Days gone by

75 years ago — September 1948 

Rev. Joseph Vovk was appointed assistant pastor of St. Anthony Church in Ely. Father Vovk was the first refugee priest to receive an assignment in the diocese. He entered the diocese in August 1948, after spending three years in refugee camps at Spittal and Rome. Father Vovk was ordained in the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on July 3, 1932. 

50 years ago — September 1973 

The diocese mourned the loss of Father Joseph M. Kralisz, who died after more than 14 years of illness. Father Kralisz was ordained in Duluth on July 1, 1923, by Bishop John T. McNicholas. He served at the Msgr. Buh Mission House, Duluth; St. Casimir Church, Cloquet; and St. Mary Star of the Sea, Duluth. It also mourned the deaths of two religious order priests, Father Joseph Kiffmeyer, OSC, who served at St. Mathias Church, St. Mathias, and Father Paul Grzesiak, OMI, who served at Ss. Peter and Paul, Duluth. The diocese celebrated the recent ordination of Father William J. Fournier, OMI. He was ordained by Bishop Paul Anderson at St. Jean’s Church, Duluth. Also, it was announced that the diocesan tribunal had been established for the consideration of marriage cases by Bishop Paul Anderson. 

10 years ago — September 2013 

The diocese was planning Bishop Baraga Days, a celebration honoring the “snowshoe priest” coming to Duluth in October. The event, run by the Bishop Baraga Assocation in the Diocese of Marquette, Mich., was coming to the Diocese of Duluth for the first time ever. The event, being held at the diocesan Pastoral Center, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, and the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, was expected to draw people from as far away as Cleveland, Chicago, Toledo, and Canada. The diocese also celebrated the end of a busy summer of camps, in which hundreds of youth from the diocese attended camps such as Camp Survive, Vocation Camp, and Totus Tuus. Bishop Paul Sirba encouraged the young people to accept the challenge that had been recently issued by Pope Francis at World Youth Day to create a “ruckus” in our parishes, schools, and institutions, as they remembered that they are called by Jesus to evangelize and promote the “culture of the encounter.”