Parish Stories

Written by parishioner Barb Full

Home is where your family & lifelong friends are, and we are very lucky to have Deacon John Krepps back home with us.  

John Krepps and his parents, Albert & Dorothy, and sisters Donna, Cindy Theresa & John Krepps& Mary, grew up in the Yorkshire neighborhood near St. Joseph Church. This was their home parish for many years. When John was a senior at York Suburban High School, he was sponsored by Congressman Bill Goodling and was accepted into the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He was interviewed & chosen out of 100 other applicants.  Quite a feat! 

At Annapolis, he became a nuclear engineer and committed to a five-year job on a submarine in the US Navy. Over his career, he has worked for the Department of Energy in the National Nuclear Security Administration, as well as been on the civil contracting side. He was stationed in places like Idaho, Florida, Connecticut, South Carolina, Georgia, New Mexico, and Tennessee. I asked him which place he liked best, and he said,” I bloom where planted, but I did like Los Alamos—the beautiful land, moderate temperature, and it was so rural I could ride my bike to work.”  

Family during Christmas (minus Josh)In the process of moving up in his career, John and Theresa (Knaub), his wife and former family friend from Dallastown, got involved in the foster care system. What big hearts they have because they adopted 5 children in the process. Megan is 35; Josh, 33; Jordan, 29; Emily, Josh with his wife Anastasia and son Jaxx25; and Jaiden, 14. Jaiden is the son of Josh and is still with John & Theresa. Megan, Jordan, and Emily live in Tennessee; Josh lives in New Mexico. These sons and daughters have given them many opportunities they would not have had, along with much grace and love. At the same time, there were challenges that really tested John & Theresa over the years. It was not always easy, which provided many opportunities to rely on their faith.  

John admitted that all his young life he wanted to climb the corporate ladder and “go after the brass ring”. After leaving the Navy in 1988, he started working for the Department of Energy (DOE) at the Savannah River Site. He had been working long hours because the DOE was just beginning to implement corrective actions from lessons learned during the Three Mile Island accident. At the same time, in the early 1990s they were only “occasional social members of their church”. Otherwise, John was drinking beer and chewing tobacco to handle his stress. His dentist told him he had precancerous lesions in his mouth due to the tobacco. He knew he HAD to quit. 

At some point he saw his wife’s Scriptural Rosary, prayed it, and that first day used only a tiny spot of tobacco. From then on, he continued praying and pretty much went cold turkey. At first he thought, “this was me; I did this”  but then realized he had also stopped cursing like he used to do in the Navy and  came to realize something more powerful was going on. The Blessed Mary was calling on John to lead a more active spiritual life. They joined a Charismatic Covenant Community.

Before one Mass the priest needed an altar server and asked John to join him. He realized he really liked being on the altar serving God during the Mass. In 1992 he made a Cursillo Weekend Retreat. Through advice from a spiritual director on the retreat, he began discerning the diaconate formation program there.  

In 2005 he was relocated to Los Alamos on a nuclear assignment. In early 2008 he entered the diaconate formation there. It was a 4-year program & he was ordained in June of 2011. Much credit goes to his wife Theresa because the program is vigorous and requires much time, so it is truly a family commitment. As a new Deacon, he served in the Los Alamos local church as well as in the beautiful Pueblo Mission churches in surrounding areas. He will never forget their beautiful natural materials, hand labor, and cultural fusion of Catholic statues.  

John & Theresa had been thinking about retirement and coming back to York for a few years. All the stars aligned when he was offered a remote working position. Recently, the "deferred resignation program" was offered to federal workers and John took advantage of the offer that is enabling him to retire early. 

Our parish is so blessed to have him as a Deacon. His homilies are relatable, passionate & active—you must really experience one. On a funny note, his mother Dottie was there on Saturday night when he preached and she told him he could not go over 5 minutes. He did only by a minute or so, but it was because the Holy Spirit was really working through him!

Written by parishioner Barb Full

What is it like to obtain travel documents from a Polish National Security office to take your three young sons from Warsaw to the United States while a military officer interrogates you?  He knew every detail about your parents, but he didn’t believe the dilemma you were in, that your mother was ill in America and that you must take your children with you.  “Have your mother-in-law watch the children,” he stated dryly.  You offer him the only thing you have in your pocket, five half-dollar Kennedy coins; he takes them but says, “Go, but know that we will be watching your husband closely.”

Barbara Ochalski, top center, with her parents.During WWII, Tadeusz Rybak, Barbara Ochalski’s father, was a Polish lieutenant who became a POW in Nazi Germany and survived five and a half years of solitary confinement.  Her mother, Maria, was taken captive by a German general who needed a housekeeper.  Her abode was the attic of his home, and she suffered horrible abuse at the hands of the general’s wife. Her parents met after the war, and Barbara and her younger brother were born in Germany. 

In response to the extraordinary refugee crisis, the United States government created the legal classification "Displaced Person" to describe the unique status of those who could not be repatriated and needed assistance emigrating.  A cotton plantation owner in Clarksdale, Mississippi, sponsored the family.  Living conditions were poor, work was hard, and the pay was 35 cents an hour.  But the family considered these hardships a small price to pay to live in the home of the free and the brave. With the promise of a better job opportunity, the family, with two small children in tow and a pregnant mother, traveled three days by bus from Mississippi to Lynn, Massachusetts, and no job was available. Barbara’s father, who had a degree in mechanical engineering from the military academy in Poland, could not find employment and worked as a refuse collection to support the family. A second daughter, Jane, was born with cerebral palsy in Lynn, Massachusetts.  Eventually, on a dream and a prayer, a Polish friend informed Barbara’s father that a Polish entrepreneur had a factory in Waterbury, Connecticut, and was willing to hire her father as an engineer. Once again, the family moved and expanded with three more sons born in Connecticut.

Barbara (Basia in Polish) attended college for two years in New Britain, Connecticut, and then attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, majoring in French and English literature. She applied for a Fulbright Scholarship in Comparative Literature and was offered two locations: Paris and Warsaw. Her heart chose Warsaw. For two years, she worked with a well-known Polish scholar and professor. In 1969, she married Jacek, and together they raised their three sons in a Warsaw suburb.  
Barbara and Jacek Ochalski on their wedding day.In 1979, Pope John Paul II made a famous visit to his homeland of Poland, and Barbara had the great honor of meeting him personally.  Pope John Paul II's first visit to Poland is linked to the emergence of Solidarity in 1980. He visited Poland three times before the establishment of semi-free elections in 1989. On August 31, 1980, the Solidarity Polish trade union was created at the Gdańsk Shipyard under Lech Wałęsa's and others’ leadership to protest working conditions, political repression, rising food prices and shortages, and healthcare costs. It began a nationalist opposition to Communist rule that led to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Barbara’s family was luckier than most, as Jacek was a large animal veterinarian, and villagers often gifted the family with meat. However, providing the family with other food items was still a struggle. Stefan was 12 years old, Rafal 8, and Pawel only 4 when their mother decided to put the children’s needs first and leave for a better life in America. Jacek stayed behind and continued to work, hoping to join the family soon. Her courage and intellect took over that day in November 1980 when she went to the government security office.  She did not have much money, but she knew the Polish officer would value the Kennedy coins; thankfully, it worked. Upon arrival, she and the boys had no place to stay as her mother could not provide housing for her and the boys.  She found refuge in Middletown, CT, and found temporary employment doing odd jobs. A year later, Barbara needed gallbladder surgery, and her doctor wrote a letter to the Polish consulate to petition them to allow Jacek to travel to the United States.  Polish officials said, “We will fly her to the hospital here for surgery.” Some 13 months later, Jacek’s boss finally signed the papers for his release to the States but warned him, “Don’t ever come back.” 

Though he attempted to take the VCATs, Jacek failed to pass these American exams. Still, he found work at the Department of Agriculture in New Jersey and, finally, contrary to his beloved profession, became a toxicologist in a private laboratory setting in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Barbara was the director of Medical Staff at a Princeton, NJ hospital. In 2012, when Jacek was diagnosed with cancer, their son Pawel, a neurosurgeon with WellSpan Health in York, brought his parents here to help provide care. Jacek passed away in May of 2014.

Barbara, bottom left, with her son Pawel, daughter-in-law Melanie, and 4 grandsons.Today, Barbara worships at our Church with her son Pawel and daughter-in-law, Dr. Melanie Ochalski, a fertility and menopause specialist, and their four sons: Sebastian, 15, Julian, 14, Nicholas, 12, and Christian, 5. Sebastian, Julian, and Nicholas are SJY altar servers. Barbara plays a supportive role in her son’s family. She has eight grandchildren in total. 
 
While her sister Jane was in a nursing home several years ago, Barbara and her brother Stefan established Jane’s Home Foundation in Waterbury, Connecticut.  Jane’s Home, where Jane and two other individuals with cerebral palsy reside, provides community-based housing for developmentally disabled adult women.   

Barbara leads the Hospitality Ministry and says she has “a Victorian soul” because she loves baking, cooking, and preparing elegant food displays.  She has also traveled to Mandeville, Jamaica, three times as part of the Jamaican Mission Trip, is a Eucharistic Minister, and is a member of Regnum Christi.  She truly believes God was by her side during her life's most complex and painful times.  Seeing the good in another is one of the most vital elements of her faith. “Do not see the leper, but see Christ in everyone you meet.”