The great honor of reading at Pope Francis’ canonization Mass for St. Junípero Serra at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was almost dashed when lector Meghan Jones accidentally left her ticket behind in the Metro train. As Meghan and her parents waited in line for Mass on the warm September day, chatting with two Franciscan friars they happened to meet, Meghan felt around her neck only to realize her badge was no longer there. Jones – a 26-year-old with Down syndrome – joined by her mother Sylvia, her father Bob, and the friars, then did the only thing they could and began to pray.
Meanwhile, Billy, a man the Jones had met on the Metro, was headed to watch the papal Mass telecast on a Jumbotron on the National Mall. He was about to get off at Union Station when a badge on the floor of the car caught his eye. He grabbed the badge and quickly got on the next train back toward the Brookland Station, hoping to find the Jones family in time. Once he arrived, he walked through every line looking for them, until he came to the last one. “I turn around and Billy is there, holding the badge and smiling,” said Sylvia Jones. Then they all entered onto the campus, included Billy, who was given an extra ticket by one of the friars.
Long before the providential discovery of the ticket, Meghan Jones’ journey to the outdoor sanctuary at the papal Mass began when she was just 2 years old, as her parents walked into St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Derwood to see a girl with Down syndrome as an altar server. They’ve been attending Mass there ever since. “St. Francis creates a really natural environment of acceptance where people are people,” said Bob Jones, expressing his gratitude. When Father Mark Knestout, the pastor of St. Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda who helped plan the papal Mass, suggested Meghan be a reader for the Mass, everyone in the parish was incredibly supportive and excited, her parents said. “It's been an honor to be picked, to be representing our parish, and it feels great to be part of something special,” said Meghan.
As the day approached, she began to rehearse “non-stop,” said Meghan, practicing the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians every night before bed. At the Mass, she stood on two risers in order to give her enough height to see the over the lectern. Once she had finished, she looked over to see Cardinal Wuerl giving her an ear-to-ear grin, her mother said. Vincent Medina, a Native American who read the Isaiah passage in the Chochenyo language, represented the people St. Junípero Serra converted, and petition readers, like Hector Reynoso, a parishioner of St. Francis Deaf Catholic Church in Landover Hills, represented the many language communities within the archdiocese and in the country. But Meghan was chosen to represent the Archdiocese of Washington.
“Here in the archdiocese, they took a young woman and her promoted her as a member of the community, rather than as a token,” said her father. “Cardinal Wuerl and Father Mark—they didn’t go for a Hollywood reader… Their faith in Meghan was to the extent that they were proud to put her forth as a voice,” he said. Sylvia hopes that Meghan’s reading at the Mass might give hope to parents of children with Down syndrome, and enlighten and inspire those who may not know the things that children and adults with Down syndrome can accomplish.
When not reading to a crowd of thousands, Meghan often reads for crowds of hundreds, serving as a lector at the archdiocese’s annual White Mass, or at her parish on Sundays. For the past 16 years she’s been an altar server, and she currently is a core member of the youth ministry team at St. Francis of Assisi. She wishes she had even more time to volunteer at the parish, she said, but keeps busy with three jobs, doing data entry at two different offices and bagging groceries at Giant. “They thought that I was a people person so they put me in front,” she said, an assessment she agrees with.
At the end of the papal Mass, a large group of seminarians came up to Meghan, congratulating her and giving her five-fives, hugs and fist bumps, said Bob. For her father, seeing the spontaneous welcoming and genuine joy from these young men, the next generation of priests, was an incredibly moving sight. “When they’re out in their parishes, perhaps they have a better view of what all of their parishioners can do, seeing what Meghan brought. To see all of them overwhelmingly happy and giving her high fives… they'll carry that with them,” he said.
