BLUE BELL, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Throughout his remarkable lifetime, the Rev. James Kelly has baptized thousands of people, married thousands more, ministered to the sick in hospitals, and traveled the world extensively. He became friends with an opera superstar and, yes, even with a saint.<\/p>\n
The longest-serving priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of his ordination and his 100th birthday. He\u2019s grateful to have reached these milestones, but nearly didn’t after experiencing a health challenge last year that required life-saving surgery.<\/p>\n
He feels God gave him some extra time and tries to make each day count.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord was wonderful to me to give me the health and the strength and the energy to travel, to meet beautiful things \u2014 God was always giving me surprises,\u201d Kelly says.<\/p>\n
Born on Jan. 7, 1925, in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Roxborough to a devoutly Catholic family, Kelly’s path to the priesthood seems ordained from the start. He loved attending church. Other children dreamt of becoming athletes, doctors, firefighters. He wanted to be a priest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 4 or 5 years old, I\u2019d play Mass,\u201d he says, laughing, as he recalls that his parents were his first congregants. \u201cI always had a little altar in my room, and I\u2019d have a glass, and some flowers in there, and I\u2019d make a vestment, put a scarf on, and have some candy, and give Communion to everybody.”<\/p>\n
Kelly wakes up at dawn to celebrate Mass at the retirement living community that he now calls home. He listens to opera. He bakes pies.<\/p>\n
Memories, parachute jumps and climbing a bridge to save a life<\/p>\n
Sitting in his room, Kelly flips through a photo album detailing his journey. He smiles with every page turn, pointing to black-and-white photos of him as a toddler and milestones as a Catholic \u2014 his baptism, confirmation and ordination as a priest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned down Hollywood!\u201d he says, laughing as he points to the portrait of a dapper, young priest, his hair slicked and flashing a wide smile.<\/p>\n
He also points to the photo published by a Philadelphia newspaper of the time when he climbed in his Roman collar to the top of a bridge and dissuaded a man from jumping to his death.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody would climb there, so I climbed up \u2014 it was 400 feet high. It was a bitter cold day,\u201d he says. \u201cI was able to talk to him and break him down emotionally, so he wouldn\u2019t jump. I told him, \u2018What\u2019s your grandchild going to say one day: Papa, why didn\u2019t you take me fishing?'”<\/p>\n
He points to other photos of the many ceremonies he proudly led during his 19 years as pastor of Saint Pius X Parish in Broomall, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
There are images of him during a vacation in Mexico when he made a parachute jump. Or that one time, when he visited the majestic Iguazu Falls<\/a> on the border between Argentina and Brazil, which he recalls as one of the most beautiful sights of his life.<\/p>\n \u201cEverywhere you turned, there was a rainbow, there was a mist \u2026 the water gushing forth and spray and the colors,” he says. \u201cIt was, as the kids would say, awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Imagination, friends and being grateful for the simple pleasures<\/p>\n Imagination, he says, is one of his favorite words, recalling that he wrote his college thesis on it. \u201cJesus used his imagination to teach,\u201d he says, in what became an example when he prepared his own sermons.<\/p>\n He treasures other memories, such as traveling to more than 100 countries and meeting Saint Teresa of Kolkata<\/a>, also known as Mother Theresa. Kelly says the two became friends over the years after meeting in Philadelphia and running into each other at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The centenarian also shared the time when he took a group of blind children to a live performance of his friend, acclaimed soprano Joan Sutherland.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate to meet some of the most magnificent, good people in this world, and they\u2019ve been most generous and gracious to me,” Kelly says.<\/p>\n These days, he enjoys simple pleasures: the taste of cherries, a beautiful song, or his favorite meal \u2014 roast chicken with mashed potatoes, fresh string beans, and corn on the cob.<\/p>\n He loves learning and often attends lectures on music, art history and Egyptology at the Normandy Farms Estates retirement community where he resides in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n His apartment is decorated with a painting of the Virgin Mary that he drew with chalk, a portrait of his mother, and a note signed by the late Pope Francis.<\/p>\n