Some people were disappointed...

As with everything in life, there is always someone who wishes things had gone otherwise. Very often this is just disappointment, but it can also be a case of sour grapes and, of course, how we view something will depend very much on what our role has been in organising and running it.

I have already mentioned that not everyone has been cock a hoop over JMJ - I don't know, I wasn't here, but the overall impression is that it was a great success although, as with all successes if we are honest, it was not an unqualified success.

It seems that one of the things that provoked a lot of frustration was the security surrounding the Pope during his visit. This was, of course, the local Panamanian security services with,  I am sure, input from the Vatican's own police/ security personnel. However, many people seem to feel that the security was unecessarily heavy handed. I suppose we have to presume that the security people knew more than the person in the street but, nevertheless, some people did feel a bit trodden on or left out.

Such, it seems, was the case with some (many?) of the staff at the seminary. Special cooks were brought in for the Pope which was certainly a disappointment for the kitchen staff, but, as they say themselves, it meant they didn't have the pressure. However, the fact that the staff were coralled in the dining room (the Pope was to eat in the library which had been turned in to a dining room for the occasion - it has air conditioning while the normal dining room does not) and were not allowed to leave it, even to wave at the Holy Father as he passed. In fact, they barely saw him at all which was a pity.

The seminarians and academic and formation staff of the seminary also had their difficulties with the security personnel - coming and going from the building was very problematic and several of the seminarians had to be vouched for on more than one occasion, even for a number of days before the Pope had come at all. But, unlike the household staff, they all got to met the Pope and shake hands with him - except for one seminarian, Freddy, who had to be operated on for acute appendicitis just before the Pope came.

There is now, standing at the entrance to the chapel, a small tree in a pot which has a ribbon on the pot. This is not an effort to decorate the place. It was given by a benefactor of the seminary to be planted by the Pope during his visit - but the security men wouldn't allow it. Now they have a very large pot plant instead of having what could have been a growing reminder of the day the Pope came to the seminary - it really does seem as if the security people could have relaxed, even a little.