GREEN BAY — As the Catholic Church celebrates the canonizations of Ss. John XXIII and John Paul II, one diocesan priest recalls meeting both popes.
Fr. Joe Mattern, a retired priest of the Green Bay Diocese, was one of four seminarians to meet Pope John XXIII in 1959. When Pope John Paul II made his second papal visit to the United States in 1987, Fr. Mattern and the late Fr. Orville Janssen represented the priests of the Green Bay Diocese at the pope’s Miami visit.
Fr. Mattern’s highlights of those encounters were speaking to St. John XXIII following a photo opportunity with fellow seminarians and Bishop Stanislaus Bona and serving as a Communion minister at a Mass with St. John Paul II that was cancelled due to lightning.
His first time rubbing shoulders with a canonized saint was on Oct. 12, 1959, one day short of three years before John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council.
“The meeting with John XIII took place … when Bishop Stanislaus Bona made his ad limina visit,” Fr. Mattern wrote in an email to The Compass. “It had been his practice to meet with the Green Bay students from the North American College and take them out to dinner at the original and famous Alfredo restaurant in downtown Rome.”
In addition to Fr. Mattern, the other seminarians included the late Fr. David Kieffer, senior priest Ralph Gillis and senior priest John DeWane. Msgr. C.A. Ropella, who was serving as chancellor at the time, was also in attendance.
His recollection of that dinner included the solid gold utensils the waiters used to serve Bishop Bona.
“Later, the four of us seminarians accompanied Bishop Bona inside the Vatican and waited while he had his session with Good Pope John,” said Fr. Mattern. “When Bishop Bona emerged from the papal chambers, I was bold enough to ask, ‘What did the ‘pope say to you?’ to which he responded, ‘Never mind.’”
The Green Bay contingent was then invited into the papal chambers for a photo opportunity with the pope.
“When the papal photographer was finished, the pope and I spoke together in Italian,” said Fr. Mattern. “I told him that I was just days away from my ordination as a deacon. We had a brief exchange in Italian about the importance of being an exemplary ordained leader in the church. This was one of the highlights of my time in Rome since I hold St. John XXIII in high esteem for leading the Catholic Church on the path to renewal.”
Fr. Mattern’s face-to-face meeting with Pope John Paul II was just as memorable.
“When Bishop (Adam) Maida appointed Fr. Orville Janssen and me to represent the diocese to greet Pope John Paul II in Florida during his first visit to the U.S., I got to greet him, this time in Polish,” said Fr. Mattern. “At the time, both Fr. Orville Janssen and I were serving on the (diocesan) Presbyteral Council.”
The Miami papal stop included a special gathering with U.S. priests. “A priest from Newark, N.J., was chosen to represent us and gave an address directed to the pope and this was followed by a short address from the pope,” said Fr. Mattern.
“A memorable event that took place was when we had the concluding outdoor Mass for thousands in attendance,” he said. “A lightning storm struck while the pope was preaching. I had been chosen to be a Communion minister. With lightning flashes threatening, the pope refused to stop despite the urging of the officials, but he finally gave up.
“It turned out to be the only Mass in my entire lifetime that was terminated before the consecration. I was left standing there with soaked liturgical garb and altar breads,” noted Fr. Mattern.
