Kissed by a saint: book and statue project grows from JPII and Mother Teresa encounters in Vancouver

It’s been more than 40 years since both Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II visited Vancouver, drawing hundreds of thousands of excited people to see two of the most popular Catholic figures in the world.

Since that time, both have been canonized and their followings have only increased.

Now, a local effort to memorialize two of the world’s best-known modern saints and capture the legacy of their visits to Vancouver is generating discussion among Catholics eager to share their experiences in meeting them and how it changed their lives.

The Vancouver-based project is a larger-than-life-size statue of Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa and the release of a book about their lives, legacies, and the real-life stories of local people who met them in Vancouver or Abbotsford. Anyone who had an encounter with the saints during their British Columbia visits is being invited to describe the encounter by contacting the book’s writers at [email protected].

“Both of these saints actually visited Vancouver and touched the hearts of countless local residents with their love and kindness,” said Steve Evans, chair of the St. John Paul II and St. Mother Teresa Fund Committee.

The committee wants to raise about $400,000 to publish the book and erect the statue of the historic figures outside Holy Rosary Cathedral.

“They have impacted people all around the world, by what they taught, what they believed in, what they stood for, the way the lived, and how they loved,” Evans said. “They taught people how to live with grace and how to die with dignity – lessons that our deteriorating culture desperately needs.”

For longtime educator Daniel Moric, two words from Mother Teresa during a once-in-a-lifetime encounter in 1988 became the compass for his career.

He was in his early twenties, a brand-new teacher wrapping up his first year at Corpus Christi Elementary in Vancouver in May 1988. Anybody who read the newspapers knew that Mother Teresa was visiting Vancouver for a couple of days, but Moric happened to know exactly where she was staying: in a little convent about 100 metres away from his classroom.

“Like anybody else, I wanted to meet her, but she obviously had a very busy schedule,” he said, recalling how he and friend Father John McCarthy, then-assistant pastor at Corpus Christi Parish, were “bound and determined” to see her.

They managed to evade a few Knights of Columbus who were shielding Mother Teresa from anyone without an appointment, and Moric admits Father McCarthy’s white collar may have helped.

They knocked on the convent door. Mother Teresa opened it herself.

“The first time I saw her, like a lot of people, I couldn’t believe how tiny she was. It felt like she came up to my waist,” said Moric.

The priest initiated the conversation, introducing himself and Moric, while the young teacher stood surprised and a little starstruck. Upon hearing that Moric was teaching at the school next door, Mother Teresa looked up at him and asked him what he taught.

Eagerly, Moric listed off all his projects and accomplishments in his short time as a teacher. Part-way through his litany, she interrupted him.

“She put her hand up and she stopped me and looked me right in the eye and pointed her finger at me, and said, ‘teach Jesus.’”

Moric thought he saw a sparkle in Mother Teresa’s eye as she said goodbye and closed the door.

“She stopped me in my tracks,” said Moric. “As a 22-year-old kid, I was somewhat full of self-importance and thought I was doing all these great and important things at the school, and I wanted to tell her that. She set me straight pretty quickly and told me the one thing that mattered.”

Mother Teresa left the city soon after, but her words stayed with Moric for his entire career as a teacher and superintendent of Vancouver’s Catholic schools, becoming the compass of his career.

He officially retired in 2018 after more than 30 years but has remained an educator, currently teaching technology exploration at St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary in North Vancouver.

Mother Teresa’s two words remain a reminder for Moric of his direction and purpose. “When we sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees or get lost in some of the details of what we’re doing that we think is all important, it is important to remind us why we exist in the first place,” he said.”

Mother Teresa visited Vancouver twice, first for speaking engagements in 1976, and then to officially establish a presence of the Missionaries of Charity in the Archdiocese of Vancouver in 1988.

Vancouver brushes with sainthood don’t only apply to Mother Teresa. St. John Paul II famously toured Canada in 1984, attracting hundreds of thousands to an outdoor Mass at the Abbotsford airport and tens of thousands to B.C. Place.

Father Craig Scott was among them. Chosen to serve at the Mass on stage with the Polish Pope, he waited with other priests and seminarians outside a trailer provided for the Pope to vest for the Mass.

When the Pope appeared outside the trailer in his vestments, he greeted every altar server and deacon and priest personally. Coming down the queue to Father Scott, he shook his hand and said, “Good morning, permanent deacon.”

Father Scott had been ordained a priest two years earlier but had been asked to fill the role of “acting deacon” that day, as the permanent diaconate had not yet been established in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. So, he let the comment slide.

After Mass, though, when the Pope thanked everyone for their involvement in the Mass, he addressed Father Scott as a deacon again.

