Missionary of mercy priest: 'Be Christ to all people' in a world 'hungry for the Word'

By Gina Christian, OSV News

(OSV News) -- Next time you're on an airplane, look around -- Father Jim Sichko may be on the same flight.

"I live on Delta Airlines," Father Sichko, a priest of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, told OSV News.

In fact, the Texas native has logged so many SkyMiles that he counts Delta CEO Ed Bastian as a friend, and even appeared in a commercial for the airline. (Bastian also agreed to serve Father Sichko's homemade pasta sauce -- which the priest, using his mother's recipe, began bottling to raise funds for charity -- at Delta Airline Sky Clubs.)

While flying to Australia several years ago, Father Sichko met and subsequently befriended the late singer Olivia Newton-John, praying with her and her husband as she waged a decades-long battle against breast cancer.

Whether he is chatting with fellow travelers, buying gift cards for the members of a flight crew or speaking to attendees at his popular "60 Minutes for Jesus" presentations, Father Sichko regularly travels every weekend -- coast to coast and across the globe -- with a simple aim.

"I bring the merciful heart of Christ to the world, especially to those who are wounded and in need," he said.

Father Sichko is one of more than 1,000 priests serving as a papal missionary of mercy. Commissioned by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy year, the missionaries have been called to act as "living signs of the Father's readiness to welcome those in search of his pardon," the pope explained in the bull "Misericordiae Vultus" ("The Face of Mercy").

In particular, the missionaries promote the sacrament of reconciliation, with the priests receiving from the pope the authority to pardon "even those sins reserved to the Holy See." Pleased with the growth of the missionaries' numbers, Pope Francis extended the ministry indefinitely through the 2022 apostolic constitution "Praedicate Evangelium" ("Preach the Gospel").

Father Sichko told OSV News he seeks to broaden his ministry "to anyone needing mercy, which is everyone."

His "random acts of kindness and mercy," which he posts to social media and shares with news outlets, are "a form of ... the new evangelization."

"These stories get out there and get told over and over again," he said. "People read them and see them on CNN, Fox News."

Father Sichko also has recounted his experiences in two books: "Encountering God as a Traveling Papal Missionary of Mercy" (co-written with Chas Allen) and "Among Friends: Stories from the Journey" (co-written with Chas Allen and Jonathan Ryan).

He admits he does get "pushback" about his media visibility, with some questioning why he publicizes his acts of generosity -- which over the years have included everything from buying coffee to handing out cash and to covering the cost of funerals.

Critics "don't understand the intent" of such gestures, he said, "which is really to evangelize and to encourage people that they can do this as well."

Father Sichko said he quells such complaints with kindness.

"That's all I do," he said. "How are you going to argue with me paying for an Amish child's funeral? How are you going to argue with me for giving gift cards to the flight attendants who are serving me? How are you going to argue with me for picking up the tab of someone else's dinner at a restaurant and always leaving them a note?"

In fact, he wants to be outdone, he said.

"As a papal missionary of mercy, I'm going to challenge you to do this further," said Father Sichko -- even if it means blessing those who want to harm you, as he knows from a recent experience during an April 2023 visit to Chandler, Arizona.

"I was coming from the bank, and I had stopped at the grocery store and was on the phone," he said. "(Suddenly) the glass on the passenger side (of my car) was shattered, arms came (reaching) in, and I was told I was going to be killed."

Unharmed, Father Sichko was told by those who watched news broadcasts about the attack that the perpetrators "obviously didn't know" whom they had targeted.

"(People told me) that if the perpetrators had known me, they would know I would have given them anything they'd asked," said Father Sichko.

The greatest gift one can share with others -- regardless of their faith or lack thereof -- is that of Christ's love and the Gospel message of hope, he said.

"Aren't we called to be Christ to all people?" said Father Sichko. "To have a merciful heart to everyone?"

Catholics should not fear reaching out to those on the margins, but should instead be confident that the ultimate impact of a missionary disciple's witness is in God's hands, he said.

"Jesus hung out with prostitutes, drunkards and outcasts. But by the time Jesus was finished with them, they weren't prostitutes, drunkards and outcasts," said Father Sichko. "Jesus transforms people. And people are hungry for the Word, and for the merciful Christ."