Published March 11, 2005
Russian connection
Many Alaska Catholics feel drawn to cross the Bering Strait, and one man’s journey to the country led him to the priesthood.
When the Iron Curtain crumbled and the once impenetrable Russian Far East opened to its Alaskan neighbors, a strange thing began to happen.
It was as if a spiritual pull of almost magnetic force drew Alaskan Catholics to Russia. Whether it was Archbishop Francis Hurley, who offered the first public Mass ever in Magadan, or Father Michael Shields, who has served in that city since 1994, many Alaskans have journeyed across the Bering Strait for what they describe as life-altering experiences.
Janez Sever is another chapter in this spiritual story.
Actually, now it’s Jesuit Father Janez Sever, but when his Alaskan story began he was a soldier at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. A 1987 graduate of West Point, the young man arrived in Anchorage in 1988 with every intention of being a career military man.
Today, Father Sever, a talented photographer who dreams of completing a book of photos of Russia’s Catholics, is preparing to begin serving in the Jesuit region of Russia, an area that includes all of the former Soviet Union except for the Balkan states.
What happened in the years between includes romance, an opening to a life of prayer and, of course, a journey to Russia.
Father Sever was born in 1965 to Slovenian immigrants in Cleveland. As a child, he spoke Slovenian at home, and when he was a teenager, the future priest accompanied his parents on a trip to their native land, a journey that made a deep impression on him.
"In a sense, I feel at home anywhere I go," Father Sever recently told the Anchor. "I seem to adapt. I realized that when I was in Slovenia. I thought, ‘I could stay here.’ "
After the family moved to Milwaukee, Father Sever attended a Jesuit high school there and then went on to West Point. He majored in Russian, partly out of "pragmatism," he said, because Slovenian, in which he was fluent, has the same roots as Russian.
After graduation, the Army sent Father Sever to Alaska. He dreamed of going into diplomatic work but spent a lot of time "walking and shooting," he said with a laugh.
Doubts about his career choice, and a long-distance relationship with a California woman, led him to make a retreat at Holy Spirit Center, the archdiocesan operation in Anchorage.
"My prayer life began again as a result of the retreat," Father Sever said, and "led me to continue daily prayer to see where the path would lead."
Meanwhile, the romantic relationship made him realize that his values and dreams didn’t fit in with an Army career.
"Combined with a new prayer life and based on love, I said no to the Army," Father Sever recalled. He got out of the service in 1992.
Eventually, the relationship with the woman ended, but morning prayer continued to "set straight my whole day," he said.
Father Sever’s enduring love of travel, knowledge of Russian and eastern European heritage drove him to one conclusion: "One way or the other, I’m going to Russia."
Business contacts didn’t work out, but Father Sever had read about Archbishop Hurley’s work in Russia and asked for a meeting.
The archbishop sent the young man to Magadan, where he did manual labor for Father Austin Mohrbacher, then the pastor of the fledgling Catholic parish there. Father Sever also helped with humanitarian aid sent from Alaska to Magadan and eventually traveled to other parishes in Russia.
Archbishop Hurley, who retired in 2001, said he could sense Father Sever was experiencing a call to priesthood. But it would take the young man more time to reach the same conclusion.
"It was in Novosibirsk that I realized I wanted to stay in Russia and I wanted to work for the church," Father Sever said. "I just didn’t know how."
Educated by the Jesuits in Milwaukee and influenced by Bishop Josef Werth, the Jesuit bishop in Novosibirsk, Father Sever felt drawn to the order.
One thing stood in the way: He’d become involved with another woman, a Russian. Torn between the possibility of marriage and the lure of the priesthood, Father Sever followed some advice to "just give the novitiate a chance."
As soon as he made the decision to enter the Jesuit novitiate, Father Sever said, he experienced great peace and didn’t look back.
He attended the novitiate in Slovenia and was ordained there in 2002 at Ljubljana, his father’s hometown, with his parents looking on. In between, he studied in Rome, took first vows in Padua, Italy, and spent a year working in Kyrgyzstan.
After ordination, Father Sever studied at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., and in January he began more classes at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
At Creighton, Father Sever is studying spiritual direction and print and Web design, and spending time with well-known Jesuit photographer Father Don Doll, who first encouraged the young priest in his pursuit of photography.
"My desire is to do a book on Russian Catholics, who are we, where did we come from," Father Sever said.
Photography was the subject of his thesis at Weston, and he now views his art as a ministry.
"I would like to use photography in two ways," he said: "to help people imagine and see how God is in reality very much present in our world and our lives, and to communicate who we are to others, our witness and experience as Russian Catholics who have suffered and continue to struggle today."
In late summer, Father Sever will leave for Russia, where he will be the spiritual director for a pre-seminary in Novosibirsk, in central Russia. He will also serve as director of KANA Catholic TV studio, which began broadcasting last fall.
There are about 45 Jesuits based in Russia.
Father Sever recently launched a new Web site, www.seeandbelieve.org, to showcase his photography. It is still under development but some pictures have been posted.