Howard Beach Girl to Present Gift to the Pope

By Linda Busetti

Kaitlin Karcher

When asked to choose a student to greet Pope Benedict XVI, “Kaitlin Karcher was the first student to pop into my head,” said Barbara Kavanagh, principal of Our Lady of Grace School, Howard Beach.

Diocesan Superintendent of Schools Tom Chadzutko had called Kavanagh to ask her to suggest a student to present flowers to Pope Benedict when he arrives at JFK Airport from Washington, D.C., on Friday, April 18.

“Kaitlin is a young woman of grace, is respectful and an example of a young Christian woman,” Kavanagh said of the eighth-grader.

When Kavanagh called the Karcher home to break the good news, Kathy Karcher, Kaitlin’s mom, answered. She says she was “shocked,” but “very proud, of course.”

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Kathy Karcher said.

Kaitlin, 13, is the only child of Kathy and Robert Karcher of Howard Beach. The tall, brown-haired honor student plays basketball, baseball and soccer for Our Lady of Grace. She has also been a member of the parish youth ministry prayer group.

Her mother will accompany Kaitlin to the arrival ceremony. “She got to the phone first,” Robert Karcher jokes. Because only one person can go with Kaitlin, her father will watch the arrival ceremonies at home on TV.

Kavanagh was especially pleased when Kathy Karcher told her that Kaitlin is the third generation in her family to attend Our Lady of Grace School. Kathy and Kaitlin’s maternal grandmother, Kitty Gillis, also graduated from Our Lady of Grace. Kitty Gillis has passed away, but Kathy is sure that she will look down on Kaitlin from heaven with great pride. Kitty Gillis’ four sisters also graduated from Our Lady of Grace.

“The family is committed to the school and to Catholic education,” Kavanagh said.

The extended family lives in Howard Beach and in Ozone Park. Robert Karcher is originally from Nativity BVM parish, Ozone Park.

“We have a very large family,” Kathy Karcher says. Indeed two of Kaitlin’s cousins are in her eighth-grade class and another cousin is in the third grade.

“Everyone is so close here,” Kaitlin says of Our Lady of Grace, “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.”

Kaitlin will continue her Catholic education at Archbishop Molloy H.S., Briarwood. She won’t miss her eighth-grade class too much – 14 of them will also be going on to Molloy.

Kaitlin has definite ideas about what she would like to be when she grows up – an anesthesiologist. After seeing her grandfather and father endure pain, she decided she would like to be able to do something to relieve pain in others.

“Kaitlin is so excited and very honored,” Kavanagh said, but in keeping with her personality, she hasn’t bragged about the honor for which she was chosen. Even after the family has been contacted by community newspapers, the Daily News and the CBS Morning News asking for interviews.

She and her parents kept the news to themselves at first, but on Monday of Holy Week, Father Joseph Gibino, pastor of Our Lady of Grace, visited the eighth-grade classroom and announced that Kaitlin would be meeting the pope. They were all happy for Kaitlin.

Before the school was dismissed for Easter vacation, Father Gibino celebrated a Mass for the whole student body. Honors certificates were handed out and Principal’s Awards for Outstanding Christian Values. Kaitlin was among the students who came up to receive a certificate. It was then that it was announced by Father Gibino that Kaitlin had also been chosen to present flowers to Pope Benedict.