolutions,” he said, “and the building of healthy and long-lasting relationships.”
The delegation is scheduled to meet the pope March 2 following the pontiff’s general audience. Archbishop Lori will introduce the pope to Baltimore faith leaders. The pope is then expected to offer his apostolic blessing on the group and their interfaith and ecumenical efforts in the city.
According to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the group will also meet with Vatican officials and pray together at St. Peter’s Basilica and other important spiritual sites. The group will stay inside the Vatican at the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis resides.
Other members of the delegation include Baltimore Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, William McCarthy Jr. of Catholic Charities of Baltimore, the Rev. Dr. Al Hathaway of Union Baptist Church in Baltimore and Imam Earl El-Amin of the Muslim Community Cultural Center in Baltimore.
Pointing to a popular Islamic saying, Imam El-Amin noted that the three ways to get to know people are to live with them, work with them and travel with them.
“When we come back, we will know one another much, much better,” he said.
Click here to watch the press conference in its entirety.