“Oh no, not this time,” said Father Scott, laughing at the memory. He corrected the Pope, saying “I’m not a permanent deacon, I’m a priest.”

To his great shock, the Pope said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” grabbing the young priest’s face in his hands and, like a father to a little child, kissing him on the forehead.

The startled priest watched as the Pope moved on to thank the next person in line. He was even more stunned when the Pontiff suddenly turned back to him.

“He came back to me, and he said, ‘Remember, if you are a priest, you are still a deacon.’”

The surprising gesture of paternal encouragement has stayed with him. “Deacons are ordained to serve. So, what he was saying was, ‘even though you are a priest, you are still ordained to serve.’”

The committee hopes a new statue, representing the famous “Man of Peace” and “Woman of Service” will become a visible and silent evangelizer in Vancouver’s downtown core. The goal is to erect it on cathedral grounds, likely on the northwest corner of the site near the intersection of Dunsmuir and Richards.

Louise Solecki Weir is the artist chosen for creating the statue.

“I suggested to have the two saints together” rather than as two individuals, she said. “The relationship between the two of them is something I’d like to explore.”

Although the two saints’ visits to Vancouver took place separately, they met each other many times, and in photographs Mother Teresa is often seen leaning on the Pope’s arm, holding his hand, or receiving a kiss on the forehead. The statue will likely portray her holding his hand and looking up toward him, while the Pope is posed as listening and looking forward.

Weir has completed two statues of Pope John Paul II previously, so, she quipped, “I have him in my hands.”

Mother Teresa is a new face for her to sculpt, but the saint has made a small, personal impact on her family. Her late stepmother once received a handwritten note from Mother Teresa personally thanking her for a donation.

Plans are for the statue to be erected in the fall of 2024.

A book about Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II’s visits to Vancouver with personal first-hand encounters of people who met them at the time has never been done before. Co-written by Patrick Novecosky (author of 100 Ways John Paul II Changed the World) and former B.C. Catholic assistant editor Agnieszka Ruck, the volume will dive into the life and legacy of the well-known figures and share testimonies from Vancouverites who met them.

“Whether it is next year or 50 years from now on, the two saints’ message of love, compassion, service, and human dignity will continue to impact society for generations to come,” said Evans.

He hopes the book will be passed from parents to children, grandparents to grandchildren, friend to friend, shared in libraries, churches, and displayed on coffee tables for many lifetimes.

Donations to the project can be made at twosaintsinvancouver.ca. Major donors will be recognized with their names published in the book.

To share your story about meeting St. John Paul II or St. Mother Teresa in person in Vancouver, send an email to [email protected] and include your full name, phone number, and a brief description of which saint you met and when.

Rising to the challenge: re-creating the faces of John Paul II and Mother Teresa

When artist Louise Solecki Weir was commissioned to create lifelike statues commemorating the Vancouver visits of two of the world’s most popular saints, St. John Paul II and Mother Teresa, she quickly recognized she faced two distinct challenges.

The first is John Paul’s unique features. She has crafted two likenesses of the Polish Pope already – a larger-than-life-size statue outside the John Paul II Pastoral Centre as well as a bust inside. But his unique features pose an interesting problem.

“He has a tricky face,” with a broad forehead and facial features that changed significantly during his lifetime, she said. “I have to use many references,” including photographs from front, behind, above, below, and every angle in between.

“A lot of the younger [photos] are more useful because you can really see the bone structure. From the bone structure, you can add the age.”

She plans to portray him at 64 years old, the age he was when he visited Vancouver.

Next to him will be Mother Teresa, whose extremely recognizable face will challenge her for a different reason.

“There are some wonderful sculptures of her, so there’s a high bar.”

Although the two saints visited Vancouver on separate occasions, they met each other many times. In photographs, Mother Teresa (10 years older than the Pope) is often seen leaning on him or holding his arm. Weir hopes exploring their relationship will make the statue more dynamic and lifelike.

“When you have two figures together there is an energy between them,” something she hopes to convey to anyone who walks past Holy Rosary Cathedral.

“Depicting Saint Teresa holding Saint John Paul II’s left hand, and looking up at him, would signify her devotion to him and to the principles of the Church. It would symbolize how she received spiritual strength and support from the Church and from her relationship with Saint John Paul.”

Meanwhile, the Pontiff will appear looking outward, with his arm around her, expressing the “strength of the Church” as a protector of the frail as well as his visionary nature.

Because of the statue’s complexity she is hiring an assistant for the first time. Viktor Zhymov, a sculptor who recently landed in Canada from Ukraine, is classically trained in sculpting.

Although he speaks little English, “it’s a visual language we’re going to be speaking,” Weir said.

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