Father Cedric Wilson was a senior in seminary high school in Michigan when Pope Leo XIV was a freshman there.
Their connection goes a little deeper as they are both in the Augustinian order. Add to that, Father Wilson’s friends in Burke remember “Father Bob” Prevost (now the pope) from his time in Trujillo and Chiclayo, Peru.
“Who would’ve thought, another religious, and an Augustinian of all people,” Father Wilson said. Talking about the rumored papabile, likely papal candidates, “We went from a Pizzaballa to a deep-dish from Chicago.” Referring to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Italian cardinal who is Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and was on a short list of possible popes, and the new pope, former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, who hails from Chicago.
“He ticks off all the boxes,” Father Wilson said. “He’s a very simple man, unassuming, very, very nice.”
The two attended St. Augustine Seminary, a college prep seminary in Holland, Mich. Father Wilson, 72, was a senior when Robert Prevost, 69, was a freshman.
The town is known for its annual tulip festival and for being a Dutch-reformed town. “We were the only Catholics in the area,” he said. “The town didn’t understand what we were about.” The seminary closed and the property became a state prison, he said, and eventually was torn down.
Father Wilson went onto an Augustinian major seminary, Tolentine College in the Olympia Fields, a suburb of Chicago, and later Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where Prevost earned a master’s of divinity. The pontiff earned a degree in mathematics at Villanova University near Philadelphia in 1977. Father Wilson said that degree will help with the issues the Vatican bank is facing. He believes the fellow cardinals “knew about his management skills, being a mathematician and a canon lawyer.”
Father Wilson made his profession in the Augustinians in 1973 and was ordained in 1978. He had assignments in the Midwest and Miami, and came to the Washington area in 1986. (He’s got great stories about seeing Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula attending daily Mass at what was Biscayne College in Miami, now St. Thomas University, where the Dolphins trained. “It really impressed me.”)
In 1985, Father Prevost was sent to the mission in Peru. Father Wilson’s friend, Carmen Arevalo-Garazatua, has known the pope for a while from his time in Peru. “The people in Chiclayo loved him, they really loved him,” he said.
Father Prevost was elected prior general of the Augustinian order in 2001 and went to Rome. During that time, he would “go around to all the houses throughout the world,” said Father Wilson, who recalls him coming to Villanova for the provincial chapter visit. “Yes, I know him and he knows me,” he said. “I still can’t believe this happened.”
Father Prevost was made a cardinal by Pope Francis Sept. 30, 2023.
Fast forward to the day of his election, May 8. “Someone texted me that they thought he was tearing up” on the balcony after being announced, Father Wilson said. “Can you just imagine? I can’t … to be so overwhelmed by this experience.”
Father Wilson earned his doctorate at Howard University in Washington. He’s a longtime psychologist and professor, having spent many years working in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
He has been in residence at several diocesan parishes, including St. Agnes in Arlington, St. Leo in Fairfax and Good Shepherd in Alexandria currently. He has been helping celebrate Masses at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke for decades.
He was an adjunct professor at George Mason University in Fairfax and at Northern Virginia Community College, where he is now a fulltime psychology professor. “It’s finals this week and I have to meet my deadline,” he said as he wrapped up his chat.
Asked if he has any plans to head to Rome to see his former classmate, he said not right now but he expects the Augustinian order might put a trip together to go over and have an audience.
“(The pope) does have a job ahead of him,” he said.
