When Margie Popovich Cretella and her brother, Stephen, were kids, they went fishing together. “I never realized as he was fishing next to me that he would become a ‘fisher of men,’” Cretella said, alluding to Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark telling His disciples—who earned their living as fishermen—that He would make them “fishers of men.”
Yet, along with those idyllic memories, Cretella holds the jarring and excruciating memories of a crippling car accident that her brother, Father Stephen Popovich, suffered in 2013, leaving him paralyzed. She also holds hope-filled memories of how he lived his life following the devastating accident and how he touched the lives of others.
Cretella recently wrote a book about her memories of her brother as he grew up from those early days of fishing with his sister, and how he became a priest, a pastor, Catholic educator, prison chaplain and Scouting chaplain.
Still, what dominates the book is his story of faith, perseverance, service and inspiration for others during the years after the accident. Have You Seen My Brother: Discovering That God Is Good Even in a Tragedy tells Father Popovich’s story, but also the story of how Cretella accompanied her brother in his suffering and grew in her own faith. That accident on November 13, 2013, she recalled, “left me on a journey searching for my brother and God. It seemed like a game that I didn’t want to partake in, but I had no choice.”
Cretella was the second-oldest of five children born to John and Elizabeth Popovich in Youngstown’s South Side Lansingville neighborhood. Her brother Stephen was born a year after her, and they both went on to their parish school, St. Matthias, and Cardinal Mooney High School.
On the one hand, Stephen’s call to priestly vocation was not surprising, Cretella said. “We were a very Catholic family,” and their uncle, Father George Popovich, was a priest who was especially close to her brother, influencing him. “He was always at our church, St. Matthias, helping out”—serving Mass and working as a custodian.
On the other hand, the outgoing, boisterous man—“He was often described as an earthquake”—that her brother would grow into contrasts with his younger persona. “He was very quiet. You would always see him before you heard him,” she recounted with a chuckle. “It wasn’t until he had a role in the school plays at Mooney that he started to come into his own.”
After Mooney, he advanced to Youngstown State University (YSU), where he majored in history and philosophy in preparation for his seminary studies at Mount St. Mary of the West in Cincinnati. Ordained by Bishop James Malone in St. Columba Cathedral in 1981, he enthusiastically embarked on to his priesthood, serving in various capacities over the next three decades, including at St. James Parish in Warren; St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Louisville as a faculty member; his alma mater Cardinal Mooney as associate principal; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Geneva, briefly, as pastor; St. Paul Parish in Salem as pro-tem associate; the succession of parishes in Campbell as pastor; Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Austintown; and St. Paul the Apostle Parish in New Middletown, where he was appointed in 2010.
In addition, he embraced other ministries, such as prison ministry at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown—known as “The Supermax”—and Scouting chaplain in Mahoning, Trumbull and Stark counties. He also served in other capacities, including dean of Mahoning County North, a member of the diocesan Priests Personnel Board and director of the diocesan Office of Continuing Education of Clergy.
Whatever assignment Father Popovich drew, Cretella said, he threw himself into it. “He just loved being a priest. He made going to church fun—and faithful. He had people win stuff. He used props. In his homilies, you always felt that he was talking about you—giving you a lesson to take with you.” The key for Father Popovich, his sister pointed out, was that “he loved the Lord. He loved people and he wanted to present a good example to everyone.”
The accident that upended Father Popovich’s life and ministry happened while he was driving from his parish, St. Paul in New Middletown, on the way to “The Supermax.” He hit black ice on the road and his car skidded into a truck and a tree.
“My husband Mike and I were away in South Carolina when we heard the news,” Cretella recalled. She and her husband got there as soon as they could. “My sister, priests and friends were already at the hospital, St. Elizabeth in Youngstown. The doctor told us that he probably would not walk again,” Cretella said, but at that point their family’s priority was on his staying alive. “We just prayed every day that he would live.”
For the next step, “we sent him to Cleveland Metro Health Hospital for further surgery.” Though his paralysis was largely irreversible, the surgeon in Cleveland was able to repair parts of his neck and part of his left hand, which would enable him to hold the host and chalice for celebrating Mass.
Father Popovich spent two years in Cleveland MetroHealth Old Brooklyn for physical rehabilitation. During that time, he underwent various surgeries and numerous rounds of intensive physical therapy regimens, Cretella said. Eventually, he was moved closer to home—to the Liberty Health Care Center outside of Youngstown—which offers rehabilitation and residency services.
“He suffered a lot in those 10 years. More than people would know,” Cretella said. “Still, he went over and above. He never questioned God or complained. He put everybody before him. His favorite prayer was the Serenity Prayer.
“He had faith. He was a prayer warrior,” which she defined as believing “that God would give him the strength to do something about the situation he faced, however hopeless it might seem.”
At the Liberty Health Center, he offered 4 p.m. Saturday Mass weekly until COVID-19 first struck the facility in early 2020. “A friend of my husband made him an altar so that he could get his wheelchair under.” He also established friendships with fellow residents of the health center.
“I’ll never forget the one time there was a resident and friend of his who was sick with COVID, and Father Steve wasn’t allowed to go into his room because of the COVID. So he went outside in his wheelchair, in the rain, and went to his friend’s window and blessed him through the window,” Cretella recalled.
One time, she went into his room and saw obituaries that the nurses had clipped from the newspapers and placed on the walls. When she asked why, he replied, “These are all people who need somebody to pray for them.”
With the help of his nurses, he gave out holy cards, palm crosses and hot chocolate mugs at Christmas, and all year-round he had a box of toys to give to children.
But his ministry wasn’t restricted to the health care center. Father Popovich visited parishes and others in the hospital, his sister noted. “He would take me to hospital visits with him” as well as various speaking engagements.
In January of this year, Father Popovich fell victim to COVID himself. His battered, weakened body rendered him less able to put up resistance.
Soon, it became apparent that the end was near. “It was very peaceful at the center. They were all very good to him,” Cretella said. He spent much of his time watching The Chosen, a TV series on Jesus, his followers and their lives and missions. “He loved The Chosen and preached about it.”
Father Popovich died January 14. Cretella recalled, “It was emotional, but it was such a beautiful setting for him. Amazing Grace was playing on his TV and he had his Rosary from Gethsemane. We prayed with him and held his hand. It was time to go.”
For Cretella, however, the story continued. “About a year before he died, I started writing reflections about his life in the past and lessons that I had learned. I was journaling them. I never went to therapy to talk about this, so journaling turned out to be my therapy. After he died, people wanted to read them.” The positive response she received and other factors made her think about compiling these reflections into a book.
“I thought it would be a gift to my brother and a gift to God. I didn’t want to forget all the stories because he left me all the memories—particularly how he treated people. I didn’t want to forget everything I learned from him. He taught me how to live with dignity and how to die with dignity.”
On the living with dignity, she has begun following his example of praying for others. “Put my email address, m-cretella@hotmail.com, in your article so that people can send me names of people to pray for, and I’ll pray for them. I want to continue his legacy of prayer,” she said.
She’s glad on many levels that she was able to have her book published by Christian Faith Publishing. It is available locally through St. Paul’s Books And Gifts at St. Paul Monastery off Route 224 in Canfield, Leanna’s Books and More in Austintown and online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the Apple iTunes store.
“The book is doing very well. People are enjoying it. I’m getting good feedback. It’s helping people,” Cretella said. She has had offers from bigger publishers and even film companies, but she is hesitant about giving up control.
She thought of her brother when she saw a T-shirt with the message: “God is still writing your story. Stop trying to steal the pen,” she recalled. “That was my brother. He let God finish his story.”
