Lepak Loved The Experience Of A Lifetime
In The City Of Brotherly Love

“What an amazing experience!”

It’s those four words that summed up the day that Igor Lepak had in Philadelphia on Sunday (Sept 27), after performing on the main stage -- in front of the altar -- prior to the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis.

Mr. Lepak, a member of the St. Mary’s Music Group, spent a portion of the afternoon playing bass guitar and cello as part of a six-member group led by Martin Doman, who was invited earlier this year to be a part of the pre-Mass program.

And in Philadelphia, prior to the arrival of the Pope -- the leader of the Holy See -- Mr. Doman’s group found themselves performing for a holy sea of people. Organizers in Philadelphia had anticipated one million worshipers and crowd estimates have been in the hundreds of thousands.

Mr. Lepak has performed with Mr. Doman (photo at left) at various religious conferences in the past but none of those instances -- nor any 9:30 a.m. Sunday Mass in Simsbury, where Lepak helps lead the music ministry each week -- included a crowd of that magnitude.

While it’s impossible to determine an exact number of faithful in Philadelphia, the estimated crowd size would mean that Mr. Lepak was on stage in front of an audience roughly the size of the 1969 Woodstock festival, with the performance shown live on 40 giant screens throughout the site. But he said nerves were not an issue.

“I think Martin may have been a little … half and half (nervous and excited), maybe,” he said. “But for me it was very much a sense of calm and ease – it was a special feeling.”

On stage, Mr. Lepak said he couldn’t hear his cello as much as he would have liked during the performance, as the sound levels had been changed after the morning soundcheck. But other than that, his only other concerns had been minor logistics earlier in the day, as he said there was some lack of organization backstage which resulted in basic questions such as locating coffee, food or a place to change clothes.

As it turned out, there could have also been a concern of missing out on the chance of a lifetime.

Following the group’s soundcheck in the morning, they had a few hours before their scheduled performance at 2:30 p.m., so Mr. Lepak spent time exploring the immediate area.

“I just went out and I had my security pass, so I could go all around the main stage and then across the street -- there were the people who didn’t have tickets and they were just holding signs and hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis,” Mr. Lepak said.

“I finally found a patch of green grass and laid down. I had my phone alarm set and I was almost asleep when Martin called and said we were going on early! So I had to get back and find somewhere to get changed.”

Mr. Doman’s group ultimately went on stage about 1:30 p.m. and performed a pair of songs -- performing ahead of schedule, but also having their set end earlier than planned.

“We were cut short. There were a lot of things that were cut short,” Mr. Lepak said. “Even during the Mass, there were two more communion songs they were going to do and then a Marian antiphon (“Ave Maria”) but they cut it short. They also cut out two intercessory prayers.”

The final song that Doman’s group performed was the Song of St. Augustine, for which Mr. Lepak had written the string arrangement. Overall, the shorter-than-expected performance didn’t diminish the experience and it didn’t take long for the magnitude of the moment to set in.

“I think it kicked in before we even went on,” he said. “What an amazing experience.”

The moment was not lost on those who remained back home in Connecticut, either.

“Last week, when Pope Francis visited the US, was an extraordinary moment of grace for all of us and it was a special moment of grace for St. Mary’s Parish, since one of our own played in Philadelphia,” said Rev. Frank Matera, pastor of St. Mary’s. “God bless him. God bless Pope Francis.”

It was an experience for Mr. Lepak that came about through his association and friendship with Mr. Doman, who has been writing, performing and ministering as a Catholic musician for more than 20 years. He is a native of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and was included on the pre-Mass program through Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

“Martin knew the archbishop and had worked with him on the ‘Christ Music’ ministry for adoration as well as praise and worship,” Mr. Lepak said. “Martin emailed Archbishop Chaput back in February, offering to assist in any way that might be needed and [Chaput] took him up on the offer.”

Mr. Doman was raised in the Philadelphia area as one of 10 children. His family is still in the area and his parents hosted Mr. Lepak for the weekend.

“They’re about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia,” he said. “I drove down (from Connecticut) on Saturday and it made for an easy trip into the city on Sunday.”

Mr. Lepak said their group arrived at the Dell Music Center at 7 a.m. on Sunday and then took a short, 10-minute shuttle bus ride to the main stage, where they received their passes and proceeded through the security checkpoint.

“It was more than what you see at the airport,” he said. “They went through our instruments and the instrument cases with sniffing dogs. There was top security everywhere – Secret Service, police and the Swiss Guard – and they all had the earphones.”

After the group had their soundcheck around 9 a.m., Mr. Lepak said he simply left his instruments lying behind the stage.

“I wasn’t too worried about them. There was security everywhere,” he said.

After performing in the afternoon, there were more than just instruments backstage, as priests and bishops soon began lining up for Mass.

“It was so dry, I offered a water to one of them,” Mr. Lepak said. “And the next thing you know, we’re grabbing waters from the hospitality tent and handing them out to all the priests and bishops!”

Mr. Lepak was also carrying a number of rosary beads specially-created for the World Meeting of Families -- rosaries he wanted to have blessed before bringing them home for his family.

“So I just asked one of the bishops and he was happy to do it,” he said. It turned out to be Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles.

The rosary beads include symbols from the Philadelphia conference -- an image of Pope Francis, a depiction of families and the Liberty Bell, in addition to Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The Philadelphia Orchestra was there as well and Mr. Lepak had the opportunity to chat with the timpani player for the orchestra -- Don Liuzzi -- who, as Mr. Lepak discovered, had known his late father. Alexander Lepak was a longtime percussionist for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the founder of the percussion program at The Hartt School.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but one that enabled Mr. Lepak to attend a Papal Mass, wave to Pope Francis in the Popemobile from yards away and perform on stage prior to the Mass. Would he go through the experience again?

“Oh yeah, in a heartbeat! In a heartbeat!” he said.


Video - Papal Celebration in Philadephia (Martin Doman)
September 27, 2015