Six Milwaukee Catholics share the impact Francis and his teachings had on their lives

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21-04-2025

As Catholics across Milwaukee began to absorb the loss and legacy of Francis, many focused on his humility and concern for the poor, his commitment to reform in the church, his disdain for "rigid ideology" among his fellow clergy, and his efforts to promote unity with non-Catholics and non-Christians.
Pope Francis died Monday at the Vatican, a day after he appeared at St. Peter's Square to bless Easter worshippers. He was 88.
His followers saw him as symbolizing the church's open arms, meeting people where they were, calling for inclusivity and defending the marginalized. One of his most famous quotes — "Who am I to judge?" — came in answer to a question about gay clergy, but seemed to reflect his approach to the breadth of humanity. He also called for inclusivity toward those who are divorced and remarried.
His critics saw him as bending timeless church doctrines and making off-the-cuff statements that created confusion because they were too liberal, or at least too open to interpretation. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has often clashed with Francis, once said the church under Francis was "like a ship without a rudder."
Francis was a man of "tremendous faith and vision," Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey Grob said in a statement early Monday.
"Although we now grieve, we take solace in the words of the Risen Christ who in today's gospel encountered Mary Magdalene and the other Mary coming from the tomb and told them, "Do not be afraid,'" Grob said. "As people of faith, we turn to the One who is the Resurrection and the Life and ask him to receive Pope Francis into the halls of the heavenly banquet and to give him eternal rest."
For many Milwaukee-area Catholics, the loss of Francis surely feels personal.
Here are six who shared their stories.
More: New Milwaukee Achbishop Jeffrey Grob reflects on legacy of critically ill Pope Francis
Idalia Nieves-Reyes oversees the Open Door Café, a hot lunch program for the homeless and hungry at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. She also directs other outreach initiatives at the Family of Five parishes, which include the Cathedral and other parishes located downtown, on the east side and in Riverwest.
When Nieves-Reyes was packing to move from Puerto Rico to Milwaukee in 2013, a framed picture of Pope Francis was one of the first things she placed in her luggage. Now, it hangs on her wall among family photos. Under the photo, there's text that reads, "Viajemos juntos," or "Let's travel together." Francis' teachings, and that photo, have become guiding lights for Nieves-Reyes in her daily life.
The photo "was like an anchor. It was trust. It was: 'Don't be afraid. Don't look back,'" she said.
She appreciates Francis' openness, humility and accessibility, and how he embraces people of different backgrounds and faiths. And she found it especially significant that he was the first Latin American pope. On a recent trip to Rome, she loved the idea that if she were to happen to meet Francis, the pontiff would understand her.
"I have no words to describe how much, and how greatly, his teachings impacted me, not only personally, but also spiritually and professionally," Nieves-Reyes said.
As a lay person and a woman in ministry, she respects that Francis placed people from both of those groups in more decision-making roles in the Catholic church. And as someone who works with the homeless and hungry, it was meaningful to see Francis dine with Rome's poorest residents at annual dinners.
At Open Door Café, "we're not only feeding people's bodies, we're feeding them with" acceptance and dignity, she said. "It's what I see from him."
Fr. Gerardo Carcar, who leads the newly merged St. Barnabas in West Allis, met Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio just days before he was named pope. Both were living in Argentina at the time.
Carcar's religious community, the Schoenstatt Fathers, extends invitations to prominent leaders for its annual conference, and in 2013, Bergoglio, of Buenos Aires, agreed to speak with the priests. Carcar remembers how the cardinal met them in the parking lot and chatted with everyone outside until the last car arrived.
"The humility, for me, was impressive," Carcar said.
Instead of a prepared speech, Bergoglio invited the priests to ask him questions. Carcar was so struck by his answers that he transcribed a recording of the discussion. He would later note that some of the topics became themes in one of Francis' encyclicals, Evangelii Gaudium, "The Joy of the Gospel."
As an Argentinian and a relative newcomer to West Allis, Carcar said he has prioritized listening to his parishioners and to others, just as Francis focused on dialogue with lay Catholics. Further, as his merged parish has sought to reimagine its future to stay afloat, Carcar and the parish's lay leaders are trying to emulate the pontiff and go beyond the walls of St. Barnabas and reach people "on the peripheries," he said.
"When you are a pope, you don't necessarily have the whole vision, the whole understanding of reality. You need to listen to every voice, to every culture, to every person," Carcar said.
