Wednesday, October 27, 2004
The cardinal represented Pope John Paul II in Mexico last week.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Cardinal Jozef Tomko will visit St. Matthias Church this week to help the parish celebrate its 90th anniversary.
Cardinal Tomko, 80, is the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urban University. Last week, he represented Pope John Paul II at the International Eucharistic Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In Youngstown, he will attend Mass at 7 p.m. today at St. Matthias as the parish begins three days of Eucharistic Adoration, traditionally called "Forty Hours." The Cardinal will be the principal celebrant and homilist at Mass at 7 p.m. Thursday at the church. St. Matthias is at 915 Cornell Ave. on the city's South Side.
Background
Born in 1924 in Udavske, Slovakia, Cardinal Tomko was ordained in 1949, after studying in Bratslavia and Rome.
In 1961, he was appointed to the staff of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. In 1974, Pope Paul VI appointed him Undersecretary of the Congregation of Bishops and named him a Prelate of Honor. Pope John XXIII named him Chaplain of His Holiness with the title Monsignor.
Pope John Paul II later named him Archbishop of Doclea and Secretary of the Bishops Synod. The pope appointed him to the College of Cardinals and also as Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, formerly the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in 1985. In 1996, the pope named Cardinal Tomko a Cardinal Priest, assigning the ancient Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome as his titular church.
The Cardinal has had a close association with the American Slovak community, working with the Slovak Catholic Federation, which includes fraternal organizations, parishes and other institutions. He founded the Slovak Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, which is now the Pontifical Slovak Institute and College of Sts. Cyril and Methodius.