((Editors Note:  Last month, I wrote a commentary entitled "The Curious Case of Father Anthony."  The story was about the late Father Anthony Wojtus who died leaving an estate of between $1.5 and $2 million.  Stanley Wyatt of Charleston wrote me saying he thought the profile was a bit misleading and, in some cases, just factually incorrect.  I offered him this space for his comments which are, except for a couple of style changes, are unedited.  HK))

I have known Father Anthony for around 15 years. I will have to get my exact records but I believe I first met him in the fall of 1992.

I would have to agree with you somewhat that Father Anthony may have been a loner. He liked being his own boss. He knew people all over the place and had many friends. People in Cedar Grove seemed to know him and like him. You have probably checked with neighbors and people in the area or you should have before you did your story on the radio.

I don't really buy the "eccentric" tag, for the most part. One man's eccentric may be another man's free spirit or individualist. He was very self-reliant and self-sufficient. He told us one time that he could do anything. Like many people, he was a pack rat. He didn't throw away things. He would buy old console-type TV sets at the Mountain Mission in Charleston and put them in various rooms in his retreat house and used one in his home as well. At the retreat house, he was determined to provide TV service to those on retreat. He assembled a "Rube Goldberg"-type roof antenna a number of years ago and a couple of us attempted to assist him installing it on his roof. We later found out that he fell off that roof while trying to repair the antenna one time when we weren't there.

I don't know about this "secret" business. Do you tell everybody how much money you have? Do you ask Bill Stewart, Don Nehlen, or Bob Huggins how much money they have?

His obituary in Charleston Newspapers told much about his life.

Contrary to what Monsignor Sadie wrote recently, Father Anthony was an inmate in the concentration camp, not a prisoner of war. There is a difference.

He taught psychology at Texas and, later, at Southern West Virginia Community College in Logan, when he was a pastor at St. Edmund Church in Man. This may explain part of the income.

Father came to this diocese, at the invitation of then Bishop Joseph H. Hodges, in 1963 and was incardinated as a priest for the diocese in 1964. There were no Dominican monasteries in WV at that time. This may explain why he left the Dominican Order. Perhaps this was a condition for his coming here. As Monsignor Sadie said, he would not have been required to take a vow of poverty, as he did in the Dominicans. He certainly could have taken a personal vow, however. We don't know. The way Chris Lawrence said it on a news report was like he refused to take a vow of poverty. Your people can affect the way news is reported by inflecting their voices one way or another, in my humble opinion.

In all the time I've known the man, he never asked me or others I've known for money. There are at least six other persons who will back me up on this. Also, I don't get this business about him asking people to buy him airline tickets, pay for his cable TV bill, pay for his computer, buy him meals, food, etc. I never heard any of this and neither have anybody else I know. Father Anthony always had plenty of food in the retreat house and always was offering us food. He even gave bread to some of us. Father rarely ate out. We would have to insist that he go with us. Sometimes we would take him to the nearby Twin Hills Restaurant (where he knew folks) or to the Shoney's in Quincy (you can talk to John Watts, the manager there). On at least two occasions, he treated a group of us to dinner at a restaurant.

People probably do not know that Father sponsored several children through The Christian Children's Fund in Richmond, VA. He didn't brag about it or make a big deal out of it.

Turning to this business about his relationship with the Church: All Latin Rite priests celebrated the Mass in Latin prior to the First Sunday of Advent, 1969. The Novo Ordo Missae (New Order of Mass), promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, did not do away with the Tridentine (Latin) Mass. Priests had and still have the right to say this Mass privately at any time. Father Anthony believed that Vatican II was a legitimate Council convened legitimately by Blessed Pope John XXIII and reconvened legitimately by Pope Paul VI. Father Anthony, if he were alive today, would tell you, and many other bishops, priests, and laymen would agree, that the reforms of Vatican II were used as an excuse by various liberal churchmen to impose innovations in the Mass and in the Church in general that were not discussed at Vatican II. This would include such things as altar girls, Communion in the hand, Eucharistic Ministers, etc. I don't agree with your comment at all.

You have a diocesan priest, Father John McDonnell, who is retired and lives in a nice home in Kanawha City, instead of in the rectory.

Besides celebrating Mass daily and reading his Breviary, Father Anthony kept busy, after his retirement, filling in for other priests when they would go on vacation or were ill, or were otherwise unavailable, at their parishes. He told us of one instance in which he celebrated a Nuptial Mass at Sacred Heart in Polish for a Polish family. He visited people homebound, in hospitals, and in nursing homes and took them the Sacraments and was available to offer Masses on very short notice for those with an acquaintance near death, ill, injured, or otherwise in need.

He received so many requests for Masses that he gave many of them to priests elsewhere because he could not get all of them said in a timely manner.

We knew nothing about his "suspension" as Mr. Minor calls it. One report said he was suspended in 1983 and this was also on your radio show and then you say it was in 1993.

Father Anthony may have been suspended but he did not have his faculties removed, which would have prohibited him from hearing confessions, conducting weddings, conducting funerals (unless by necessity), or publicly saying Masses. A priest is a "priest forever" and cannot be prevented from celebrating Mass privately. So, I don't agree with your statement on this regard.

According to Canon Law, a priest can celebrate a Mass anywhere provided he has an altar stone (cloth can be used if it is blessed and contains relics), 2 candles, a crucifix, a chalice, wine, host, paten, and some type of suitable surface for saying the Mass. Father Anthony told us that he had celebrated Masses in motel rooms while he was on the road traveling, if he could not get to a nearby church. Many a time, he would leave notice or a sign with the front desk and often people would show up first thing in the morning for his Mass. Masses have been celebrated and are being celebrated on battlefields, in hospitals, in private homes, on ships, etc. Father Anthony had altar cloths (stones) on his altars in both his home and at the retreat house.

Contrary to what you reported, Father Anthony had a lot of contact with his family. He made several trips to Poland while we knew him as he was constantly in demand there to conduct baptisms and weddings for his many relatives. One of his sisters is a Carmelite Nun and one brother was an air force general while another was an army general. The family did not know about his death because many of these folks do not speak English and did not have access to email. Father Anthony had an address book and a couple of our group sent post cards to everybody in it informing them of his death.

You say he died in Charleston. Not so. He passed away in his home of internal bleeding and was found dead on the floor of his living room. No autopsy was performed. The body was taken to the State Medical Examiner.

You also say that he is buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery. He was buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, which is a Catholic cemetery, enclaved within the Spring Hill Cemetery in Charleston.

Stanley D. Wyatt
2860 Pennsylvania Avenue
Charleston, WV 25302