The view from the pew

I was out voting this morning (it's primary day here in the Bay State) when I got a text message from Terry Donilon, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, telling me that there might be some good photo possibilities at a Mass that was underway at the Cathedral. It turns out that 1,500 schoolchildren, in uniform, were at the Mass, and there was a lot of cuteness to be found. I called the photo desk, and they sent photographer Suzanne Kreiter over; she arrived with just a few minutes left in the liturgy, but managed to get the image above, which shows Mayetha Museau, Adama Eangura, Rose Pluviose and Daphnide Legerme.

I asked Suzanne how she knew what to do. Here's what she said:

"Despite the dodgy lighting conditions inside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, today's Mass was a photographer's dream. Fifteen hundred uniformed Catholic school kids in varying poses of rapt to inattention in a classic Boston setting. I couldn't resist these first graders who could barely see over the pew! Because of scheduling I could only be there for about 25 minutes, but if I had more time I could have shot an entire photo essay on the children's faces that so beautifully reflected the diversity of Boston."

The Mass was for the first students of the newly named Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester and Mattapan, which is a five-campus elementary school that replaces seven parish schools, some of which had operated in the same buildings. Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley said the Mass, told the kids to study hard, and invited them to come back and visit.