As members of Christ’s Body, each of us is called to evangelize. But the late Father George Winne had an exceptional gift for leading souls to Our Lord, especially those of his students at St. John Vianney Regional School, Allentown. Father Winne was a celebrant of weekly Masses at the school, as well as a teacher of Spanish.
“You are the reason why I am so close to God,” wrote one student in a letter of gratitude addressed to Father Winne. “He sent you so that I could have that wonderful relationship with [Christ] because as you said, with Jesus everything is possible.”
St. John Vianney students and staff honored Father Winne at a memorial Mass on April 29, 2024, the first anniversary of his passing. Father John Gibbons, Pastor of Immaculate Conception BVM, Allentown, and Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus, Allentown, was the main celebrant. Concelebrants were Father David Kozak, also Parochial Vicar of Immaculate Conception BVM, and Parochial Vicar of Sacred Heart of Jesus, Allentown, and Monsignor Donald Cieniewicz, Pastor of the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown.
At the time of his death, Father Winne was Assistant Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Conception BVM, both in Allentown. He was serving as a chaplain on a cruise ship when he fell ill and later died in a hospital in the United Kingdom.
Throughout his 40 years of priestly service, Father Winne nurtured a love for the Spanish language. He discovered its beauty while taking part in a Spanish language immersion program in the Dominican Republic the summer before his 1983 ordination to the Priesthood.
In the homilies he delivered at Sacred Heart, Father Winne would often repeat the maxim “Con Cristo, se puede,” meaning “With Christ, you can” or “With Christ, all things are possible.”
The saying became his standard homily closing. Father Winne, or Padre Jorge as he liked to be called, would say, “Con Cristo,” and with one voice the congregation would respond “se puede!”
Those words have become a tribute to the beloved priest. On the wall of a landing inside St. John Vianney, “Con Cristo, se puede!” has been painted in large flowing script, with the phrase “Stated by Father George Winne” lettered below it. The eye-catching inscription serves as both a visible memorial and a fitting reminder of Father Winne, whose everyday prayer was, “Lord, I pray your presence may always be front and center, bright and noticeable in my life.”
The tribute was funded by the St. John Vianney community with donations made to last year’s “Make a Joyful Noise” campaign.
After the memorial Mass, the 188 members of the student body processed past the tribute, each holding a yellow carnation. The students placed their flowers in vases surrounding an easeled portrait of Father Winne.
“His legacy is his impact on the kids,” said one of the school’s administrators. “He inspired the students through his homilies, his teaching, and his pure joy.”
It is a legacy that the aforementioned letter-writer encapsulated in a single sentence: “Jesus said, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen God,’ and when I saw you, I saw God.”
