A priest’s yes to the Lord never occurs in isolation. It is always made possible by many other yeses: often a decision by parents to raise their son in the faith, a pastor who set an inspiring example or a friend who encourages him in the faith.
Father Randy Skeate can trace those yeses all the way back to Slovenia.
Less than a week after his May 31 ordination to the priesthood, Father Skeate traveled to the land that his grandmother, Mary Manning, called home 80 years ago, before she moved to the United States. With him were his sister, Erica Skeate, and their aunt, Renee Manning — Grandma Manning’s daughter.
The visit included a trip to the village where Grandma Manning grew up before communist persecution, a Mass in St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in the capital city of Ljubljana and interviews in Slovenian Catholic media. For the pilgrims, it was a return to the roots of their family and of their Catholic faith. For the Slovenian Catholics who welcomed them, it was a fascinating homecoming of some long-lost American cousins.
COURTESY MARJAN POGA?NIK
A pilgrimage home
While studying in Poland in the summer of 2024, Erica Skeate traveled to Slovenia. She was the first in the family to set foot in the country since Grandma Manning left shortly after the end of World War II. It was a place she only knew from stories. After Mass at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral, Erica — now studying liturgical music and organ at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul — happened to strike up a conversation with the choir director. That encounter led to plans for the post-ordination trip.
The group was warmly received at the cathedral on June 5. Father Skeate celebrated Mass in the cathedral, the fifth Mass of his priesthood. It turned out to be a bigger occasion than he had anticipated. Several seminarians helped with altar serving and a sizable congregation sang Slovenian hymns by heart. After Mass, they were given a tour of the seminary and were interviewed for stories in Družina, a national Catholic news publication.
“They were just so warm and inviting,” Erica Skeate said. “They had this genuine interest in what brought us there and what God was doing in our lives.”
The group spent four days in Slovenia before continuing to Rome and Portugal.
“(It’s) just a gorgeous country,” Father Skeate said. “There’s a very strong Catholic culture there.”
Slovenia is a small central European country bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. The picturesque mountains and rolling hills of the Alps span the country. The Slovenian language is Slavic, related to Polish, Czech and Russian. Over the course of the 20th century, it belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then Yugoslavia, before gaining independence in 1991. The population is 2.1 million and, by land area, it is 10 times smaller than Minnesota.
While the Slovenian immigrant population in Minnesota was small compared to Germans, Swedes and Norwegians, Minnesota does rank in the top six in the country for total population of Slovenian descent. Many Slovenians settled in mining towns on the Iron Range and, like Father Skeate’s family, in Minneapolis. St. Francis de Sales parish in St. Paul was founded as an ethnic Slovenian parish, and many of Slovenian descent attended St. Agnes in St. Paul, historically an Austrian parish. A painting of Marija Pomagaj, a traditional Slovenian title for Mary, hangs in the back of St. Agnes today.
Historically, Slovenia was nearly entirely Catholic. It remains predominantly Catholic today and, as Father Skeate observed, the faith is showing renewed signs of thriving despite decades of secularization throughout Europe.
“There is right now — especially for young people in Slovenia — a resurgence of faith,” Father Skeate said. “People (are) returning to their roots of Christianity in answering life’s toughest questions … I see a lot of parallels with what we are experiencing as young people in the United States, as young Catholics.”
A family rooted in faith
Traveling south from Ljubljana, they visited Prigorica, the village where Grandma Manning grew up.
“It was surreal for me,” Renee Manning said. “My heart was full … just to walk where my mom walked … all these stories were coming back to me as I was there.”
Grandma Manning’s family — the Gorše family — lived in a house next to Sts. Peter and Paul church in Prigorica. They served as caretakers of the church and of another church in the neighboring village.
The 1940s in Slovenia were a dark time. During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the country. After Nazi Germany’s defeat, Slovenia became part of the newly formed communist Yugoslavia. Communists began targeting and killing those who did not support them.
Father Skeate celebrated Mass at a mass grave site near Prigorica, a sad reminder of the toll communism took on the country. It is one of 750 such sites in Slovenia.
One night in May 1945, a man who had somehow managed to escape after being buried alive arrived in Prigorica and told the people that the communists were coming, Father Skeate shared in an article published in Slovenia. Grandma Manning — just 10 years old at the time — quickly fled along with her family. Thinking they would be able to return home soon, they left bread on the stove. Instead, they ended up spending five years in a displaced persons camp in Austria, after a long journey on foot across Slovenia.
Two older brothers stayed behind in Slovenia. The family went five months without hearing from them before finally receiving confirmation that they were still alive. It would be18 years before they saw each other again.
