Detroit — “When I met him, I was at the archbishop’s house on Boston Boulevard,” remembers Msgr. John Zenz of his encounter with Pope John Paul II in September 1987.

During the Detroit papal visit, Msgr. Zenz was invited to dinner with Pope John Paul, then-Archbishop Edmund C. Szoka, Msgr. Michael LeFevre and now-Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was aide to the pope at the time.

Msgr. Zenz was chairman of the committee writing the drafts of papal speeches during the visit, and as Archbishop Szoka introduced Msgr. Zenz to the pope, the archbishop added, “He has a doctorate in theology.”

“The pope said, ‘Oh, what did you do your doctorate on?’” recalled Msgr. Zenz. “I said, ‘spirituality of obedience for diocesan priests.’”

Msgr. Zenz said the pope smiled, “poked his finger in my chest, and said, ‘obedience is good.’”

Over the years, Msgr. Zenz met Blessed John Paul II three times. But the pope’s 1987 visit to the city of Detroit — “a microcosm of the world” in its diversity — was significant.

“He recognized we have a long history of living the faith here in the Archdiocese of Detroit,” Msgr. Zenz said.

 

Greeting in the rain

The biggest thing that stood out to Fr. Timothy Babcock, who served as co-director of transportation for the papal visit, was the reaction of the people at the sites visited by the pope.

Fr. Babcock described the excitement as “absolutely electric.”

“It was a major occasion for us because the successor of St. Peter was coming to Detroit — almost an unimaginable thing,” Fr. Babcock said.

He said Pope John Paul followed the Polish tradition of beginning his speeches with “Praise Be Jesus Christ,” saying it in Polish for his stop in Hamtramck, where he gave his address in Polish, too.

“I remember Saturday morning; it was a rainy morning,” said Fr. Babcock of the Hamtramck visit, adding that people had been out since about 4:30 a.m. in hopes of seeing the pope.

“After his talk he greeted the first row,” he said, recalling seeing one person in particular greeted by the pope: Sparky Anderson, then-manager of the Detroit Tigers.

Fr. Babcock said Anderson’s being in the crowd was remarkable, as the Tigers had a game that day, though Anderson later mentioned publicly how important it was to have met the pope and shake his hand.

 

Music for a pope

Norah Duncan IV remembers the day of the announcement.

“The late Jay Berman, who was director of communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit, told me that I would be involved with something really big,” said Duncan, currently interim chairman and associate professor of the College of Fine, Performing & Communication Arts at Wayne State University.

Duncan, who also served as music director of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit for more than 25 years, said one evening, at the height of Channel 4’s 11:00 news, “Mort Crim announced that ‘the rumors are true. Pope John Paul will be stopping in Detroit during his next visit to the United States later this year.’”

After hearing that, Duncan woke up his wife, Susan, and called his parents to tell them the news.

Duncan then learned he would be the director of music for the papal Mass at the Silverdome on Sept. 19, 1987.

He remembers several of the hymns, including John Rutter’s setting of “All Creatures of Our God and King;” James Chepponis’ “Go up to the Altar of God;” and “One in Faith and One in Service” written by James Hartway, retired distinguished professor of music at Wayne State.

“When I saw the video of the Mass, I was moved by how the fanfare grew in volume and majesty as the Holy Father approached the altar,” Duncan said.

Duncan did not meet the pope during the 1987 visit, but he did meet him in 1994 when in Rome to prepare for a choral pilgrimage.

Duncan was to meet with Cardinal Szoka while there, but the cardinal was not home when Duncan called.

Duncan decided to go for a walk in a nearby park, and “to my surprise, there was Cardinal Szoka jogging in the park! I called out his name … He had three more laps to do. Then, continuing to jog had me join him, and we both jogged to his apartment in Vatican City — a cardinal and a member of the Roman Curia running with a black man from Detroit.”

The cardinal informed Duncan that he had made arrangements for him to attend an early morning Mass celebrated by the pope in his private chapel, and to meet him afterward.

“The next morning, when I walked into the chapel, I knew that I was in the presence of a very holy man,” Duncan said.

 

Visited by a saint

“Years ago when I thought about becoming a priest, I never dreamed I’d ever see the pope,” said Msgr. Patrick Halfpenny, who served as director of host activities under the direction of then-Auxiliary Bishop Dale J. Melczek for the papal visit.

Msgr. Halfpenny, who was also spiritual director of Sacred Heart Seminary College at the time, said that the pope “encouraged us to be serious about being disciples of Jesus Christ.”

“It was great to see the people of the Church in Detroit come together and work so hard for something so good for Metro Detroit,” he said.

Msgr. Halfpenny pointed out that John Paul II will not just “become a saint” at his April 27 canonization with Pope John XXIII; “he was a holy man when he came and prayed in the cathedral, in the Silverdome, in Hamtramck, in Hart Plaza.”

“There are lots of holy people, have been, are now and will be in the Church in Detroit,” he said. “But here we were visited by a saint.”