In his homily during Father Robert Valit’s funeral Mass Sept. 27 at St. Michael in Stillwater, Father Michael Skluzacek told a story about their friendship.
Advent, Father Skluzacek said, was Father Valit’s favorite liturgical season. Every year, Father Skluzacek could count on a call from Father Valit with an invite to Handel’s Messiah, a concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
“He loved the season that prepares to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the word made flesh,” Father Skluzacek said. “The season that waits in joyful hope for the coming of the Kingdom of God. … ‘Waving in joyful expectation for the full revelation of the glory of God’ might rightly be the theme of Robert Valit’s life. He lived every day of his life in joyful expectation of the glory of God.”
“When we traveled (overseas) and he encountered a beggar, he wouldn’t think twice,” Father Skluzacek explained. “He would reach into his pocket and give the beggar 10 euros, I saw that happen so many times. He readily would give to others whatever he had, and he always had enough. God will not be outdone in generosity.”
Father Robert “Bob” Valit, who had served the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since 1978, died Sept. 21 at the age of 96 at the Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul. Father Valit retired in 2001, wrapping up an eight-year tenure at Our Lady of Grace in Edina. During his retirement, he served St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater for 17 years.
Prior to Our Lady of Grace, Father Valit served as parochial administrator (1989), then pastor (1989-1993) of St. Peter in Forest Lake. He served as pastor of St. John the Baptist in Dayton (1983-1989); associate pastor of Our Lady of Grace (1983); associate pastor of St. Luke in St. Paul (1982-1983); and pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Little Canada (1980-1982). Father Valit served as associate pastor of St. Columba in St. Paul (1978-1980) and St. Margaret Mary in Minneapolis (1975-1978), as well as chaplain at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale (1975-1978). He served as associate pastor of St. Anne in Minneapolis from 1974 to 1975.
“He sincerely believed that the most important and joyous experiences of his life were celebrating the Eucharist with the people of God,” Father Skluzacek said. “The Eucharist was the center of Father Valit’s life. It was the most important thing he did every day. He relished the opportunity to preside at Eucharist and to preach and as you know, he was a great preacher, an excellent homilist. He believed Jesus’ words that the Eucharist is the promise of eternal life. His entrance into the eternal glorious kingdom of heaven. That’s why he celebrated it with such care, such beauty. That’s why he loved exquisite vestments, beautiful music, quality sacred vessels. But most of all he loved the people of God.”
