Divide and Conquer!

 As I began to get to know the Silverdome, it became quite evident to me that it needed to be dissected, so to speak. If the challenge of distributing Communion to roughly a hundred-thousand in the course of eighteen minutes was to be properly met, a top team would have to be assembled, not the actual force needed to accomplish the mission but the team to imagine, design and oversee the mission.

I needed help!

Lot's of help!

Good, qualified, yes, even bossy, "take no prisoners" kind of help!

And so the work began in terms of dividing the building up, in the imagination, of course, into unique but workable sections.

The first and most challenging section was ground floor. Nothing would be actual or visible until the day or two before the event. Everything had to transpire in the imagination. There would be a sanctuary area for the Holy Father, the immediate ministers (lectors, cantors and acolytes,) the cardinals, bishops and priest concelebrants. We had no idea what that would look like or how much space it would occupy, not just yet. Still to be designed. But once designed, there would still remain a vast ground level space,  the general seating area.

The second section was also directly associated with the main floor. From ground level, established, non-movable seating rows ascended up to a walkway area and also handicap areas. 

Then came the - what should I call it - mezzanine? loge? A second floor so to speak but one that contained its own challenge. This was also an area containing suites, enclosed, private rooms for the "cream of the crop."

And then the great, vast third level, the bleacher/balcony area, way up there so close to heaven!

I needed to recruit those who could take charge of each of these areas, use imagination to create traffic flows that would not turn into stampedes or traffic jams, and then could also communicate the appropriate plans to the ones who would make happen and do that communicating in a way that said, "This way and only this way!"

And I knew just the ones I needed to work with so as to get the task done. In years before I had worked on some other projects for the Archdiocese, projects that also involved some complex logistics, though nothing quite like this. But I knew the ones who could make things happen.

And I began to recruit the "team."

And one by one each said "Yes."

Including - and remember, this was 1987 and this was a Catholic Church project, and, even then, yes, I asked a woman to be part of this team. Such a move might have seemed to some to be quite radical especially given the era. But I put a woman on the team along with all those men.

And years later she asked me why.

Why did I choose her in particular, she asked.

And my reply?

Because I knew you would take no backtalk - even from all those clergy types. And that is what I needed, someone strong.

And she was it!

And I was definitely not wrong.

Of course more is coming! Please come back.

Meantime, Keep Praying . . .

Stay Safe!