newsminer.com

ANCHORAGE -- What is believed to be the first known Mass ever celebrated at the top of Mount McKinley took place on July 3, when three childhood friends from Poland summited the 20,320-foot peak.

Father Krzyaztof Grzybowski and his brother, Father Robert Grzybowski, celebrated Mass with their childhood friend Adrian Przyluski attending.

In a letter to the Catholic Anchor, Father Richard Tero, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Seward and local church historian in Alaska, said he believes the Mass was the first on the top of North America’s highest peak.

“In a most exceptionally clear and calm day, at about 4 p.m. after a long climb from 17,000 feet, on the West Buttress route, they were able to spend about 45 minutes at the 20,320-foot summit,” Father Tero wrote.

Other priests known to have summitted Mount McKinley include Father Carl Abele in the early 1970s, as well as Father Michael Shields and Dominican Father Tim Conlin in the 1980s, Father Tero said.

The celebration is believed to be the first Mass on North America’s highest peak.

“I’m sure other foreign priests have also had success but didn’t share it with the local priests,” Father Tero said.

Father Tero hosted the priest brothers and their friend in Seward, where the Polish men enjoyed a Kenai Fjords tour after their climb.

In sharing the story of the mountaintop Mass, Father Tero said the men had to “blow on the wine to unfreeze it for the Mass.” The three men grew up together in Bielsk Podlaski at the far east of Poland, on the border with Belarus.

The two brothers now serve in their home diocese as priests. Przyluski is a police officer in Warsaw. The men left Anchorage on July 23.