Editor's note: Father Michael Okere of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Orangeburg wrote the following about his before and after experience with Pope Benedict XVI's recent trip to the United States. Okere attended the pope's mass at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

My expectations for the Pope's visit to Washington on April 17, 2008: The visit of Pope Benedict XVI, and 264th successor of the Apostle Peter, will bring joy and renewal to the Catholic Church in the U.S. and beyond.

This visit is well-timed. It comes when many questions are asked -- when communication among religions, nations and races is greatly scarred by wars, politics and economic depression. This time, like never before, more people are drowning in ignorance about Catholic faith and its tenets. This visit will help foster love and deeper understanding among various Christian faith groups, different cultures and people.

On the contrary, it may not be a time to anodyne all the problems of the world or bandage the problems and tribulations of the Catholic faith, such as the issues of abuses of minors by priests, the scarcity of clergy and a growing decline in faith in pursuit of worldly things.

However, it will be excitingly edifying to be with a great number of Catholics, priests, religious and critics who will congregate to be in audience with the Pope and celebrate the holy Eucharist as a family of Christ's people.

Once more, we will reaffirm the universality of the Catholic faith, and I count myself privileged to be part of this auspicious celebration. So I will enjoy its blessing fully and bring the joy back to my parishioners and town.

Faith is important to my fairly sized town of Orangeburg. Here, Catholics are few, but our town is still alive with activities in other Christian denominations such as Baptist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist and many other uncountable Christian sects.

Similar to most South Carolina cities and towns, one seldom meets Catholic priests and religious on the street. It would therefore be exhilaratingly rewarding to my faith and energizing to my vocation in the priesthood to share faith with the pope in the company of my coworkers and collaborators, the clergy and the laity.

Although this august visit is short, hopefully, the papal visit will bring greater awareness to reconciliation among all people and help foster hope to awaken our present lethargy to vocation to the priesthood and religious life in the U.S. and the entire Western world.

I have come back from one of the most enlivening experience of my life -- the pope's visit in Washington, D.C. It was a "Pentecost" experience for me. The Holy Spirit was on the ground, alive and engulfing the souls of all people at Nationals Park baseball stadium. There were people from different nations of the world, people from every culture and language -- all coming to see and hear the Holy Father. People of different status and stature graced the event with their presence, from dignitaries to the elderly to children, the rich and the poor, the able and disabled -- all were evenly represented. In the air, you could easily touch the warmth of joy, equanimity and oneness.

Like Peter the apostle, the pope announced, "I have come to anoint you with the Holy Spirit of Christ." His was a message of hope, love and reconciliation for all people and faiths.

Personally, this experience rekindled the spirit of universality of the church and the call for all Christians to pursue our ultimate purpose in life -- to love God and our neighbors. Although there were many people from different nationalities and languages, understanding the Pope and each other was not a difficult task because all we spoke was the language of hope and frie-ip, and all we heard was the sound of love and unity.

This visit brings renewal to my faith and vocation to the priesthood. It was touching, especially when the pope, the head the Catholic faith, pleaded publicly and individually with victims of the recent priests' abuse of minors in the United States for forgiveness and reconciliation. My faith and vocation are deeply touched and renewed by this once-in-a-lifetime papal visit.

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