While Kellen Clemens and his wife, Nicole, were driving up the New Jersey Turnpike from Washington to their Long Island home yesterday afternoon with their daughter, Kate Elizabeth, the tires of their car might not have been touching pavement.
The Clemens family was hours removed from a life-altering experience: Pope Benedict XVI blessing their infant daughter after his Mass at Nationals Park.
The Pope, who is in Manhattan this weekend, spotted Kate Elizabeth after one of his security guards pointed her out as he was making his way down the procession aisle following his Mass in the nation’s capital.
“He came right over to my wife and Kate and traced the sign of the cross on her forehead and then he knelt down and kissed her forehead,” Clemens told The Post from his car en route home. “It was just an amazing blessing for her and us as parents to be able to witness it, to have our child blessed by such a powerful, religious, spiritual man.
“Words can’t explain how much this means to us. I don’t know if we’ll ever have anything in our lives that’ll compare to that. I’m still floating on Cloud Nine from this blessing.”
The miraculous moment for Clemens came about when he recently joined a group called Catholic Athletes for Christ. He got tickets to Thursday’s Mass through that organization, and he and former Mets catcher Mike Piazza spoke to the crowd before the Mass.
The Mass was televised nationally, and Clemens’ family, watching at home in Oregon, witnessed the moment in shock.
“They were blown away when they recognized Nicole and Kate,” Clemens said. “Nicole and I were very excited just to have the opportunity to see the Mass, not having any idea this would occur.”
Kate Elizabeth Clemens turned four weeks old yesterday.
“I don’t think she quite understands it yet,” Clemens said. “But this is certainly something she’ll be hearing about forever.”
Clemens, who’s 2- 1/2 months away from competing for the Jets starting quarterback job in training camp, was trying to navigate his way back to Long Island up the Jersey Turnpike.
“I’m praying to miss the traffic,” Clemens said. “That would be our second miracle of the week.”
No word on whether the Pope gave Clemens his blessing to beat out Chad Pennington to become the Jets’ starter in 2008.