Bro. Henryk Cisowski leads St. Ben's Community Meal, a nightly hot meal program, and the House of Peace in Milwaukee. He began working with the poor in his native Poland, opening a center for the homeless in 2005.
He has long felt his work aligned with Francis' perspective. Their shared vision was of a church that's "dynamic," "alive," and connected to those in need. In Poland, Cisowski saw more and more people during Francis' years paying attention to the issue of homelessness and volunteering to help.
More: In bitter cold, Milwaukee's homeless find shelter at St. Ben's overnight warming center
Cisowski also thinks about Francis' teaching that it's important to start a process, even if you don't live to see the results. "Like a yeast that slowly transforms a dough," Cisowski said, change in the church will happen over time thanks to Francis' efforts.
"He started something that will go on and produce bigger fruits, and we don't yet know what will happen. But he provoked something very positive," Cisowski said. "There is no way back from that."
Cisowski believes Francis valued people and service more than the "splendor" and power that comes with the office of pope. He noted that Francis recently kicked off a special Jubilee Year in the Central African Republic, evidence that the pope is paying "attention to the last" of us. The Central African Republic is among the 10 poorest countries in the world and has high rates of maternal and infant mortality, chronic malnutrition and an unstable economy, according to the World Bank.
"He reversed the concept of who is the most important," Cisowski said.
Joe Meyer, a Marquette High School science teacher, said his personal faith journey tracks alongside with Pope Francis' papacy. Francis' encyclical on care for the Earth, Laudato Si', made a "deep impact on me," he said.
Its publication in 2015 prompted Meyer a year later to combine his two passions, his Catholic faith and the environment, in starting the Laudato Si' Project for ecology workshops and retreats. That grew into the Catholic Ecology Center in Neosho, which operates a range of educational programs and events year round for all ages.
Francis realized that taking care of the environment, and appreciating Earth's beauty, could be a "universal avenue to truth, and to God," Meyer said.
"That's been one of his greatest successes, is being able to connect with a wide range of faithful, and not faithful," over a shared desire to be good stewards of the planet, he said.
Francis' calls to be less wasteful, and to live more simply, resonated with Meyer. He particularly appreciated that Francis denounced the impact of consumerism and entire political systems on the world's poor, despite knowing it was a direct challenge to modern — particularly Western — cultures.
"We see these statements, which are very challenging, but I think at the core, he's always looking at, 'How is this affecting the poor? How is this affecting the voiceless?' It's a beautiful witness for all of us to see that," Meyer said.
When Pope Francis was elected in 2013, Fr. Aaron Pierre, who leads two Latino-majority parishes on Milwaukee's south side, was in his first year of formation to become a Jesuit priest. He was struck that when asked, "Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" Francis answered, "I am a sinner."
Francis' strong defense of immigrants and the marginalized has been an especially meaningful cause for Pierre, who has worked with gang-involved youth in Chicago, Native American teens in South Dakota, refugees in Kenya, and now, the Latino communities of Milwaukee.
"He always showed a great deal of mercy and compassion toward all, and the only people to whom he spoke harshly, really, were priests and religious," Pierre said.
Pierre is guided by Francis' quote that the church should be a field hospital to heal the wounded. It was "an important shift of the focus of the mission of the church," he said.
"He didn't come in and change a bunch of doctrine — which I think people were scared of. But he drastically changed the way that he lived out the papacy," Pierre said.
In 2013, Fr. Michael Simone saw the news on his flip phone that Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had been named pope. He was riding on a train from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, and when got home, his housemates were watching the coverage on TV. Everyone was incredulous the new pope was a Jesuit.
Today, in his office at the Church of the Gesu, Simone keeps a framed photo of Bergoglio riding public transit in Buenos Aires to the poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. It's a reminder, for Simone, that he too is not any more special or dignified than a lay person.
Simone remembers the story that the day after Francis was elected, he returned to the Rome hotel where he'd been staying and paid the bill. Some saw Francis as too liberal, or too lax, on moral teachings. Simone sees him as embodying "Jesuitness."
"It was just so refreshing to have a pope who knows how much a hotel bill costs," Simone said. "There's something about that that I think was right for the moment, but also very authentic to this man."
Pope Francis brought a kind of "presence" on the world stage that Simone believes his successor will need as well.
"Whatever you think about Pope Francis, he's not been irrelevant," Simone said.
Of the successor, he said: "I hope they're still able to articulate a vision of the faith that captures people's attention."
Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her at [e-mail] or 920-323-5758.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Pope Francis made an impact on the lives of 6 Milwaukee Catholics