Special Edition

Pope's worldly influence inspired ministries of local priests

METRO AREA – Priests of all ages and from all areas of the Archdiocese of Detroit say their ministry, in many ways, was influenced by the leadership and teachings of Pope John Paul II.

Fr. Tom Sutherland, for example, said he draws inspiration from the Holy Father's teachings, which contained great wisdom, and Fr. Tim Birney said the pope "is a man who lived what he preached."

All the priests interviewed agreed that the pope had an enormous impact on bringing about the significance of the Blessed Mother, youth, and the Eucharist.

Here's what they said:

Fr. Tim Birney, administrator, Holy Cross Parish, Marine City, and chaplain of Cardinal Mooney Collegiate, Marine City. Ordained 1998.

"I think he's been an excellent role model in what it's meant to be a servant of the Church in that he practices what he preaches. He's someone who was a beacon of light for the faithful for the young and old.

"I've been on two World Youth days and right now I'm organizing one in Cologne (Germany in 2005). I'm amazed on the impact he had on the young people's lives. They are just enthralled with this man who is older and represents what someone would think of as 'old church.'

"My take is that he just was a man who lives what he preached. He's a man of his word. He said, 'Be not afraid' when he was made pope and he's lived by that. He's addressed difficult issues and done it all with faith and what he feels is best for the people and their relationship with God and their growth and their faith.

"I was only 7 at the time (he was made pope). There was a growing awareness. I appreciated him more as I entered the seminary and did formation in my priesthood. I

couldn't say he inspired me but he'd done a lot of inspiring for me since I've been a priest and seminarian by his tireless efforts in the Church and his constant travel to all the ends of the Earth and to bring them the faith and sense of hope and his leadership.

"He is someone who is strong in his words and convictions and his love for the Church is part of the reasons (the youth) had such a strong attraction toward him."

Fr. Larry Jackson, pastor, St. Renee Goupil Parish, Sterling Heights. Ordained 1960.

"He's a people person. He's very open to the people and so on, and that's certainly been an impressive aspect of his ministry.

"He's been a real positive (influence). He's done a great role as peacemaker, when people have struggled with the question of war. His working for peace is very impressive … and (of) his work with respect for life, he did a wonderful job."

Msgr. Stanley Milewski, senior priest. Ordained 1955.

"It just boggles my mind on how he was able to address all the problems in the world and concern himself and to do everything as a power of the Church and as a people of God to respond to these problems and needs.

"Whenever I feel that the deluge of tasks and responsibilities, even as a senior priest at the present time, seem to overwhelm me, I just think of the example that the Holy Father set for me, and for all of us that until our dying breath, we should use the gifts that God has given to us so that the world which He left in our hands through His Son Jesus will be a better place that we leave when He calls us for our eternal reward.

"In 1978, I was in Poland with the entourage of Polish bishops through seven of the 10 visits the Holy Father made to Poland. The most recent one really amazed me When he came to Poland, he lived with the papal nuncio, not with primate of Poland (Cardinal Jozef Glemp). During my last visit, when I was invited to be there for a visit, I was invited to stay at the apartment at the primate's residence that the Holy Father slept in during all his previous visits to Warsaw.

"I was sitting in that room and slept in the same bed -- it just gave me the goosebumps and I just imagine the Holy Father being in that room and resting between his myriad tasks and responsibilities of his visit to his homeland and writing his notes and saying his prayers. It's sort of humbling."

Bishop Francis Reiss. Ordained 1966.

"The Holy Father, ever since he became pope, had two messages for us: Do not be afraid and the other was to go out into the deep. These are not only messages he put down on paper but they were messages he lived.

"Look at the world events he's had to face -- he's done it with courage and with steadfast Christian teaching. He has not been afraid to go forth and take the risks he had to take to be able to preach the Gospel of Jesus.

"He's very much, very much a son of Poland. He brings to his ministry just this great love and devotion to our Blessed Mother as well as a great love and thanksgiving for the beautiful gift of the Eucharist … it was so much a part of his life."

"As a child in the Polish parish in Detroit, St. Stephen's, I remember they had a devotion to Mary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Every week we'd say the rosary and our Eucharistic devotion.

"I will never forget the 40 hours devotion at our parish as a child. It was so much a part of the culture and everybody knew the songs by heart. It was so much a part of the tradition and understanding of the Catholic faith.

