Niece remembers iconic priest who served poor, organized labor

Beverly Hills — To many in Detroit he was Msgr. Clement H. Kern or “The Labor Priest,” but for his niece Laurie Papa he was just “Uncle Clem.”

“There were so many things I realized he was involved in that I didn’t know about until after his death,” said Papa, who recently published the book “My Uncle, My Hero: Father Clement H. Kern, His Life in Pictures.”

Papa, who resides with her husband and children in Beverly Hills, was only 24 years old when her uncle died in 1983. Papa recently began going through her mother’s photo collections and found many of these rare family pictures that illustrate the life of “Uncle Clem.”

Papa decided a good way to keep her uncle’s legacy alive and to help support the Father Clement H. Kern Foundation — founded a year after his death — was to share these special memories with the community. All of the book’s proceeds go to the foundation, which assists the underprivileged in Metro Detroit.

The 124-page book features family photographs of Msgr. Kern’s life events, such as vacations, childhood memories and celebrations of weddings — including that of Papa’s mother and father, Helen (Kern) and Peter Morris. Helen Morris was Msgr. Kern’s sister.

The book also includes personal memories from friends and colleagues, such as Msgr. Charles Kosanke, Msgr. Russell Kohler, Msgr. George T. Browne and Bishop Kenneth E. Untener of the Diocese of Saginaw, who died in 2004.

Papa remembers her uncle bringing “all these people” to her mother’s Sunday dinners, “usually someone who had nowhere to go,” said Papa. “He’d say, ‘Come along to my sister’s.’”

She also remembers a time at the Cobo Center when Msgr. Kern was supposed to be attending a reception held in his honor. Msgr. Kern, however, had found something else just as important.

“A man off the street asked him for help,” said Papa, explaining that it was “just like him to be doing that, helping somebody during a break at the reception.”

Msgr. Kern was given the honorary title of “Monsignor” in 1962, but Papa said he always preferred to be called “Father.”

“But he was ‘Uncle’ to us,” she added.

 

‘My Uncle, My Hero’

By Laurie Papa

Van Antwerp & Beale Publishers (2014)

124 pages

$20.00 (All proceeds to benefit the Father Clement H. Kern Foundation to help those in need)

Available at Amazon.com or by contacting the Father Clement H. Kern Foundation

 

The Father Clement H. Kern Foundation

To donate or for more information inquire at:

Father Clement H. Kern Foundation

P.O. Box 926
Royal Oak, MI, 48068-0926

Or email the foundation at [email protected]