Mahony Announces $500,000 Grant for Expenses : Pope to Visit Inner-City L.A. School

A classroom visit to an inner-city Catholic school has been added to Pope John Paul II’s schedule in Los Angeles this September, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony announced Tuesday.

One of seven elementary schools within a four-mile radius of downtown Los Angeles will be chosen for “an informal exchange with students� by the Pope on Sept. 16, the second day of his Los Angeles visit, Mahony said.

The archbishop also announced a $500,000 foundation grant to help defray the local costs of hosting the Pope, which Mahony said would be near $3 million. Mahony told reporters also that he had no reason to believe that plans by police to arrest transients illegally camped on Skid Row sidewalks were related to the visit.

Mahony said he has had no discussions with civic officials about the presence of homeless people on the streets. John Paul II will sleep two nights in Mahony’s room at the St. Vibiana Cathedral rectory, which is adjacent to a Skid Row mission.

“We are anxious for the Holy Father to see Los Angeles as it is, not as it should be,� Mahony said.

The parochial school visit is scheduled after the Pope has met and lunched with U.S. Catholic bishops at the San Fernando Mission and a nearby seminary. It will precede a 4 p.m. meeting with Southern California representatives of Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim groups at the Japanese Cultural Center downtown. The Pope will celebrate Mass at Dodger Stadium that night.

Mahony said he views the Pope’s meeting with schoolchildren and a rally-dialogue with 6,000 young people at Universal Amphitheatre the previous day as “the two highlights of his visit here� because of the church leader’s rapport with youth.

Mahony said logistical concerns were a major factor in deciding what school would be chosen. “They are all good schools,� he said. He mentioned St. Vincent, St. Turibius (at St. Joseph’s Church), Maryknoll (at the St. Francis Xavier Japanese Mission), Sacred Heart, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Loretto and St. Mary.

The block of time for the school visit was originally reserved for President and Mrs. Reagan to meet the Pope, but Mahony said the President has to be in Philadelphia that day for the bicentennial celebration of the U.S. Constitution. Reagan will officially greet the Pope in Miami on Sept. 10 at the start of John Paul’s 10-day U.S. tour.

The $500,000 donation to the archdiocese was from the Los Angeles-based Dan Murphy Foundation, which has contributed to Los Angeles Catholic institutions in the past, Mahony said.

The archbishop said other foundation grants will be sought. Expenses will also be defrayed, he said, by a special parish collection on Aug. 31 and through $5 donations for a full-color commemorative booklet.

Mahony said he is optimistic that total costs will be much less than $3 million if many companies donate goods and services. “Unlike the Olympics, there will be no Pope John Paul hamburgers� from which to receive fees, Mahony said.

He said Monrovia Nursery Co. in Azusa is donating plants to be used for the papal Masses at the Coliseum and Dodger Stadium. “Now whether or not they’ll tag those shrubs as ‘papal visit shrubs’ and sell them for a premium, I don’t know,� Mahony quipped, adding that “the people we are dealing with are not looking for an advertising opportunity.�

The archbishop responded similarly to a question about any potential scalping by Catholic parishioners who receive free tickets to one of the papal Masses. “I don’t think our type of people will be selling tickets or giving them away,� Mahony said. “We will distribute them as close to the event as possible,� he added.

Mahony did not rule out the possibility that First Lady Nancy Reagan might want to join with the Pope at some point in his tour, possibly even at the Los Angeles classroom. “We do know Mrs. Reagan is very interested in the various themes� at each city, Mahony said.

Catholic education is a theme for the Pope’s stop at New Orleans, “but he is not visiting a school there,� Mahony said.