Tim Keenan | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Detroit — It’s not often that someone gets to say they saw a saint in person. Any of the thousands of Metro Detroiters who were present at Pope John Paul II’s 1987 Mass at the Pontiac Silverdome or his visits to Hart Plaza, Hamtramck, Sacred Heart Major Seminary or the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament now proudly make that claim.

A select few can claim a personal or working relationship with St. Pope John Paul II. Two of them are in our midst — Cardinals Edmund C. Szoka and Adam J. Maida.

“I already have my airline ticket to be in Rome for the canonization,” Cardinal Maida said in January when asked about his relationship with the late Holy Father. Cardinal Szoka’s health prevents him from traveling.

Cardinal Maida worked closely with the Holy Father not only in the administration of the Archdiocese of Detroit, but in his work on various Vatican congregations and the establishment of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.

“To think that I worked very closely with the Holy Father and had frequent meetings with him and knew him personally,” the retired archbishop recalled. “Knowing that he was a saint puts you in a state of awe. On the other hand, it also puts a great burden on you to see how you can follow in his footsteps and the example that he gave. You look at his ministry, the kind of life that he led.”

Cardinal Maida remembers fondly an opportunity he had to have a private dinner with the pope.

“One day I was in Rome and got a call that I was invited to dinner,” he recounted. “And we had dinner, just he and I, for an hour and a half.”

Even a prince of the Church can be humbled in that situation. “I was thinking, ‘What do I say to a pope for an hour and a half?’” the cardinal chuckled. “He’d ask a question and I’d do most of the talking. There was no other agenda, except just a nice dinner, gratitude, and exchange of experiences. It was probably the easiest conversation I’ve had for an hour and a half with anybody.

“He was a great listener, and I think that was his strength,” Cardinal Maida continued. “He appreciated who you were and wherever you came from. Every person was special in the mind of Pope John Paul II.”

When asked whether one could sense the holiness of the future saint while in his presence, Cardinal Maida was unequivocal.

“Oh my goodness, yes,” he exclaimed. “And it was authentic. Whenever I’ve seen him in prayer, he would get lost in it. The preparation before even daily Mass, his whole demeanor was spiritual.”

His Eminence recounted an experience, both spiritual and humorous, that he had with the future saint during a trip to the pope’s homeland and the cardinal’s ancestral land.

“I’ll never forget being in Poland with the Holy Father in the diocese where my father was baptized,” the cardinal recalled. “We had a nice dinner, about 10 of us bishops and cardinals. At the end of the meal he said, ‘Let’s say a prayer now.’ We went to the chapel and there was a nice prie dieu (kneeler) for the Holy Father and the rest of us knelt on the hard marble floor. About a half-hour later, we’re looking at each other wondering how long this was going to go on, and the pope was just lost in prayer. I was wondering how long I could hold out. But it wasn’t for show. It was authentic, kind of a mystical experience to be with him and see him lost in prayer.”

Now, in retirement, the former Detroit archbishop, with a few nagging health concerns during his golden years, looks to the example of St. John Paul II in the pope’s last days.

“Toward the end, all he could do was go to the window and raise his hand in blessing, and he did it,” Cardinal Maida said. “I would hope that I can be faithful to my ministry to the end, to do whatever I can in whatever context I find myself, to be a disciple and an evangelizer and preach the Good News to the whole world."

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Tim Keenan is a freelance writer based in Farmington Hills.