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An archbishop's pilgrimage Photo by Drew Fleming Oregon Archbishop John Vlazny emerges from St. Joseph Mission in Jacksonville Sunday after addressing Catholics during a visit to Southern Oregon on Sunday. At right, Deacon Ron Filardi of Sacred Heart Parish, Medford. Oregon's top Catholic visits Medford area By Melissa Martin The head of Oregon Catholics visited Southern Oregon Sunday, celebrating Mass in Medford and leading 150 worshipers on a pilgrimage to the region's oldest Catholic church. Dressed in a gold cope or cape and a tall, pointed hat called a miter, Archbishop John Vlazny spoke to a crowd that filled the pews and spilled out the 141-year-old St. Joseph Mission doors in Jacksonville. "This is the cradle of Catholicism in Southern Oregon," Vlazny said during a prayer for this historic landmark town. "This parish was started by the mothers and fathers of our faith who first brought Catholicism to the area." Vlazny, 62, chose Southern Oregon as his second pilgrimage during the Catholic celebration of the Year 2000. Vlazny led services at Central Point and Shady Cove, talked to Sacred Heart School students and anointed the sick with oil at Three Fountains nursing home. One of 48 archbishops in the United States, Vlazny meets with Pope John Paul II every five years to discuss the status of his diocese, which encompasses about 300,000 Catholics in 124 parishes West of the Cascades and 22,000 students in 53 schools or colleges. He oversees bishops in Eastern Oregon, Idaho and Montana. "I used to think that I was made a bishop because the Pope thinks I'm Polish," said the Chicago native who is known for his humor. "But when I met him and we talked for the first time, he looked at me and said, `Vlazny -- you're name is Czechoslovakian." Vlazny spent part of his youth working at his dad's pharmacy across the street from a Catholic church in Chicago. Priests were regular customers in John George Vlazny's drugstore. "When I grew up I wanted to be a priest, like other kids who want to be a fireman when they grow up," Vlazny said. When Vlazny was appointed the 10th Archbishop in the nation's second oldest diocese (only Baltimore is older), the Pope gave him a pallium, a scarf made of black and white sheep's wool, embroidered with crosses and only worn by a Metropolitan See. Vlazny said when it is his year to go to Rome, the Pope always treats him graciously, listening to reports from a region that claims 10 percent of its population as Catholic. The Pope also hosts lunch and a private Mass in his Vatican home for the visiting bishops. "Some people think the Pope gives out great orders to the bishops, but it's more of a fraternal gathering," Vlazny said. "I think the Pope feels about me the way I feel about pastors. I don't want to hear too much from them and then I know everything is going all right," he said as his laughter filling the room. If he stays in his office in Portland, Vlazny said he tends to think of his diocese as trouble-filled, judging by the telephone calls and letters. But when he travels to the 124 parishes in the region and meets with lay people and priests, he sees the real picture -- people serving one another. Wherever he goes, parishioners and priests make elaborate preparations. "I feel like I'm a rock star -- everything is prepared and all I have to do is walk in and do my thing," he said. But, Vlazny sounds more like a Gregorian monk when he's leading a service, his tenor voice echoing off sanctuary walls. And his humor and laughter flow freely during his homily, or sermon. "When I was a kid, my favorite dthing to do on a Sunday afternoon was spread out the newspaper on the living room floor and read the comics and the sports page," Vlazny told the Sacred Heart congregation Sunday "My favorite was Peanuts by Charles Schulz. And on the day he died, his last comic strip said, "Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Charlie Brown. How can I ever forget you?' "The relationship between Schulz and those comic strips mirrors the relationship God has with us. We are the work of his hand and he has fallen in love with us...We are his creations and loved by our Creator." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA