CHESTERTON – Father Jon Plavcan grew up in Erie, Penn., in a Catholic family and attended a Catholic grade school. There were several priests at the parish but it was the women religious, many of whom were his teachers, that made the biggest impact on him.
“Because I was with the Sisters all the time, I always wanted to be a religious nun, but they told me early on I could not do that,” said Father Plavcan with a laugh as he reflected on childhood.
Father Plavcan still keeps in contact with many of those women religious orders today.
“They were women in the Church who you looked up to," he said. "I never saw the religious sisters as being mean or horrible. They were my teachers and some of them even babysat me over the years.”
Father Plavcan was impressed by what the sisters did through works of charity and took note of how they always seemed to be having fun.
"They were filled with a presence of the Holy Spirit that you didn’t find in other situations," he said.
Under the guidance of Monsignor Gerald T. Ritchie at Sacred Heart in Erie, a young Father Plavcan was an altar server and spent summers working at the parish.
"You found out that (priests and Sisters) lived like everyone else," he said. "But it was their prayerfulness – it was the seeing what they did and helping other people (that impressed me) ."
Because of the faith-filled environment he grew up in, Father Plavcan admits his parents, John and Janet Plavcan, were likely not surprised when he entered the high school seminary, St. Mark Seminary.
Father Plavcan has fond memories of his time in high school. The school had a basketball and baseball teams but Father Plavcan became a cheerleader for the basketball team.
“We were actually envied by many of the all-girl cheerleading squads because we did all the flips and we did the pyramids,” he said.
Even though it was a boarding school, Father Plavcan said he and his classmates still found plenty of opportunities for teenage fun such as sneaking out after "lights out" to a nearby restaurant for coffee and fries.
Father Plavcan was first invited to the Diocese of Gary by Bishop Norbert Gaughan, who he knew as the auxiliary bishop of Greensburg. The first Gary diocesean priest he met when he got off the plane was Father Charles Niblick, and he vividly remembers the response he received the first time he asked Father Niblick for directions.
“He told me to go to the newsstand and get a map,” said Father Plavcan. “So I got a map, and I brought it back, and I had to figure out where to go.”
Father Plavcan had completed his college education at Gannon University and attended Christ the King Seminary in New York. He continued his studies at St. Vincent Seminary in Pennsylvania before becoming ordained as a deacon for the Diocese of Gary on Oct. 30, 1993. He was ordained into the priesthood on June 4, 1994.
Father Plavcan taught at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond for five years while serving as administrator at St. Mary, Griffith and St. Thomas More in Munster.
In 2000, Father Plavcan was named administrative assistant to Bishop Melczek until the bishop’s retirement. Father Plavcan said he will remember the late bishop for his thoughtfulness and prayerfulness, and also as “a person who was very much open to the people of God.
“He believed all were called to be at the table, at the altar,” he said. “He always gave people the benefit of the doubt.”
Father Plavcan said Bishop Melczek was "ahead of his time in many ways" and while working with him he always knew what was expected.
Father Plavcan once spoke to the bishop about moving around a lot from parish to parish. “I said, ‘It’s either that I’m that bad or I’m that good.’ And he said to me, ‘You can consider it being that good, but just go and love the people.’”
Father Plavcan said his time working within the chancellory were "good years" that created many learning experiences and helped him develop a better understanding of the workings of the diocese and Church.
“If we are not allowing ourselves to grow to change then we become a stagnant Church," he said. "So many times we find ourselves to live a life of entitlement and we live our lives of the past. I think God wants us to move forward.”
Father Plavcan serves as vicar of clergy for the diocese. One of his tasks is writing letters of suitability (a letter that affirms that a priest or deacon is in good standing), while others involve dealing with sensitive clergy issues, completing immigration work for priests and making sure diocesan files are up-to-date with wills and funeral arrangements for clergy.
Father Plavcan has cared for five priests as they approached the end of their life, signing paperwork for medical care and in some cases managing personal finances. Each of those situations, he said, offered different end-of-life issues.
Father Plavcan has served at 13 different parishes, including Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, New Chicago; St. Francis Xavier, Lake Station; and St. Joan of Arc, Merrillville. He also served as rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary and as dean of the Gary-Hobart Deanery.
Father Plavcan currently guides St. Ann of the Dunes in Beverly Shores and St. Patrick in Chesterton. As the shepherd of a parish, there are times when he has to say "no," but there is always the hope and desire of a pastor that he can grow the community, he noted.
“We have many young families with children and you get to know the families through the children and the school," said Father Plavcan. “I see St. Patrick as a parish that has many opportunities and (much) potential.”
When he does find time to step away, Father Plavcan enjoys biking, gardening, theater arts, cooking and crafts. He likes being out in nature and the Chesterton community offers trails and the nearby Indiana Dunes.
Father Plavcan said he has always been able to find joy within the priesthood vocation. He continues to see the work not as a job, but as a ministry. As long as God provides him the grace, strength and health to do so, he said, he will continue his ministry without counting the hours.
“The priesthood is what you make it to be. If you want it to be a joyous priesthood, it will be a joyous priesthood,” Father Plavcan said. “If you want it to be a priesthood based upon complaints, anger, frustration, it will be a priesthood of anger and frustration. You are the only one that ultimately controls that.”
Caption: Father Jon Plavcan spends time with students at St. Patrick School during recess on Oct. 4 The pastor of the Chesterton parish said their is joy in being assigned to church with a school as he is able witness the children grow in their faith. (Erin Ciszczon photo)