Father Paczek
OK, I know some of you will think this is crazy, and that's ok. I just feel compelled to write about this. As most of you know, I grew up on a farm outside a very small town named Cayuga in southeastern North Dakota. About 12 miles to the east of Cayuga is the town of Lidgerwood. Geneseo was the little town right in the middle. I mention this because I had strong connections with all those towns--especially through the churches. As teenagers, we also knew which priest was the nicest for penance.
Father Valerian Paczek (pronounced "paycheck") was the Catholic priest in Lidgerwood. We used to say that he could speak 8 different languages, and judging by his English, none of them all too well. So, if we went to him for Confession, he would ALWAYS say, "For your penance, now, say once; two Hail Marys." All the other priests would usually nail us with two Rosaries!
Last summer I had the privilege of meeting with and talking to one of the authors of a book about Father Paczek. The book mostly recounts his WWII years in Poland. The authors had been assigned to take care of Father's personal effects after he had died in 2001. They came upon all these Polish medals and asked a Polish group in Winnipeg if they knew anything about those medals. They verified that those medals were the Polish equivalent of the US Congressional Medal of Honor. They also told the authors that whoever had those was a VERY important, decorated hero.
Oh, and the authors also found Pope John Paul II's private phone number among Father Paczek's belongings. My sister had told me that Father had her type up his congratulatory letter to the Pope, and also showed her some of the letters he'd gotten from John Paul.
The reason I had coffee with one of the authors was that I was giving him a video of Father talking about one of his physician friends being assassinated in Warsaw. I had taped that in 1990. That video is now in the archives of the Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo, ND.
One of the things that Father Paczek had done during the war was he'd copy down the names off the tombstones in the Catholic Cemeteries, then make "new" birth certificates for the Jewish population. Years later during a flight to Chicago, he was sitting next to a man he could recognize as being a Polish Jew. Father asked the man how he had gotten out, and the man pulled a piece of paper out of his wallet, unfolded it, and told Father Paczek that this piece of paper was what had saved his life. It was one of the fake birth certificates signed by Fr. Valerian Paczek.
This weekend, as I was sorting through some "stuff," I came across my parents' booklet from Father's Golden Jubilee in 1984. I know I had gone through the booklet 6-1/2 years ago when my mother passed away, and glanced at it a couple other times. But Saturday I noticed for the first time, not only the inscription from Father, but another hand-written note plus a holy card commemorating his 50 years in the priesthood. I swear I did not see those before. About half of the booklet was autobiographic, and the other half was pictures of him and people important in his life. Of course, I found my mother, my nephew, perhaps my sister and her husband, and some other familiar (to me) faces.
Father wrote in there that while he was being operated on for gall bladder in 1975, an operation that lasted 6-1/2 hours, he had been pronounced dead for three minutes. During that time, he said he had a vision that Cardinal Wojtyla would be elected Pope. Of course everybody laughed at him for that one.
Now, you need to understand that Father was a very quiet man who enjoyed singing. He chose to retire in Lidgerwood, and had my brother in law build him his retirement house there.
Now why am I writing this? (BTW, there's far more to his story than what I've put down here.) Well, after really going over that (treasure) booklet and trying to understand more, I had a very unusual experience early Sunday morning. I heard Father Valerian Paczek's voice! I can't tell you what he was saying--I'm such a lousy listener--but there was no mistaking that it was Father with his melodious way of mispronouncing English. What a gift!
Father Valerian Paczek (pronounced "paycheck") was the Catholic priest in Lidgerwood. We used to say that he could speak 8 different languages, and judging by his English, none of them all too well. So, if we went to him for Confession, he would ALWAYS say, "For your penance, now, say once; two Hail Marys." All the other priests would usually nail us with two Rosaries!
