"The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II – The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy" by George Weigel. Doubleday (New York, 2010). 565 pp., $32.50.

Pope John Paul II was complex and nuanced as a man and as head of the Catholic Church. So were the world's political situation and the church's internal dynamics when Karol Wojtyla was elected pope in 1978.

He was a key figure in the collapse of the communist-ruled Soviet empire and he set the church's tone for almost 27 years, orienting its activity through the end of the 20th century and into the new millennium.

As the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries, he brought a new outlook and a cultural framework to the Vatican for understanding and configuring Catholicism. Coming from communist-ruled Poland, John Paul also brought an urgency to the struggle for religious, political and personal freedom in the Soviet bloc. Added to this was his astute personal experience in living under – and negotiating with – communist leaders, making him a wily political strategist in the end game leading to the crumbling of the Iron Curtain.

Bishop Richard J. Sklba stands next to a representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church Feb. 5, 2008, when Pope Shenouda [...]

Their similarly laid-back styles has made working together a smooth process, according to Sharon Krueger, Bishop Richard J. Sklba’s secretary [...]

Bishop Richard J. Sklba is silhouetted against the stained glass window of Holy Name of Jesus Parish, Wilmot, (now Holy Cross Parish, Bristol) during an April 17, 2005 visit to the parish to dedicate the parish’s new ambo and altar. (Catholic Herald file photo by Sam Lucero)Each morning at 5:15, Bishop Richard J. Sklba awakens to the sound of the British Broadcasting Corporation on his clock radio. Silencing the radio, he begins the first hour of his day – an hour he terms “a major commitment and a great grace.”

“For many years, I have spent an hour a day with the two Scripture readings for the day – early in the morning,” he said. “I absolutely must get my time with the Word in, and that gives me a focus, gives me nourishment, gives me a chance to pray with and for people throughout the whole archdiocese, and my own little Diocese of Castro di Puglia (his titular diocese).”

As he approaches his 51st anniversary as a priest (Dec. 20) and his 31st as a bishop (Dec. 19), Bishop Sklba, 75, whose letter of retirement was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 18, spoke to your Catholic Herald about the people, events and experiences, e.g., prayer, that have shaped and been part of his life.

Regular campers, Fr. Joseph Juknialis, left to right, Fr. John Schreiter, Bishop Richard J. Sklba and Fr. Michael Newman, pose during a camping trip to the Rocky Mountains. The foursome have made yearly tent camping trips for more than 30 years. (Submitted photo courtesy Fr. Michael Newman)Leave your miter at home, we’re going camping.

When Bishop Sklba was ordained a bishop, Fr. John Schreiter promised to take him camping once a year, making him sleep on the ground to keep him humble. Decades later, he, Fr. Michael Newman, and Fr. Joe Juknialis have kept their promise and the bishop has remained unassuming.

Imagine the sun rising over the Missouri River on a summer morning.

A light breeze ruffles the trees, the loudest sound you’ve heard since you startled the two wild turkeys on the trail the night before.

Most likely, you have the land to yourself. But even if campers filled the acreage, you wouldn’t see or hear them from where you are now, nestled into a remote mosquito-infested niche of land carved off the banks of the river.

This isn’t car camping and this isn’t a night in a cozy RV.

This is real, primitive, bare bones camping, and these four men find it an enjoyable experience.

Thirty one years ago, as then-Fr. Richard J. Sklba prepared for ordination as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, [...]