With Great Thanks to Stella Maris Academy, Beneficiary of Vatican Unveiled, for This Beautiful Video!
Get a glimpse of this one-of-a-kind special event.
Hear from the curator himself, Fr. Richard Kunst, and well-known museum expert, Mark Hall-Patton.
The collection was shown in Duluth, Minnesota on August 19th – 21st at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. Thousands showed up.
Happy birthday, Father Kunst! And thank you for sharing your Collection with the public for such good causes.
And for sharing the gift of your life with the Church. For your prayerfulness, intelligence, liberal doses of humor, love of the papacy, and for being a man of infinite courtesy. God bless you always!
The Vatican Unveiled
August 19 – 21, Duluth, MN
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- Region VIII Bishops & The 2nd Class Relic of St. Mother Teresa
Words of Wisdom from the Curator!
If I Was What I Appeared to Be, I would Be a Saint
Fr. Richard Kunst
Every late spring and early summer, there is a little-known ritual that happens in the Catholic Church in the United States. As the school year winds down, fourth-year seminarians prepare for their priestly ordination, and all the other seminarians take road trips to the various dioceses to attend the ordinations of their now former schoolmates.
Most all of us priests have done this to some extent in our younger years. It really is a joyful experience to be with the guys on their big day of ordination, and while you are a seminarian, you cannot help but think of the day it will be your turn (God and the church willing).
Twenty-some years ago, I remember going to an ordination in a nearby diocese. On the way there, I was in the car with a guy who had just been ordained a couple of weeks earlier, and of course the conversation was centered on the subject of what it was like to now be a priest.
The newly minted priest said something that I don’t think I will ever forget. He said (paraphrasing), “You know, one month ago no one cared about my opinions or sought my counsel, no one wanted my advice, I was just a lowly seminarian. But now everyone wants my opinion, everyone seems to come to me for advice, and I have appointments lined up for people coming to see me for counseling.”
It really is amazing how the ordination ritual transforms a person, and I am not even referring to the deep theological, ontological change that comes with ordination. Sociologically, among faithful Catholics the priesthood still has an important stature, which of course has become a double-edged sword of sorts.
A couple years after my 1998 ordination, I remember praying in St. Louis Catholic Church in Floodwood, which was one of the three parishes of my first pastorate. While praying that morning in front of the Blessed Sacrament, a line popped in my head: “If I was what I appeared to be, I would be a saint.” I quickly wrote it down and posted it in a few different locations in my house so it would be a constant reminder.
When Jesus was challenging the Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, he said something similar to them, but in more graphic terms: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, you frauds! You cleanse the outside of the cup but leave the inside full of plunder and self-indulgence!” (23:25). Boiled down to its simplest terms that is what the clergy sex abuse scandal is: men of God who have appeared to be holy and godly from the outside but are filled with sick, vile wretchedness on the inside. “If I was what I appeared to be, I would be a saint.”
It is very important for us to know that what applies to priests applies to every Christian. The priests who have been guilty of sexual abuse are an extreme example, but there are other smaller examples of this in our daily lives as well. Think of how you talk or behave towards the people you live with, or the people who are closest to you. How do you talk or behave towards your parents, spouse, siblings, or children? Then think of how you talk or behave towards people who may be mere acquaintances. Do we have a public façade, an exterior appearance that we show the rest of the world when we are in public? What does it look like compared to what we don’t show the rest of the world?
Priests still have a position of stature in our Catholic community despite the justifiably negative press, so when a priest shows himself to be full of “plunder and self-indulgence” on the inside, it becomes a massive, far-reaching tragedy. And yet, as Christians we are all supposed to be different than the rest of society. As Christians, we should be noticeable because of our belonging to Christ. It might not be a bad idea to “scotch” that sentence in a couple of places in your home as well: “If I was what I appeared to be, I would be a saint.”
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- Pope John Paul II & Father Richard Kunst
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- The Papal Artifacts Collection Father Richard Kunst
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- Pope Francis Signing Father Kunst’s Baseball
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- Pope Francis Signing Father Kunst’s Baseball
No one has ever said Father Kunst isn’t extremely competitive…..it hasn’t changed with age…
Happy Birthday, Father!
When You’re the Pastor of a School…..
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- Fr.-Rich-Blessing-the-Animals-
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- Wednesday School Mass
A recent addition to this website is the creation of, “A Few Minutes with” a particular pope, saint or occurrence relevant to the Collection. Last week, the Curator brought several interesting stories about Pope St. John Paul II during the week of the 100th anniversary of his birth. We hope he continues to do this!
About the Papal Artifacts’ Collection in His Own Words
As a high school senior, I had an assignment in my Government class to write to a politician. I chose President Jimmy Carter. He sent me an autographed photo of himself and his wife and that started my interest in autographs. I began researching celebrity addresses in all fields–sports, music, politics, movies, and more–and wrote letters to these various stars. After spending hundreds of dollars in postage, I amassed a fairly large collection.
My interest then turned toward historical autographs, particularly of past presidents. I started getting subscriptions to various autograph dealers and, though I was a student, I was able to buy a nice autograph from time to time. At one point, I had autographs of 16 presidents, dating back to President Martin Van Buren.
In 1995, I received an autograph dealer catalog that offered three different papal autographs for auction. It was the first time I had ever seen a signature of a Pope made available–in a way I was shocked that they even existed. I had to get a loan from my sister, but in the end I won two of the three papal items–autographs of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, both as cardinals.
This is what started my bug for papal and religious autographs. Not long after, I was able to add signatures of Pius VII and Pius IX. Eventually I lost all interest in modern day celebrities, as well as presidential autographs. I sold nearly the entire collection. With that money, I was able to purchase a number of other fine autographs with religious themes.
After being ordained to the priesthood, I finally had a steady income to put towards the collection. At the same time, the World Wide Web was a phenomenal source of leads for rare items. I made contact with several manuscript dealers throughout Europe and was able to access great items at very good prices.
I continue my search for old, rare, and unique papal items, from documents to papal clothing. The collection is always growing.
I am often asked what I intend to do with this collection. It has always been and remains my intent to donate it to the Church where it may be enjoyed forever. At the present time I am seeking a location where it may be displayed rather than kept in archival conditions. However, because of the rarity and age of the artifacts, this would demand museum quality conditions where storage of the artifacts could be closely monitored. An ideal situation would be a Catholic college or university interested in showing this very valuable and historical collection. —Father Richard Kunst
