Greg Packer Sees the Pope
The Pope delivered a mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City yesterday. And Greg Packer was there!
Suzanne Struglinski of Salt Lake City’s Deseret News reports:
Greg Packer, 44, of Huntington, N.Y., traveled to Washington earlier last week for the Mass at the new Nationals Stadium and was on Fifth Avenue Saturday.
While he does not have tickets to the Yankee Stadium Mass, he does have a T-shirt ready asking for “one Mass ticket please.”
Packer, who is Jewish, said he still enjoys the Masses.
“The homilies bring me out and the togetherness of everybody,” Packer said. “It was really beautiful. It was worth going to Washington, but this is home. I feel like he is coming over to visit me.”
Packer added that he liked the fact that Pope Benedict has mentioned the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Kinda weird that he’s so into the Pope even though he’s Jewish, huh, Suzanne Struglinski?
Who wants to be the one to explain it to her?
Perhaps we can nominate him for Guinness: most bogus appearances in a newspaper by a non-politician.
There are plenty of Jews who are fascinated by the Pope. There are also plenty who are not. After all, if we want to see old guys running around in skullcaps, all we have to do is to go to synagogue. But the extreme ritualism can be fascinating for someone like me raised in a religion that relies heavily on ritual, but takes a much bare barebones approach. (On the other hand, stepping into a Catholic church, especially the old European type that has a dead saint behind every altar, can be very off-putting. American churches are better, but not completely: as a kid my mother took me to St. Patrick’s when we visited New York so I “could see the idols”.) Also, the plainchant used is often similar to chants used in the synagogue.
So that wouldn’t be an instant sign of phoniness.
kishnevi (15b0e0) — 4/20/2008 @ 12:23 pmBTW, does anyone know if Greg is actually a MOT?
How does he continue to wrangle newspaper story mentions and quotes?
Paul (4ca58a) — 4/20/2008 @ 12:52 pmDoes Greg Packer merit a Patterico category?
aunursa (4c8f82) — 4/20/2008 @ 2:41 pmSheesh, not another one.
SPQR (6cd738) — 4/20/2008 @ 5:25 pmI dig this guy. With each appearance, he reveals the media for what it is. And he is having a good time doing it! “The homilies bring me out and the togetherness of everybody”? LOL!
Timesdisliker (bbc6cc) — 4/21/2008 @ 8:00 amWhat is a ‘MOT’ ?
Does Salt Lake City get internet access? You’d think that by this time every paper in the city the size of SLC would have a large bulletin with Packer’s photo –
seaPea (480ecf) — 4/21/2008 @ 10:35 pmDO NOT USE THIS MAN.