By Tim Wenzl

Southwest Kansas Register

Father Ivan "John" Lavrih, 90, died Aug. 12, 2005 at Via Christi Regional Medical Center – St. Joseph Campus. He had been a resident of the Catholic Care Center in Wichita since 1990.

The funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony Church in Fowler Aug. 16 with the Most Reverend Ronald M. Gilmore presiding. The Most Reverend Eugene J. Gerber, bishop emeritus of Wichita, and 19 diocesan priests concelebrated the liturgy.

The parish at Fowler was Father Lavrih’s last pastoral assignment. The faithful of that parish were joined by those from other parishes he served, as well as parishioners from St. Mary, Derby, where he had been a regular weekend substitute. Care givers from the Catholic Care Center and friends from as far away as Manhattan were also in attendance.

Bishop Gilmore remembered Father Lavrih as "our Slovenian pilgrim," "priest of the High Priest," and a "Fighter for Freedom." A man who could not be separated from the love of Christ by the Fascists, the Nazis, nor the Communists.

"When I visited Father Lavrih in the hospital the Saturday before he died, I told him: ‘If the Lord really wants, you I suspect he’ll have to sneak up on you … otherwise you’ll find a way out of even this.’ He chuckled a bit, and told me that he would continue to fight, would try to escape as he always did, but that he was ready for what the Lord wanted. He was ready to learn what this final assault on his freedom really meant, and to accept it. He was ready."

Father Lavrih was born Aug. 2, 1915, at St. Vid pri Sticni, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, the son of John Lavrih and Ann Hribar. He was ordained to the priesthood July 2, 1939 by the Most Reverend Gregorij Rozman, bishop of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia.

During World War II, he was an editor of the Slovenian Catholic newspaper, Slovensksi Dom, and supported the efforts of freedom fighters. He was imprisoned on separate occasions by the Italians, Germans and Russians. He spent many months in prison, but escaped execution after fleeing from a prison work detail and crossing the Alps to Austria.

In 1949, after serving four years as a refugee priest in an Austrian parish, Father Lavrih was admitted to America through the sponsorship of Bishop Mark K. Carroll of Wichita. He was assigned to St. Mark Parish at St. Mark.

During the next several years, Father Lavrih spoke to several organization and clubs. He told of his experiences in captivity, about the evils of Nazism, Fascism and Communism.

"It sounds ridiculous," he said in the April 25, 2004 Register, "but the most beautiful hours of my life I spent in Communist jail. All facing certain death, I heard the most beautiful confessions in my life in jail. Some prisoners were for years away from God, but death brought them back and I hope I have many saints and martyrs today in heaven helping me."

After 1951, when the Diocese of Dodge City was established, he served in pastoral assignments at St. Joseph, Ellinwood; Sacred Heart, Pratt; St. Lawrence, Jetmore; St. Anthony, Hanston; St. Anthony, Liberal; St. Nicholas, Kinsley; and St. Anthony, Fowler.

He served as Diocesan Director of Extension Lay Volunteers and on the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission. A Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus Class was named for Father Lavrih at Liberal in 1986.

On April 30, 1999, the State of Kansas passed a Senate Resolution honoring Father Lavrih as a "servant of God, who has actively resisted the forces of fascism, communism and atheism." In 2001 he published his memoirs in a volume entitled "V Primezu Revolucije."

He is survived by nephews and a niece living in Slovenia. Burial will be in the cemetery at St. Vid pri Sticni, Ljubljana, Slovenia.