Alumni Remember Bl. John Paul II (2011)

Alumni Remember Bl. John Paul II
“The Love that Saves,” by Maria Rangel (’99), www.rangelstudios.com

“Our whole family had the pleasure of spending Easter 2003 in Rome. We attended the same audience that Dr. and Mrs. Dillon attended, when the drawings of the Chapel were presented to Pope John Paul II on Easter Wednesday. Maria (Dillon ’97) and Dom Forte (’00) were also there, and we all shared Easter dinner together, at Enza and Dino (’04) Valente’s home.”

— Jesse (Ellis ’86) Van Hecke
 

Photo: Jessie (Ellis ’86) Van Hecke and her son Nicholas in 2003

“Jennifer and I had an audience with Pope John Paul II on August 7, 2002. When he heard we spoke English he smiled and said, ‘Ah, English.’ He blessed us, making the Sign of the Cross on each of our foreheads, and touched Jennifer’s cheek. He also blessed our rosaries. I told him that we had been praying for his intentions and for his health, and asked that he pray for our intentions and our future children. His eyes were very kind, and you could just feel the holiness all about him. You knew and felt that you were in the presence of great and holy man.”

— Jonathan Peters (’00)
 

Carl and I attended a private Mass at Castel Gondolfo in 1990. Afterwards we were able to be blessed by Pope John Paul II.

— Margaret (Short) Schmitt (’90)
 

“This is a picture of me about to meet Pope John Paul II in May of 1987. I was there laying groundwork for some journalistic work I did later during the Synod on the Laity in October. It was a wonderful opportunity.… I told the Pope my name, and said I was from California. My memory (reinforced by many retellings, of course) is that he responded, ‘Ah, California forever!’ I took this as a sort of prophecy, and I moved backed from Washington, D.C., to California a year later.”

— Angela (Grimm ’85) Lessard
 

“I remember vividly the day he died and the funeral a few days later. I was selected to distribute Holy Communion at the funeral Mass, and had a bird’s eye view. The moment that really brought me to tears was as they were carrying the casket in to St. Peter’s for burial: the pallbearers paused, turned the casket toward the faithful, and raised it up. The sun came out and illuminated the casket as the faithful broke into shouts of gratitude and sobs of sorrow. We all felt that we had lost a father.”

— Rev. Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem. (’94)

Photo: Fr. Sebastian served as the deacon for Bl. John Paul II on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God — the last time His Holiness presided from the high Altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

Maria and Ricky Ellis (’91) meeting Pope John Paul II on their honeymoon, July 5, 2000

John Kunz (’02) met with Bl. John Paul II on May 23, 2004, while studying in Rome.

“I was privileged to receive Holy Communion from Pope John Paul II on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Square in 1980. (I had just graduated from the College and was working as a religion teacher at St. Paul High School in California.) As I was approaching His Holiness, I was overwhelmed with emotion at the thought that I was receiving Our Lord on the central feast day of the year, in the center of the Catholic world, in the central plaza of His Church, from His personal representative, JPII. Wow! I will always be grateful to Cathy (Ford ’77) and Tim O’Donnell who made that experience possible.”

— Marguerite (Ford ’79) Grimm
 

 “This photograph was taken with Pope John Paul II at a meeting in Rome in June 1996. I was a member of the Vatican Delegation to the United Nations for three world conferences. The delegation reported to the Pope after the conference (the 1996 conference was held in Istanbul on the topic of habitation). What struck me about being with John Paul II was how comforting and warm he was toward everyone. You didn’t feel nervous or shy around him; he made you feel that he cared deeply about you and your concerns and what you thought.”

— Pip (Puccetti ’78) Donahoe
 

“My wife, Erin (McEachern ’04), and I were led to a love for the Church’s wisdom about marriage and family because of John Paul II. When we first started dating during our sophomore year at the College in 2002, we needed to turn to someone for a vision of marriage, family, and sexuality. We wanted our relationship to be beautiful, and Pope John Paul II was a man of God who had a vision of the human person that inspired us. Because of him, we learned just why the Church places such a profound emphasis on the vocation of marriage. His teachings about life and love gave us the courage to overcome many misconceptions that we had about love that threatened to destroy our newly discovered relationship. Shortly after we were married in 2004, we had an opportunity while studying at the International Theological Institute in Austria to travel to Rome and receive his blessing on our marriage. I remember looking into his eyes and encountering a person who cared deeply for the couple that was before him. It was a significant experience to share a moment of consciousness together.”

— Peter Baklinski (’04)
 

“In April 1984, following Norm’s surgery and radiation treatment for an aggressive brain tumor, we received the wonderful gift … a week-long pilgrimage to Fatima and Rome. The greatest of these blessings was an invitation late Sunday evening to attend Pope John Paul II’s early morning Mass the next day in his private chapel…. Norm had previously thought about what he would say to the Pope, if ever given the opportunity. First of all, he wanted to promote Thomas Aquinas College, so he proceeded to tell the Pope that he taught at the College and that the College was faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. The Pope answered, ‘Yes, I already know you.’ Then Norm told the Pope that much of his sufferings were being offered for the Pope’s intentions and for the Church. The Pope replied, ‘For this, I am deeply grateful.’ And finally, Norm requested the Pope’s blessing, to which the Pope responded, ‘Yes, I will give you a special blessing.’ I, meanwhile, was incapable of doing anything except to grin in the presence of this holy man”

— Maureen (Barlow/DeSilva) Finley (’76)