Hoosiers return after seeing Pope Francis

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Four students and a teacher, all from Cathedral High School, have returned from a trip of a lifetime.

Rachel Kent, Molly Mitchell, Mike Rushka and theology teacher Matt Cannaday spent two full days in Philadelphia and were among the hundreds of thousands of people at the Festival of Families to listen to Pope Francis speak.

Cannaday said, “The entire speech that night, to me, seemed like it was completely off the cuff. He never looked down at a piece of paper. He was just looking out on the crowd and speaking to us.”

Rushka said, “The part that really hit me the most was a boy asked him what did God do before He created the world and the only thing the Pope said was, ‘He loved,’ and that was just a simple answer, but so true and it really stuck out to me.”

Kent said, “During the ceremony when he was talking, I climbed a tree so I could see better and that was really fun and it was cool to see him that way.”

Cannaday said he got his hands on four tickets to see Pope Francis in Philly by opening multiple internet tabs and constantly refreshing. Once the tickets were confirmed, Cannaday said he asked other Cathedral High teachers to nominate students they believed were deserving of of the trip and would enjoy the opportunity to see the Pope.

Kent said, “I’m so honored and so blessed to be included on this trip.”

Rushka said, “It was honestly the great experience of my life.”

Mitchell said, “It’s hard to put it into words how amazing it was.” She added, “One of my neighbor’s advice to me was to be in the moment, not to be on my phone. Everyone was holding their phones out and videotaping. I really wanted to get a video so I made a compromise and half of the time I videotaped him and then for a split second I looked away and just looked right at him and he just looked right in my direction and waved.”

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