While in the displaced persons camp, the Gorše family was unsure where they would end up: Australia, Argentina, the United States, or elsewhere. A distant relative in Minnesota eventually was able to sponsor the family’s immigration.
Grandma Manning arrived in Minnesota without any knowledge of English. Her English improved through studies at then-St. Lawrence Catholic School in Minneapolis, participation in the church choir and work in a local convenience store. She went on to raise seven children.
“She’s probably the strongest person I know,” Renee Manning said.
“My grandma is so giving and generous,” Erica Skeate said. “Her entire life was laid down for other people. … I want my life to be a gift to others as well.”
Grandma Manning, now 90 years old, lives with her husband, Jim Manning, at the family home in New Brighton. They are parishioners of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony. She reads Slovenian-language publications and cooks Slovenian delicacies like plum dumplings and potica sweet rolls for holidays.
“I was grateful that my parents gave me (the faith),” Grandma Manning said. “I knew that was the most important thing in my life.”
Father Skeate said he is very grateful for the example his grandmother has set in living out that faith.
“God used my grandmother’s ongoing, motherly generosity, despite various adversities, as some of the first seeds planted in my heart to be open to a life dedicated in genuinely joyful service to others,” he said. “Amid the challenges and pains I’ve personally carried, my family’s experience has granted me the conviction that when we allow him, God can transform those difficulties into opportunities to bless and change the lives of others who are experiencing similar struggles, and I’ve carried that same confidence in my priestly ministry.”
Slovenia’s impact on faith in Minnesota
While the Slovenian population in Minnesota is small, Slovenians have had an outsized impact on the Catholic Church in Minnesota. Grandma Manning recalls hearing stories of Bishop Frederic Baraga, a Slovenian missionary priest who brought the Gospel to the Ojibwe people around Lake Superior, including along the North Shore in Minnesota.
Bishop Baraga, who served in the area from 1833 until his death in 1868, traveled long distances and braved harsh winters for the faithful. He is credited with writing the first dictionary of the Ojibwe language. Bishop Baraga was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
“I prayed to him a lot,” Grandma Manning said. “Bishop Baraga is close to us.”
He became known as the “Apostle of the Lakelands” and the “Snowshoe Priest.” During their visit to the seminary in Ljubljana, the three pilgrims from Minnesota were able to see his original snowshoes and chasuble.
Father Skeate’s interest in Bishop Baraga was piqued when Archbishop Bernard Hebda spoke to the seminarians in 2022 and encouraged them to learn about Bishop Baraga’s life and witness. Since then, Father Skeate said, Bishop Baraga has been an inspiration in his priestly journey.
“Bishop Baraga (has) really been a model for me of being on mission in this new evangelization,” Father Skeate said. “The need of preaching the Gospel and introducing Christ and the encounter with Christ to people in this generation is the same as it was 200 years ago when Bishop Baraga was here evangelizing people for the first time, especially with his hard work and learning so many languages.”
Father Skeate said Bishop Baraga’s example — and his grandmother’s example — have been especially formative as he has stepped into his first priestly assignment as parochial vicar of St. Stephen-Holy Rosary in Minneapolis, a parish with a large Spanish-speaking community.
“We as shepherds of souls must continue to introduce Christ to all people in a language and cultural context in which they can more easily respond to the promptings of faith,” Father Skeate said. “I often consider the various challenges my grandma and her family faced while acclimating to a new culture and language, all the while trying to rebuild a livelihood with faith at the center in this secular society.”
Bishop Baraga isn’t the only Slovenian missionary to Minnesota on the path to sainthood. Since October 2023, the Diocese of Duluth has considered opening a cause for canonization for Msgr. Joseph Buh. A zealous evangelizer, Msgr. Buh served in Minnesota from 1864 to 1922 and helped establish 50 parishes across the Diocese of Duluth.
These Slovenian heroes of the faith are an important inspiration not just to Minnesotans, but also to Slovenians, as Father Skeate learned in conversation with seminarians in Ljubljana.
“They take a lot of pride in realizing that their forebears hundreds of years ago responded to the call of evangelizing in the New World,” Father Skeate said. “That’s the same situation we’re in today. People need Christ more than ever.”
Their zeal for Christ — cultivated in Slovenia and then planted in Minnesota — is a reminder of what authentic faith is, Father Skeate said.
“(We can) be generous in giving ourselves to the Lord and whatever call he has for us, to introduce Christ to people and not treat faith and the things of God as just an idea or just as a cultural heritage, but as a living reality that has a bearing on every aspect of our lives today.”
