NATCHEZ &045; At his first meeting with Pope John Paul II, Father David O’Connor took advantage of some advice.

&uot;Tell him something about you,&uot; he had been told.

&uot;When I met him, I told him where I was from,&uot; O’Connor said. &uot;A week later I saw him and he looked at me and said, ‘From Mississippi.’ And it was awesome.&uot;

O’Connor, pastor of St. Mary Basilica in Natchez, sat at the church rectory Saturday afternoon recalling his experience with the pope. O’Connor said the pontiff’s death, although certainly expected, had affected him greatly.

The Irish-born O’Connor, who came to Mississippi in the 1960s, met the pope in 1986 when he spent a few months in Rome with a group of priests.

During his time there, O’Connor was a concelebrant at Easter Week services with the pope, as his group of priests took part in the Mass, as readers for that day’s Bible passages, for example, or administering the Eucharist.

He also celebrated a morning Mass in the pope’s private chapel.

O’Connor recalled that Pope John Paul was always anticipating what was next.

&uot;He was such a perceptive individual,&uot; O’Connor said. &uot;He’d always be catching people out of the corner of his eye.&uot;

Being with the pope was awe-inspiring, O’Connor said. &uot;He had an enormous presence.&uot;

And it almost left one tongue-tied.

&uot;You’re right there &045; and really there’s nothing to be said,&uot; O’Connor said.

Watching coverage of the pope’s last days and hours, O’Connor said he has been struck by the enormous worldwide respect for the pope, even among non-Catholics.

&uot;His dying has been an evangelization,&uot; O’Connor said. &uot;I think it will have a profound effect on the public.&uot;

John Paul’s papacy itself was an evangelization, O’Connor said. The pope visited more than 100 countries and had an impact not only on the church but on world events.

Born in Poland, John Paul is credited with helping to foster the Solidarity movement that eventually toppled communist rule there.

He visited Jerusalem and talked to both sides of the Middle Eastern conflict.

And the pope’s central teachings remained constant, O’Connor said.

He was an advocate for peace and an advocate for life in all cases.

&uot;He presided over our church in a period of enormous social change in the world as well as change inside the church,&uot; O’Connor said. &uot;He addressed these things always in a forthright way.&uot;

Pope John Paul also gave a great example of the need for prayer. O’Connor told St. Mary parishioners on Saturday afternoon that he recalled the pope always spending quiet time in prayer before Mass began.

&uot;I am grateful to have lived in the American church with him as leader,&uot; O’Connor said.