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| That's me in the pink scarf, awaiting the announcement of the new pope alongside students and a professor at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC, March 13, 2013. Photo by Genevieve Plaster. |
At two in the afternoon of March 13, 2013, I popped into the office of a Dominican priest-professor at the Dominican House of Studies to make confession. From where I sat, facing Father’s desk, I could see the bell tower of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, just across Michigan Avenue.
After Father absolved me, we chatted a bit. Suddenly, as the priest was speaking, the Basilica’s bells started pealing as though summoning the faithful for Mass. But I knew it wasn’t the time for Mass.
“Father!” I interrupted. “I think we have a pope!”
I have never seen a Dominican run so fast as that priest dashed out the door, sputtering an excuse as he headed to watch the TV in the cloister, his white scapular aflutter. ...
