Bishop F. Richard Spencer

BY BISHOP RICHARD B. HIGGINS

Meet Peter Esterka, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Brno (Chaplain, Lt. Col. USAF, retired) and “Pepek” (Monsignor Joseph Supa, Chaplain, Col, USAF, Retired), United States Air Force Chaplain Orientation Course 74-B. There were 25 of us in the Air Force Chaplain Basic Orientation Course 74-B, and as we settled into the classroom that November morning at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama I looked around the room. Seated directly across from me was none other than “Pepek” from my days at the Lateran University, in Rome.

The Communists arrived in 1948. They reformed the educational system and promptly closed the Bishop’s School, which Peter had been attending, and removed the Jesuits. All children were obliged to attend school

through the 9th grade. Advancing beyond 9th grade was not automatic. Membership in the Communist Youth Movement Ceskoslovensky Svaz Mladeze (C.S.M) was a requirement to attend a gymnasium (high school). The authorities maintained a cadre card on everyone, and the contents of this “card” would determine which gymnasium you would attend. Your cadre card usually contained negative information such as anticommunist attitude, church attendance, questionable social contacts, etc. Non-selection to attend a gymnasium meant you went to work in a factory, a coal mine, a collective farm or, if you were fortunate, a local winery. Attendance at a university was determined by the results of your final exam at the gymnasium, a review of your cadre card and an “interview” by representatives of the local Communist party. If you were lucky enough to get selected, the Party decided your career path. Because he consistently refused to join the C.S.M. “Pepek” was denied his choice of university. The seminaries had been closed so answering the call to the priesthood he had heard years before was not an option. Instead, he was offered a choice…. collective farm or coal mine. “I took the coal mine, you got paid there.”

“Pepek” was all of 18 years old, working in a coal mine and eking out a living. He had enough. It was time to get out. Peter Esterka and “Pepek” had worked a summer in the same factory, and “Pepek” was aware Peter was anxious to continue his studies towards the priesthood. Together, they hatched a plan to escape. They approached a “broker” who appeared to know how to penetrate the forbidden zone and get across the border. Yes, he could get them across, but there was a price, and he demanded money up front. They paid. Months passed with no sign of an escape plan. The “broker” demanded more money. There were “complications,” and Peter and “Pepek” grew suspicious. “Pepek” discovered the “broker” worked for the Statni bezpecnost (StB), the equivalent of the East German STAZI. They were about to be betrayed! There was no time to lose, they would have to leave tonight!

Both Peter and “Pepek” were accomplished athletes, and they were eligible to represent their regions at a competition in Budejovice, some 400 kilometers distant. The train would take them through Mikulov in the “forbidden” zone. The station was only 600 yards from the Austrian

continued on page 16

border. Hurrying to their local station, they bought tickets to Budejovice and caught the last train. As the train approached Mikulov, border guards entered the carriage and began to check identification papers. It was time to move. So, as the train slowed approaching the station, Peter and “Pepek” made their way to the back of the carriage, opened the door, and jumped into the night! Dusting themselves off, they were thankful they were not injured. They had not been seen.

In his book Never Say Comrade Peter Esterka describes what happened next…. “I raised my head to see what was beyond (the railroad tracks) thinking all the while that the top of my head could be blown off as it cleared the summit. But I was not prepared for what I did see. My heart stopped beating at the sight of a machine-gun tower that loomed in front of us….I could see the soldiers as they moved around….I could see that just beyond the tower were three rows of wire obstacle fences….In the shadows, we checked the gloves and wire cutters for the last time. Since we had only two cutters, “Pepek” took one and I kept the other and the rubber gloves....There were three separate fences. The first one held four rows of electric wires….on the Austrian side were plaited barbed wires that crisscrossed back and forth many times….”Pepek” and I crawled to the first fence and put our cutters to the electric wires. A shower of sparks erupted. We waited for some movement from the tower…all quiet. We cut the wires in the second fence…no electricity! We cut the third fence. Just a moment later “Pepek” and I stood beyond the three fences. From the tower there was nothing—no search lights, no rockets, no shots, no dogs barking—only silence. We were free!”

Making their way to the closest village, they turned themselves in to the local authorities and found themselves imprisoned in Vienna. As asylum seekers, they were transferred to Camp Glasenbach, a detention facility for displaced persons. Following his release from Camp Glasenbach, Peter traveled to Rome, continued his seminary formation at the Pontifical College Nepomucenum and was ordained to the priesthood in 1963. After

18 months of detention, “Pepek” was granted a visa to the United States and took a job in a glass factory in Bethpage, Long Island. Six months to the day he received his draft notice from the United States Army!

Basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, was followed by “surveyor” school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and a permanent assignment to Fort Lewis, Washington. It was here that, once again, “Pepek” heard the call to the priesthood. But this time it was different; he could answer it. Using his G.I. Bill, he joined Peter at the Pontifical College Nepomucenum, studied at the Pontifical Lateran University and was ordained in 1967 for the Diocese of Brno, Czechoslovakia. Unable to serve in Brno, he was sent to the Diocese of Baker, Oregon. A year later, Pepek returned to Rome where he earned a doctorate in Systematic Theology. A one-year teaching assignment at the Pontifical College Josephinum grew into a six-year stint and, at age 39, an opportunity to join the United States Air Force and pursue a career as an Air Force chaplain.

Reflecting on his Air Force career, Monsignor Supa will tell you his greatest contribution to the Air Force was his assignment to the Joint Contact Team at EUCOM (European Command, Stuttgart, Germany) assisting some eleven former Eastern Bloc countries in establishing chaplaincy departments throughout their armed forces.

To some, the invitation to “Come, follow me” might seem to be a simple request, but it can lead to a terrifying night crawling through a minefield, cutting through electrified fences and evading border guards with orders to “shoot to kill.” For Peter Esterka and “Pepek” it meant extraordinary adventures, intense relationships with the Lord and truly remarkable lives. Their response to the call might best be summarized by “Who would have thought?”

Monsignor Supa retired from the Air Force in 1997 and settled in Arizona where he became a contract chaplain at Luke AFB. He recently “pulled up stakes” and moved back to join his family in Slovakia. Bishop Peter Esterka is retired and lives in Southern California. V Fall 2020 | 17