'Reception of the body' at cathedral begins process of welcoming Cd. Szoka into eternal life 



Detroit - Reynaldo Salce Jr., a seminarian studying at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, said he did not know Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka personally, but does remember a particularly kind gesture from him several years ago.

“It was at the diaconate ordination of transitional deacons; Cardinal Szoka was concelebrating,” said Salce. Salce said that after Mass there was a procession with the new deacons, with the cardinal walking near the front of the line.

Salce said that Cardinal Szoka was “frail, with a cane, and (walking) slowly,” but when he saw Salce and his fellow seminarians standing to the side, “he stops.”

“The whole procession stops behind him, and he lifts up his frail hand and gives us his blessing,” he said. Only then did the cardinal continue on with the procession.

Salce and a few other seminarians served as pallbearers for the Aug. 24 reception of the body service for Cardinal Szoka, as the cardinal’s casket was brought into the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament that afternoon.

See a full photo gallery of today's wake service

The cathedral was adorned with white and red flowers in honor of the cardinal’s Polish heritage, and the choir sang “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” as the procession walked up the aisle.

The casket was placed at the front of the aisle, facing the people, with an image of Our Lady of Czestochowa - to whom the cardinal had great devotion - beside it.



Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, presider at the service, told the faithful that he had received a condolence note from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, current archbishop of Krakow and former secretary of Pope John Paul II.

He said that Cardinal Dziwisz expressed his assurance that “(Cardinal Szoka’s) friend, St. John Paul II, met him on the way.”

The archbishop said that bringing the cardinal’s body to the cathedral “is very much to bring him home” on his way into eternal life.

The service included several readings from scripture, a few hymns, a litany and prayers, beginning the process of remembering and putting Cardinal Szoka to rest.

Msgr. Todd Lajiness, rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, read the gospel reading - John 14:1-6, in which Jesus tells his disciples of his plan to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house.

Archbishop Vigneron then shared a few words of reflection.

The archbishop explained that this service was a time for people of faith to “give witness to our belief; to show how it is that we respond… to the death of someone we loved and respected.”

Referencing the gospel reading, Archbishop Vigneron said that the idea of “going home is not simply a figure of speech.”

“Jesus talked about preparing a place,” said the archbishop. “He meant that he was going to die and rise, and that’s how he prepared a place. It’s a real place. A place in him. A place in his heart. And that’s our consolation.”

Archbishop Vigneron said that from the moment Cardinal Szoka was baptized as a child, Jesus had been preparing that special place for him, as if he had been put into the “last will and testament of Jesus.”

“And so we entrust him now to Jesus, to receive that inheritance,” said the archbishop.

Archbishop Vigneron also thanked the faithful who were attending the service, which included the Knights of Peter Claver, of which Cardinal Szoka had been a member.

Other organizations attending the afternoon service included the Ladies of Peter Claver and the Knights of Columbus, while many lay faithful, priests and religious came to pay their respects as well.

Roberta Bradley, a Chesterville resident, remembers the late Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka as “a friend of our Polish pope.”

“He did much for the tribunal; he certainly did very good work in Rome,” remembered Bradley. “He was very well liked and down-to-earth.”

Harper Woods resident John Lederman said that his heart is heavy with the loss of Cardinal Szoka, who was a “great friend to me.”

“People say that he was a tough administrator,” said Lederman, “but he was gentle and fair. He was always faithful to his ordination.”

Lederman said that the cardinal acknowledged him in then-Archbishop Szoka’s very first church dedication at Guardian Angels Parish in Clawson, where Lederman had served as music director for many years.

He added that Cardinal Szoka had also encouraged him to take his parish choir to Rome - a visit that actually brought the choir in a direct meeting with Pope John Paul II.

"When we came back, he wanted to hear all about it,” remembers Lederman.

Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka visitation and funeral information

- Monday, Aug. 25: Visitation at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI, 48202, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., with 3 p.m. rosary in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel
- Tuesday, Aug. 26: Visitation from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., with funeral Mass at 11 a.m