Last summer I had the privilege of meeting with and talking to one of the authors of a book about Father Paczek. The book mostly recounts his WWII years in Poland. The authors had been assigned to take care of Father's personal effects after he had died in 2001. They came upon all these Polish medals and asked a Polish group in Winnipeg if they knew anything about those medals. They verified that those medals were the Polish equivalent of the US Congressional Medal of Honor. They also told the authors that whoever had those was a VERY important, decorated hero.
Oh, and the authors also found Pope John Paul II's private phone number among Father Paczek's belongings. My sister had told me that Father had her type up his congratulatory letter to the Pope, and also showed her some of the letters he'd gotten from John Paul.
The reason I had coffee with one of the authors was that I was giving him a video of Father talking about one of his physician friends being assassinated in Warsaw. I had taped that in 1990. That video is now in the archives of the Cardinal Muench Seminary in Fargo, ND.
One of the things that Father Paczek had done during the war was he'd copy down the names off the tombstones in the Catholic Cemeteries, then make "new" birth certificates for the Jewish population. Years later during a flight to Chicago, he was sitting next to a man he could recognize as being a Polish Jew. Father asked the man how he had gotten out, and the man pulled a piece of paper out of his wallet, unfolded it, and told Father Paczek that this piece of paper was what had saved his life. It was one of the fake birth certificates signed by Fr. Valerian Paczek.
This weekend, as I was sorting through some "stuff," I came across my parents' booklet from Father's Golden Jubilee in 1984. I know I had gone through the booklet 6-1/2 years ago when my mother passed away, and glanced at it a couple other times. But Saturday I noticed for the first time, not only the inscription from Father, but another hand-written note plus a holy card commemorating his 50 years in the priesthood. I swear I did not see those before. About half of the booklet was autobiographic, and the other half was pictures of him and people important in his life. Of course, I found my mother, my nephew, perhaps my sister and her husband, and some other familiar (to me) faces.
Father wrote in there that while he was being operated on for gall bladder in 1975, an operation that lasted 6-1/2 hours, he had been pronounced dead for three minutes. During that time, he said he had a vision that Cardinal Wojtyla would be elected Pope. Of course everybody laughed at him for that one.
Now, you need to understand that Father was a very quiet man who enjoyed singing. He chose to retire in Lidgerwood, and had my brother in law build him his retirement house there.
Now why am I writing this? (BTW, there's far more to his story than what I've put down here.) Well, after really going over that (treasure) booklet and trying to understand more, I had a very unusual experience early Sunday morning. I heard Father Valerian Paczek's voice! I can't tell you what he was saying--I'm such a lousy listener--but there was no mistaking that it was Father with his melodious way of mispronouncing English. What a gift!
4 Comments:
Thanks, Margaret, for sharing your experiences throughout your BC saga -- which will end successfully!
Say, do you remember if Father Paczek sang to you in English or Polish? Love, Sister Karen
Actually, he wasn't singing to me. It's just that when he talked, his words always seemed to be connected as if he were singing...you know, like no "spaces" in between each word. And it was in English.
BTW, how's the weather down there? Finally got a little cooler yesterday, and today even cooler. Don't ask the number...I just know that my A/C actually worked today, and this AM, I could just drive w/windows open...it was glorious!
What a VERY interesting posting. Thanks for sharing.
I like you, have connections to the Richland county area and was married by Father Paczek on the day that Pope John Paul THE FIRST was elected Pope (Aug 1978)...I have always been interested in his story and just a couple years ago I started an internet search of Father P. Found this and that after a good hour searching and it was late- past Midnight- when I began to wind down, when suddenly a BAT appeared in my basement flying around like bats do...freaked me out and I chased it out of the house...never before or since has this happened in my house...I have never told this to anyone,,,and I sometimes I believe I just imagined it...I too really liked Father P, even though I never understood a word he said, (not Really) anyways, what do you make of that story? I wonder if there are other tales like mine and yours?? I don't know what to make of it other then a sign that he was aware of this world still. I hope other people see this blog and my post and respond with more stories.
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