Cardinal Szoka celebrates half-century of priesthood

Published: 2004-06-17

DETROIT (CNS) -- He has served as a bishop, an archbishop, a cardinal and held two high Vatican posts, but Cardinal Edmund C. Szoka said his only ambition as a seminarian "was to be a priest and someday to be the pastor of a parish." At a June 9 Mass to mark the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination, Cardinal Szoka told the nearly 900 people who filled Detroit's Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament that he had prepared for his golden jubilee by studying the writings of Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI and others on the theology of the priesthood. "All this reading has given me new insights into the sacramental priesthood, but has also forced me to think more deeply about the theology of the priesthood than I have for a long time," he said.

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