Cardinal James M. Harvey performs a Baptism at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, New Berlin, while in Milwaukee, which he visits every year. (Submitted photo)

Kopp’s and kringles.

Those are two of the things Cardinal James M. Harvey mentioned he looks forward to when he makes his annual trip home to his hometown of Milwaukee.

Having served at the Vatican for more than four decades, Cardinal Harvey retains his love for the community along the shores of Lake Michigan that laid the groundwork for him to become a priest and see the world while serving alongside some of the greatest men the Catholic Church has seen over the past half century.

“I think it’s very important to be rooted and keep your roots strong,” he said.

While the sweet treats and burgers are among the things that make his summers in Milwaukee special, Cardinal Harvey is really drawn here by relationships he’s faithfully maintained across the decades.

Before his parents died, he felt an obligation to spend most of his vacation at home in Milwaukee because of the sacrifices they had made that allowed him to become a priest and one who got to see the world in his various roles at the Vatican.

“That was always a reason for coming home,” Cardinal Harvey said. “They both lived to a good age.” His father died in his mid-80s, and his mother passed away just five years ago at the age of 95.

His summer vacations are now spent catching up with family and old friends, celebrating Mass and strengthening the bond with the seminary he is so fond of.

Even if that alma mater, Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, is closed for the time being for construction possible thanks to a $75 million capital campaign for which he was one of the honorary chairs.

It helps that not only did his parents remain in Milwaukee, but his four siblings have, as well.

“I don’t have to — what’s happened in this day and age — spend three days in Florida and then go see your sister who’s up in Colorado, and the other brothers in Arizona. Everybody’s here.”

Cardinal Harvey has eight nieces and nephews, along with 11 great nieces and nephews.

“Actually, the next generation, for practical purposes, has also stayed pretty close by,” Cardinal Harvey said.

And sometimes home comes to him.

Cardinal Harvey has formed relationships with many of the seminarians at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary and priests from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee who have gone to Rome for further studies. He is also very pleased when groups of Milwaukee pilgrims visit the papal basilica where he serves as archpriest, St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

While the Church in Italy is undergoing a major change with the election of Pope Leo XIV in May — a conclave Cardinal Harvey participated in — his church community back home has seen the appointment and installation of Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob since Cardinal Harvey’s last trip home.

“He’s great,” Cardinal Harvey said of Archbishop Grob, whom he hadn’t met before the latter went to the Vatican for his pallium earlier this summer.

They were able to spend some time together during Archbishop Grob’s week in Rome, including on the very day of Cardinal Harvey’s 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

“I think he’s going to be a great fit,” Cardinal Harvey said.

Growing up, Cardinal Harvey was a product of not just the working-class neighborhoods he lived and studied in, he was a product of the era he grew up in.

“Milwaukee was in a period of transition in the 1950s and ’60s,” Cardinal Harvey said. “Sociologically, it was changing quite a bit from the strong German and Polish heritage that had predominated its culture for generations. The African American community was emerging as an important part of the scene in Milwaukee, and that had its own impact on the nature of church life, as well.”

He noted how his church life was influenced by his family.

“Like so many people of my generation in the United States, the parish was an important part of my formation, and it was sort of the center of a lot of our activities as a family,” he said. “I’m the oldest of five children, and my parents sent us to Catholic grade school, and that was very much a focus for our life as a family. I think that kind of solid formation based on parish life was the principal impetus for me to see the priesthood as the way God was calling me to live my life.”

He may get his mail in on another continent, but his home is still here.

“Milwaukee’s not just the place where I grew up,” Cardinal Harvey said. “It’s my home. It’s stayed my home.”

Of course it has — everybody’s here, and so are the kringles.