For five days in August of 1993, Colorado was aflame with the love of the Church. His Holiness, Pope John Paul II came to World Youth Day in Denver, and its impact has resonated upon the state and her denizens for decades after—many of us who live in Colorado (especially those lucky enough to have attended the event) were drawn irrevocably closer to the heart of Christ at witnessing the momentous occasion.
I had a conversation once with a friend of mine, a Mr. Marc Lenzini, who recounted the life-changing witness afforded by the faithful amassed in droves, Pope John Paul II and his welcoming nature that left you feeling known and loved as an individual even amongst the throngs of millions there gathered, and the sheer diversity of the church being so visibly evident in a single place. And that is, I think, the spirit that brings the heart of our school’s mission best to light.
Amongst the multitude of saints, John Paul the Great holds a very special place in the heart of Coloradans, and his spirit of romance, adventure, and love are the very attributes that we cling to so readily as people. As a young man, Karol Wojtyla was an artist, a poet, and actor, and an outdoorsman. He loved his neighbors and was beloved by them. With the rise of the Third Reich and the capturing of Poland, Wojtyla entered into a secret seminary to pursue the priesthood (while he wasn’t working as a heavy laborer in the quarries). He saw the cultural heritage of his people being systematically exterminated under the Nazi regime and he hosted secret theatre nights to allow for the culture to survive. And as a Pope his intellectual life—his love of language, of theology, of metaphysics, all managed to act in a pervasive way. The romantic of a man and this powerhouse pontiff did everything in his life dynamically and with the greatest of devotions to the heart of Christ. No wonder he was beloved by the youth of the world! And no wonder why we would make him the patron for our school.
So really, the reason for our asking for St. John Paul II’s patronage and intercession can be encapsulated in the nickname that was afforded him by the Polish people during their occupation: once he had become a priest, it would have been a death sentence for the people to call Karol Wojtyla “Father”, and beyond this he was too close in age to the youth that he led on day hikes into the mountains (where they would have secret masses) to reasonably be perceived as fatherly. So instead, they called him ‘Wujek’, which means ‘uncle’ in Polish. He carried this title of Wujek to his friends and family well unto death. It was a term of endearment, allowing the youth of a war-torn Poland to come to this priest—this pope, this saint!—as a close friend and confidant. In the building of a high school, who could we want more to guide us than such a man?
John Paul the Great is an ideal patron for a high school because of his great impact on the faith of we in Colorado, because of his tender care for intellectual life, and because of his great dedication to the growing women and men of the world. Amongst all the hosts of Heaven, we feel most ardently an affinity for the pope who gave us World Youth Day and continues to guide the hearts of the church today in both Colorado and throughout the world.