St. Louis Hits Another Home Run With Upcoming Papal Visit

ST. LOUIS â€”  It may sound sacrilegious, but Nancy Milton is so proud of her city, she’ll say it all the same: In the span of a year, St. Louis will have been honored with visits from Mick Jagger and Pope John Paul II.

“Arguably two of the most famous guys in the universe!� she exclaims.

And both of them, coming here.

If that doesn’t wipe out St. Louis’ sad sack, our-glory-days-are-past complex, nothing will. “It will really put us on the map,� crowed Milton, publicity director for the Convention and Visitors Commission.

Jagger has already come and gone, on the Rolling Stones’ “Bridges to Babylon� tour. The pope, however, arrives Tuesday. And St. Louis--excited, honored, fretting about traffic jams--is preparing a big Midwest welcome.

Nuns are baking tens of thousands of communion wafers. The choir director is tuning the cathedral organ--and then tuning it again and again and again. The archdiocese is coordinating details, from sign language interpreters to prayers for good weather. And the police are laying in $10,000 worth of spare batteries to keep their two-way radios a-crackle.

Businesses Expect $25-Million Windfall

Business owners, meanwhile, are counting on an economic bounce of up to $25 million from pope-related tourism--and from sales of official papal souvenirs: key rings, rosaries, T-shirts, paperweights, even John Paul teddy bears.

All this for a visit that will last just 30 1/2 hours.

But, oh, what a visit.

“This is as large an event as you can have in a city, with the exception of the Olympics, a political convention or an international geopolitical summit,� Mayor Clarence Harmon said. With more than 3,000 reporters signed up to cover the papal visit, Harmon added, “the eyes of people all over the world will be here.�

The city is puffing hard to make this visit work, from the phone crews who have spent months installing 1,500 extra lines to the janitors who are putting a bit more elbow grease into scrubbing the cathedral floor. Harmon insists it’s worthwhile: “It’s the kind of publicity a city couldn’t pay for in 50 years of budgets.�

Mark McGwire’s home run heroics last summer did rivet attention on St. Louis, but that spotlight was almost accidental. McGwire swung his mighty biceps here because he liked the deal the Cardinals offered--not out of any special affection for St. Louis. Indeed, as soon as the season ended, McGwire fled to California. He didn’t even stick around for his own pep rally.

The pope, on the other hand, wanted to come to St. Louis. This will be his only stop in the United States. That’s a very big deal to a city that many residents feel has been in a slump for 95 years, since the 1904 World’s Fair.

“This will give us some self-esteem,� Harmon said.

Or as lifelong resident Tom Schlafly put it: “If hundreds of thousands of people come to St. Louis, that proves we’re good for something.�

John Paul’s itinerary here includes a brief visit with President Clinton at the airport, two motorcades through town and three big public events: a youth rally, a Mass and a prayer service at the stunning Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

Before the pope arrives, a group called Catholic Women for Justice plans to hold a prayer service calling on the church to open up more opportunities for women. So far, that’s the only publicly announced protest--and it’s not even a protest, organizer Sister Louise Lears said, “but a prayer service with a point.�

The pope will arrive in St. Louis after a four-day stop in Mexico to present the results of a bishops’ conference he convened in 1997. “Essentially,� archdiocese spokesman Steve Mamenella said, “it’s the Holy Father dropping by to visit with the Catholic community of St. Louis.�

Why St. Louis?

Catholics here, who number 570,000, offer several reasons.

The main one is friendship: The pope has long known St. Louis Archbishop Justin F. Rigali. And Rigali has long pushed for a papal visit.

Also, the St. Louis archdiocese, the third-oldest in the nation, has played an important historical role for the church. In 1946, it became the first school system in the United States--public or parochial--to integrate its classrooms. Today, a higher percentage of Catholic children attend parochial schools here than in any other archdiocese in the country.

“There’s a very strong Catholic identity,� said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the papal visit.

All that’s well and good, but Ken Piekutowski can think of one more reason John Paul might have chosen to visit St. Louis: the sausage.

Before he became pope, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla dined on hearty Polish sausage from the Piekutowskis’ butcher shop during a 1969 visit to St. Louis.

Piekutowski has it from a reliable source that John Paul still fondly remembers that meal. And sure enough, just the other day he got a call from the nun in charge of preparing the pope’s meals here. It was an order for Polish sausage.

“It’s an honor,� Piekutowski said.

An honor that does not, however, come with tickets to the papal Mass. Those were distributed to parishes in Missouri and surrounding states, and doled out to the faithful by lottery. Piekutowski’s wife got a ticket. He’ll have to watch on TV.

Authorities expect 120,000 to attend the Mass in the Trans World Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams. Up to a million more may scramble to see the pope’s motorcades.

Months ago, church leaders promised that anyone who wants to see John Paul will get a chance to glimpse him. Just how many will make the trek to St. Louis is impossible to predict.

All anyone can say for sure is that parking will be a nightmare.

Much as they dread the inevitable traffic snarls, many St. Louis residents are hoping the pope will prove a major draw. They want to show the world that their city belongs in the big leagues.

What Happened to the Spirit of St. Louis?

As they’re quick to point out, St. Louis used to be there, up at the top, shoulder to shoulder with New York and San Francisco. Didn’t Charles Lindbergh fly in the Spirit of St. Louis? Wasn’t the ice cream cone unveiled at the St. Louis World’s Fair? Wasn’t this the Gateway to the West? Somewhere along the century, however, St. Louis lost its luster, at least in the minds of longtime residents.

“There’s a real inferiority complex here, an insecurity,� said Dan Kopman, a born-and-bred St. Louisian who runs a microbrewery downtown (and has concocted a Holy Smoke Porter for the papal visit).

“We’re our own worst critics,� agreed Kim Kimbrough, president of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership. “It’s not hard to sell St. Louis, except to people who live here. . . . To some extent, it’s the same story in every town, but it appears to be very acute in St. Louis.�

True, there are reasons for locals to be wary. The city’s population has been shrinking for decades. Many schools are in dismal shape. And although there’s virtually no graffiti, boarded-up buildings line block after block downtown.

But St. Louis’ boosters are betting the papal visit will showcase the dynamic side of the city. It has history. It has diversity. It has impressive architecture, interesting museums, an efficient rail system, the Arch.

Maybe, just maybe, if those pluses show up on worldwide TV as a backdrop to the papal visit, folks here will start to appreciate their hometown. That, at least, is the working theory as the city elite prepare to welcome John Paul.

“The opportunity to host the Holy Father will make people understand how special St. Louis is,� predicted Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, president of Southwestern Bell’s Missouri operations. “It’s something St. Louis will forever be proud of. And justifiably so.