Priest brothers celebrate Mass on 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley

Anchorage (Catholic Anchor) - What is believed to be the first known Mass ever celebrated at the top of Mt. McKinley took place on July 3, when three childhood friends from Poland summited the 20,320-foot peak.

Father Krzyaztof Grzybowski and his brother Father Robert Grzybowski celebrated a Mass with their childhood friend Adrian Przyluski attending.

In a letter to the Catholic Anchor, Father Richard Tero, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Seward and local church historian in Alaska, said he believes the Mass was the first on the top of North America's highest peak.

"In a most exceptionally clear and calm day, at about 4 p.m. after a long climb from 17,000 feet, on the West Buttress route, they were able to spend about 45 minutes at the 20,320 foot summit," Father Tero wrote.

Other priests known to have summited Mt. McKinley include Father Carl Abele in the early 1970s, as well as Father Michael Shields and Dominican Father Tim Conlin in the 1980s, Father Tero said.

"I'm sure other foreign priests have also had success but didn't share it with the local priests," Father Tero added, "but to have no wind on Mt. McKinley is extremely rare."

Father Tero hosted the priest brothers and their friend in Seward, where the Polish men enjoyed a Kenai Fjords tour after their climb.

In sharing the story of the mountaintop Mass, Father Tero said the men had to "blow on the wine to unfreeze it for the Mass."

The three men grew up together in Bielsk Podlaski at the far east of Poland, on the border with Belarus.

The two brothers now serve in their home diocese as priests. Przyluski is a police officer in Warsaw. The men left Anchorage on July 23.

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Republished by Catholic Online with permission of the Catholic Anchor (www.catholicanchor.org), official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska.