The timing of the trip was perfect. The day the Pope arrived was his 81birthday, and he was warmly greetd with multiple choruses of the Happy Birthday song wherever he went that day. He met with President Bush and visited the National Shrine, while in Washington DC, and said Mass before more than 50,000 people in the professional baseball stadium in Washington.
The second leg of the trip was to New York. The weather was great ... sunny and mild. The Pope had an action-packed agenda while in New York. He gave a speech to the General Assembly at the United Nations, had a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse by priests, met with top church leaders of other religions, visited Ground Zero and ended his trip on the last day with Holy Mass of Yankee Stadium ... again with more than 50,000 people in attendance.
There was a touch of Burgenland in the visit. On Friday, (April 18) the Holy Father stopped to visit St. Joseph’s Church in the Yorkville section of New York City. This was the church which many of the Burgenland immigrants attended when they lived in the area. While most of the Burgenländers are now gone, there is still a German Mass said there the first Sunday each month for those who remain in the area.

As part of the festivities in front of the Church, the guests were entertained by the Schlieractaler Schuhplattler Club from Long Island, NY. The lead female dancer of the group, Marie (Dumovitch) Hugel, is a first generation American, whose parents both emigrated from Burgenland in the 1920’s. Her father, Andreas Dumovitch came from Rehgraben, and her mother Christina (Traupman) Dumovitch-Sigmund came from Sumetendorf. Marie and her husband Jerry, who has headed the dance group for the past 35 years, said that „they were ecstatic and honored that they had the opportunity to perform on this special occasion“.
Indeed, the visit of the Pope to the United States was a rousing success, and most people came away touched by his openness and warmth. He is a gentle man with a caring heart, and his visit provided him with the opportunity to demonstrate his concern and love for the people in the United States.

Frank Paukowits, New York