VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- During Patti Goloskie's decades of traveling as a carnival food manager, setting up hot dog and funnel cake booths at state fairs and parish festivals, she never thought her job would take her to Vatican City to address a meeting of a pontifical council.

In mid-December, though, Goloskie, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was part of a U.S. delegation that addressed the National Directors of the Pastoral Care of Circus and Carnival People at the Vatican. The Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers sponsored the two-day conference.

The goal of the meeting was to exchange ideas among chaplains who serve "people on the move," as the pontifical council calls its constituency, and to plan for a larger international convention of circus and carnival chaplains that will take place in December 2010 in Rome.

Goloskie told the assembly that U.S. carnival workers -- some 300,000 people serving at more than 300 major carnival events per year -- are elated when they are able to attend Mass or talk with a priest amid their demanding work schedules. It is estimated that 40 percent of U.S. carnival workers are Catholics.

Goloskie has been in the business for 50 years; she worked her first parish festival as a child at St. Joseph Parish in Medway, Mass.

She described for the chaplains the hectic but joyful scene before an opening day at a typical state fair when the loudspeaker announces that a Catholic priest has arrived. The workers would leave their game stalls and rides and gather to celebrate Mass at an open spot on the fairgrounds or under the canopy of a bumper car ride if it was raining, she said.

"And afterward I get to give the priest all the popcorn and cotton candy he wants," Goloskie said.

"I am proud to represent the carnival industry and I am here to thank you for working so hard to bring more of your ministry to the outdoor amusement people," Goloskie told the representatives from nine countries in a talk that was translated simultaneously into Italian, French and Spanish.

Father John Vakulskas, America's "carnival priest," was the one who invited Goloskie to join him at the Vatican meeting.

Father Vakulskas earned his unofficial title by having worked since 1969 as a part-time carnival chaplain. He and Goloskie have worked together to find priests for carnival workers since meeting at the California State Fair 25 years ago.

The priest, who is also pastor of two parishes in the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, uses most of his vacation and free days to be at carnivals and state fairs throughout the country.

He spoke to his fellow chaplains with passion about his ministry. "I have been there long enough for them to know me, so I celebrate Holy Mass, memorial services, bless the rides and bless the games," he said. "The midway is my cathedral."

The U.S. delegation also included Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Father Philip De Rea, who has been a chaplain at U.S. racetracks since 1971. Father De Rea's interest in cars came through his lifelong friendship with racing champion Mario Andretti. They grew up together in Nazareth, Pa.

Father De Rea told the conference that he attends more than 20 racing events each year, celebrating up to three Masses during a weekend. He estimated that more than half the drivers in the U.S. racing world are Catholics, with many coming from Europe and South America.

All the baptisms and marriages he celebrates for racers are officially registered at a parish in Florida.

"I go to where the people are at, and these racing people are out on the edge, so that is where I go," Father De Rea said.

Father De Rea said the meeting helped him see just how much the Vatican values his race-car ministry. "The pontifical council is telling us that the Catholic Church wants everyone to be connected and that is what we are doing at the tracks," he said.

Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops