Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Pastor of Detroit-area Lithuanian parish drowns in rescue attempt
Pastor of Detroit-area Lithuanian parish drowns in rescue attempt
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 31, 2009
Detroit - The pastor of a Lithuanian ethnic parish in suburban Detroit drowned July 28 after diving into the water in an attempt to save his 13-year-old nephew.
Neither Fr. Ricardas Repsys, 59, nor his nephew, who was visiting from Lithuania were able to make it back to the boat in which they and two others had been enjoying an outing on Lake St. Clair.
Fr. Repsys, had come from Lithuania in 2004 to become administrator of Divine Providence (Lithuanian) Parish in Southfield, just north of Detroit.
The parish has a membership of 245 families, but also serves as a community center for many Lithuanian-Americans who belong to other Catholic parishes throughout metropolitan Detroit.
Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron said July 29: "The sudden loss of Fr. Repsys is a great tragedy, as is the loss of his young nephew, Tautvydays Skudas."
Archbishop Vigneron added that he hoped it would be of some comfort to the people of the parish "that the last act of Fr. Repsys was a heroic one."
Monsignor John P. Zenz, episcopal vicar for the northwest region of the Detroit Archdiocese, said, "It is not surprising that Fr. Repsys would die literally trying to save a drowning person; he was truly Christ-like."
Msgr. Zenz praised Fr. Repsys as "a dedicated, compassionate and generous priest who loved the Lord and His people" both in Lithuania and America.
"I remember him telling me stories of the risks and dangers and loneliness he endured during the early years of his priestly ministry while taking the train to minister to Lithuanians in Siberia; these were the darkest days of Communism," the monsignor added.
Noting that the other occupants of the boat reported that Fr. Repsys did not hesitate to jump into the water, Divine Providence parishioner Juozas Orentas said that was the kind of man he was.
"He was a very, very good pastor. He really cared for the people, and will be very greatly missed," said Orentas, who chairs the parish's administration commission.
Both he and Aldona Sonta, parish education commission chairperson, said Fr. Repsys made a special effort to reach out to members of the latest wave of Lithuanian immigrants - those who came in the 1990s after the country regained its independence after decades of Soviet rule.
Sonta said that the first wave of Lithuanian immigrants, who came after World War I, and the second, who came after World War II, like her parents, were reflective of the country's strong Catholic heritage, whereas an evangelization effort was needed to reach many recent immigrants.
"When any country is smothered by communism for generations, you can't expect people to automatically come to church. Their perception of the Church and religion is very different from the earlier waves of immigrants," she said.
Fr. Repsys was always very supportive of new approaches to religious education and to promoting Lithuanian cultural heritage, Sonta continued.
"It was such a shock when we heard the news of his death. He was such a vibrant person, and had such a zest for life. We will really, really miss him," she added.
Fr. Repsys was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1950 and ordained a priest for the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary religious order in 1981. He later became a priest of the Archdiocese of Kaunas. At the request of his archbishop in Lithuania, Fr. Repsys came to the United States and began ministry to the Detroit area's Lithuanian Catholics. He was granted permanent legal residency in the U.S. in March 2008.
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