Father Popielarz Taught Acceptance

In the 60s when I was in high school, acceptance was the topic of a class a priest taught.

People flocked to it. Close to a hundred would jam the cracker-box gym every Tuesday evening to hear Father Edward Popielarz. He was known as Fr. Pops, affectionatley called in and out of class.

Pops defined acceptance as a covenant of freedom. A covenant is an agreement used in the bible. There is the covenant between God and Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, for example.

All sort of people attended the hour-and-one half sessions. A blend of the twelve step spirituality famous for keeping people off of alcohol, other drugs and process and substance addictions, Pops often said that fear is our ony problem. Fear shuts people down, he admitted. Fear freezes people and immobilizes them. People in possessive relationships also joined the class. Scrupulous and angry people came also. They seemed to work out problems.

After teaching for many years at the Orchard Lake Schools, Fr. Pops was pastor of St. Joseph Church in Pontiac, MI. For decades he taught the class in acceptance there before his death in 1986. In his church building in the small room where priests prepared for Mass, Fr. Pops had a medical clinic staffed by volunteer doctors. People in need came for medical attention also.

This amazing man will be remembered Saturday, April 24th at 4:30 pm Mass in St. Joseph Church at 400 South Street in Pontiac. Dinner and a class in acceptance will follow in the lower level of the church. It will be a festive time for all, and, a time for remembering.

People who knew and loved Pops will participate the in re-union. Acceptance will be the aroma and fragrance at the event. Students who joined Pops in class will show how they've accepted issues in their daily life, and how they resolved problems by accepting them, facing them and moving on. They will also tell how Pops helped countless lives in the Pontiac and Detroit area for decades. And, those who lead the class these days will also tell what Pops meant to them.