"When our Holy Father was elected, it was a great joy for me personally and as he lived out his pontificate and he would do something, I can understand it because of our Polish backgrounds."

Fr. Tom Sutherland, pastor, St. Therese of Lisieux, Shelby Township. Ordained 1961.

"He has exhibited courage over the years with the challenging various administrations and rulers around the world, when he came and stood in front of them and spoke the truth.

"He said thing that were not popular. We can't shy away from addressing issues -- the justice issues of the war, life issues and abortion, capital punishment … He spoke the truth whether people were particularly open to hearing it or not. There's wisdom in Church teaching. There are values in the Church's teachings and wisdom in that, naturally."

Fr. Robert Spezia, faculty, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit. Ordained 1996.

"The current pope has inspired and influenced me generally in two broad ways. The first comes about due to the natural realm. That is, my family's ethnicity is Italian and Polish and we were extremely influenced by those backgrounds. As people of similar ethnic backgrounds often feel comfortable with and have an affinity for those of the same background, it seems that this was extended in my own life to our Polish pope. I suppose along with this, I might mention that I was blessed to have had my four grandparents very involved in my life well into my 20s. I developed, as a result, a comfort with and a love for older people and a great appreciation for their experience and wisdom.

"The second area of influence comes from the spiritual side. Having lived in Rome for seven years, I had the privilege of living close by the Holy Father. As a seminarian and later as a priest, there were numerous opportunities to be at events that he attended. After awhile, I began to pay less attention to him and more attention to the reactions of people around him. These experiences made a deep impression upon me. They were the closest things that I had ever experienced as to how people must have reacted when they met Jesus. People reached out to touch the Holy Father, they offered him their infants to take, hold and bless, they smiled broadly, they cheered, they chanted for him, they wept tears of joy when they saw him. I've never seen anything else like it.

"As far as the way he has exercised the ministry of St. Peter, I would say that his dedication to personal prayer, his evangelical drive, his concern for the reunification with our separated Christian brothers and sisters, and his style of being with the people have spoken deeply to me.

"As a priest, I try to incorporate -- with God's grace -- all of these things into my own life and ministry. The Holy Father has also shown a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary, which I have tried, again with God's grace, to cultivate.

"Pope John Paul II gave his affection and love to the youth -- as he knows they are the future -- and the youth have given their affection and love to him. I have often asked the young why they love the pope and they tell me -- some with tears in their eyes – 'because he loves us' and 'he's the only pope we've ever known.' They have suffered from the effects of a broken society (since it has excluded God in many ways) and they are looking for wholeness.

"As part of my work, I have been assigned to work with the youth at Camp Sancta Maria in Gaylord. I see a great hunger among the youth there for the Gospel truth - the 'full Gospel' as some call it. The youth respond to those who are real with them, and that's what I try to be as a priest. This is how the Holy Father related to them.

Perhaps that which has affected me most profoundly however, is watching the way that the Holy Father persevered in the midst of his physical suffering.

"As Archbishop (Timothy) Dolan (of Milwaukee) once exclaimed: 'He is the pope now more than ever!' His sheer determination (which I've seen first-hand), the training of his will to choose the good have been a tremendous lesson for me in the area of spirituality. The training of the will, by which we make choices, is extremely important in the spiritual life. Since we are raised as generally an affluent people and a democratic people to have whatever we want whenever we want it, we often develop weak wills. The Holy Father showed us the way to true strength and true freedom through the training of the will. And, he furthermore witnessed to the fact that the elderly have great value and that, because of Jesus, there is great value and power in suffering.'

Fr. Anthony Sulkowski, pastor, St. Louis Parish, Clinton Township. Ordained 1986.

"I was lucky enough to celebrate his 25th in Rome. I go every year – and not just to get a picture of the pope," he said and laughed. "Rome is my second home. This time around (at his 25th anniversary in Rome) it was different. I saw a man who celebrated his 25 years as pope and his determination to lead the Church.

"He was a great example and served as a great example to those who suffer, and the crowds still gather around.

"He gave the Church five new decades (to the rosary), the mystery of light, and they really do encompass the life of Christ and the Church. I've really seen an increase in the devotion to the rosary because of his giving the Church five new decades.

"My personal thought is that he was authentic. He may have been the pope but he was truly a priest."