Package Stories for Papal Visit and Earth Day

Nicholas Luckenbaugh

Papal Visit:
• PROFILE: Father John McGuire, Pastor at St. Joseph’s Parish Church in the Village is doing much of the planning for the pope’s prayer service this week. He has been working with the pope’s coordination team, NYU faculty and students and New York City and Greenwich Village officials and representatives to make the service smooth and successful. Father McGuire would make an excellent profile.
• NEWS EVENT WITH VISUALS: The Westboro Baptist Church is planning protests at all major papal events, including the pope’s visit to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and St. Joseph’s Parish Church in the Village. The protests would provide excellent pictures and extremely interesting and potentially colorful quotes, giving insight into an aspect of the papal visit that is not well-covered in the media.
• ENTERPRISE STORY: A slow return to the Latin Mass, initiated by Pope Benedict XVI, is causing controversy among American Catholics, even with priests. While the Catholic Church and Vatican promotes unity and heirarchy, this dissention in individual dioceses could be a sign of the Vatican's loss of control over American parishes. The piece will investigate individual parish practices in relation to the ordinances handed down by the Vatican and individual dioceses. The piece is timely considering the pope’s visit to the United States.

Earth Day:
• PROFILE: A sidewalk promoter for Greenpeace, particularly one that is slotted to work at the EarthFair in New York City would make an excellent profile. The promoter is always ignored on New York sidewalks and would have great stories, strong environmental convictions and pertinent information regarding Earth Day and the EarthFair.
• NEWS EVENT WITH VISUALS: EarthNight, April 22 from 6 p.m. to midnight, is a social networking party and eco-fashion show at The Park, 118 Tenth Avenue at 18th Street. The event, which receives significantly less coverage than New York City’s EarthFair, would provide excellent pictures and interesting quotes.
• ENTERPRISE PIECE: How environmentally friendly are organizations such as the EPA, Greenpeace and Lower East Side Ecology Center that claim to promote conservation? This piece would track the recycling habits of the New York offices of these and similar organizations, investigating how seriously they take their recycling habits.