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Paying homage
Local Masses planned in honor of the beloved pope
By LINDA M. LINONIS
youngstown
The Rev. John Keehner met Pope John Paul II in 1998 and the memory remains vivid.
“He had a strong grip and piercing blue eyes,” remembered the rector of St. Columba Cathedral, who added he did realize the pontiff was getting frail.
Father Keehner and Monsignor John Zuraw, pastor of St. Rose Church in Girard, were in Rome, Italy, with Bishop Thomas Tobin, former leader of the Diocese of Youngstown, and had an audience with the pontiff.
Father Keehner will celebrate a special Mass at 4 p.m. today at St. Casimir Church, 145 Jefferson St., in honor of the beatification of the beloved pope. The official ceremony will take place Sunday in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI.
The Mass will be followed by a screening of “Nine Days that Changed the World,” a documentary on Pope John Paul’s historic nine-day pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979.
There also will be a reception featuring Polish foods; Polish Youngstown and Kinnick Funeral Home are sponsors.
Father Keehner said St. Casimir’s heritage is Polish so it’s only fitting that the church pay homage to Pope John Paul II who may be “the one and only Polish pope.”
Father Keehner said the service will include Polish hymns including “Serdeczna Matko,” a hymn to the Blessed Mother. A print of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Black Madonna, cradling the pontiff will be on display.
Sts. Mary and Joseph Church, 131 W. Quarry St., Newton Falls, also will have a Mass in Polish at 11 a.m. Sunday featuring Polish hymns.
A Polish dinner is planned at noon at St. Mary social hall, 121 Maple Drive, Newton Falls, with the Rex Taneri Orchestra.
Advance tickets are suggested; some tickets will be available at the door.
Masses this weekend also are for Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance marked on the second Sunday of Easter, that was initiated by Pope John Paul II.
The Polish devotion honors St. Faustina, who was from a small village in Poland.
God asked St. Faustina to be a model of how to be merciful.
Father Keehner said it is especially fitting that the beatification is this Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday.
The pope died on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.
“He was a pivotal person in the 20th century. The history of the world is different because of him,” Father Keehner said. “He articulated the importance of human rights and stood up for them. He valued the dignity of human beings ... no matter who they were.”
That’s why, Father Keehner said, Pope John Paul’s popularity and influence went beyond the Roman Catholic Church.
As a youth in Poland, Father Keehner said, Pope John Paul lived under the oppression of the German Nazis and then Communism. When Pope John Paul promoted human rights, it was something people of all faiths could empathize with.
“He was so approachable,” Father Keehner said, adding that the pontiff had mentored to youth as a priest and bishop and continued that interest in helping young people.
“I think he also demystified the papacy ... he made it clear he was a man.”
Father Keehner said, “Pope John Paul II had a great love of the church and it permeated in everything he did. He had a great love for people and Christ.”
The priest said his study of the pontiff’s philosophies on family life, marriage, human sexuality have helped him in his vocation.
Father Keehner said a beatification is usually celebrated by the local church where the person beatified, now to be called blessed, is from. Sainthood is celebrated by the whole church. “Pope John Paul was the universal pastor,” he said.
Pope Benedict is paying homage to his predecessor, Father Keehner said, in that the pope usually doesn’t officiate at beatifications but at ceremonies for sainthood.
Monsignor Robert Siffrin, vicar general of the diocese, described Pope John II as a “a wonderful, prayerful leader of the church.”
Monsignor Siffrin met the pope in June 2002. “He was so attentive to people,” he said of the church leader.
“He had charisma and he was a brilliant, holy man with many endearing qualities,” the monsignor said.