Polish priests recall meeting Pope John Paul

Rev. Peter Tkocz, assistant pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Latham, was 11 when he met Pope John Paul II.

Rev. Thomas Babiuch, assistant pastor of St. Mary's Church in Glens Falls, was 10 the first time he saw the pontiff.

The two priests are natives of Poland, a background that gives them a special perspective on the late pope.

Meeting the pope

In 1979, when Pope John Paul returned to his homeland to cheers and adulation, young Peter Tkocz was among hundreds of students chosen to meet him.

The pope exchanged brief words with each student. When his turn arrived, Peter mentioned his love of soccer.

"That's how I caught his attention for a few seconds," he recalled, "because he'd played soccer, too. He asked me where I was playing and what position. For a young boy, it was something very unusual."

Getting close

Young Thomas Babiuch accompanied his class on a trip to see John Paul celebrate a Mass in a public square in Warsaw. The students secured a prime vantage point on an aisle the Pope would use.

"He was so popular, a national hero, a celebrity -- someone you wanted to see," the priest said. "And he was just so human, so down-to-earth, such an ordinary man."

The pontiff spent a great deal of time talking with people in the crowd, including the future Father Babiuch, who shook his hand.

"That's how I'm going to remember him," Father Babiuch explained. "I'll remember him as the people's Pope. He was very connected with people."

Polish pride

Both priests described a sense of surprise and excitement that was pervasive across Poland in the early days of John Paul's reign.

They also recalled the pride that many Poles felt upon his election. Many, said Father Tkocz, believed the election of a pope from a country living under Communism was a sign that the Holy Spirit had been working among the electors.

The Poles respected him for his role in the downfall of Communism and are proud that he was committed to functioning as a "voice for the voiceless," Father Babiuch said. "One legacy he left was that any totalitarian system can be abolished in a peaceful way. He helped destroy [communism] with no guns, no wars and no tanks.

"He took care of the poor, took care of the needy, spoke for those who were voiceless, and was able to show others that life has great value. He knew himself what it was like to be hungry, to be poor and to have nothing. John Paul was very much aware of what the people were going through. That's his legacy: a person of unity, a person of peace and a person of compassion."

Vocations

The fleeting contacts they had with the Pope left a lasting effect on both priests.

The Pope's journeys around the world were among the things that prompted Father Tkocz to think of serving as a priest in another country. For Father Babiuch, some of the Pope's greatest spiritual guidance came through his "speaking for the truth of our faith, and promoting justice and peace.

"I learned from him that social justice is something that we all have to focus on, whether Christian or non-Christian, priest or layperson."

Father Tkocz remains impressed with the Pope's commitment to move outside the circle of the Vatican to "meet his people, to go further," even in the waning days of his papacy, when he "was getting weaker. He wanted to be sure that in the future the Church would really concentrate on those issues that were important: life and human dignity."

Minutes after he heard the official announcement of the Pope's death, Father Tkocz was on the phone with his parents in Poland.

"They were sad. They knew it wouldn't be long, but nobody really accepted that it would be so soon," he explained. "It was quite a sad story for them. The Pope always seemed to be strong. [The Polish] call him kind of stubborn because he was from the mountains, and we sometimes call people from the mountains 'stubborn.'"

His parents told him that during the period between the Pope's death and his funeral, many Polish newspapers published only in black and white as a sign of mourning.

On the day of the funeral, Polish schools and businesses were closed so people could watch, "reflect, pray, and pay tribute and respect to the Pope. He was a very simple, ordinary person, a person that you wouldn't think was a celebrity. He didn't treat himself that way." (KD)

(4/14/05)