In the Footsteps of a Saint
John Paul II’s Visit to Wisconsin
by
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The Green of America
The Zdroik family did not know what to expect when Cardinal Wojtyla visited their potato farm outside of Stevens Point. They knew he was a prominent and youthful Cardinal in Poland, but never met him personally before he came to Central Wisconsin. Upon arrival, they quickly discovered that he was an avid outdoorsman and fearless adventurer. What surprised them most was his effortless ability to climb at age 56.
Portage County is generally known as a flat area with little change in elevation. It is often referred to as a plains area and is a mixture of agricultural fields and thick forests. Wojtyla had a knack for finding the highest place in a given area in order to survey it. As a result, when he noticed that the highest point on the farm was the silo, he naturally asked if he could scale it.
The Zdroiks, especially the boys of the farm, were quite surprised by the request and at the same time impressed. They had never seen a Catholic priest, much less a Cardinal dressed in his black cassock with a golden pectoral cross hanging around his neck, scale a silo. Yet, his clerical garb did not deter him, and Cardinal Wojtyla climbed the vertical ladder with relative ease, reached the top of the tower, and gazed over the vast plains below. He wanted to see the “green of America,” and that is exactly what he saw.
In fact, not only did Wojtyla want to see the landscape and observe the simple rural life of America, but the inquisitive Polish Cardinal also desired to experience a little bit of farm life.
Prior to arriving at the Zdroik farm he made a short visit to the dairy farm of Maurice Groshek and asked all sorts of questions about the equipment the farmers used. Wojtyla asked Maruice if he could see how the “haylage unloader worked.” Maurice proceeded to show him and quickly “dust came down the chute and scattered over him, but he didn’t mind at all.” Even Bishop Freking was impressed by this foreign Cardinal and was surprised that the Prelate was not
shaken or disgusted by what happened. Cardinal Wojtyla was able to see much more than the typical office buildings or sports complexes that he typically saw in America and received first hand experience of farm life in Wisconsin. For someone who spent the summers kayaking and hiking the countryside of Poland, Wojtyla could not have been more at home.
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About the Book
In the summer of 1976 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Professor Dr. Waclav Soroka invited Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski to be the keynote speaker at the next meeting of the Annual Lectures on Poland. Cardinal Wyszynski was an old friend, and Soroka hoped to shed some light on the plight of the Polish people under Communist rule. However, the Cardinal could not make it, so he made a suggestion—invite the “other Polish Cardinal.”
The “other Polish cardinal,” as he was known at the time, was Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. Providentially he was attending the International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia that summer and was willing to travel to a small rural city in central Wisconsin to give the academic lecture. Little did anyone know at the time that they would be welcoming a future Pope (John Paul II) as well as a living saint.
About the Author
Philip Kosloski graduated from the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Catholic studies and a master’s degree in theology from the Augustine Institute. His articles have been featured on Crisis Magazine, Catholic Exchange, and Aleteia. He works and lives with his family in the countryside of Wisconsin.