Livingston County’s Catholic community is mourning the loss of the Rev. John Rocus of Holy Spirit Church in Hamburg Township, who died Saturday of pancreatic cancer.
Rocus took an unusual path to the priesthood. He was ordained at the age of 51 after a career as a woodworker. He retired from Holy Spirit in July 2024.
He grew up in Dearborn, Mich., and attended Catholic school. It was after he survived cancer at the age of 22 that he began attending Mass daily.
“Doctors told me I had two years to live,” Rocus said. “It turns out they were wrong.”
Saying that “suffering does change you,” Rocus realized in that months after surgery and treatment that he had learned more than he had in all his years prior. “It was the stuff that matters: life, truth, faith, meaning,” he said. “It’s true that the Lord uses these life events in different ways.”
Over the years, Rocus said he was asked by people whether he had ever considered becoming a priest; he began considering it when he was 40, and went on to be ordained in 2001 at the age of 51. He arrived at Holy Spirit, his second pastorate, in 2007, and served that church for 17 years.
Rocus was the driving force behind Holy Spirit Church’s Trinity Trail, a half-mile path on 40 acres of land the church owns, which honors some important Catholics.
The Trinity Trail features statues honoring Catholic heroes from Michigan, including the Rev. Jacques Marquette, Bishop Frederic Baraga, the Rev. Gabriel Richard, the Rev. Patrick O’Kelly, and the Rev. Solanus Casey, as well as including a statue of Sister Kateri Tekakwitha, a shrine for St. Joan of Arc, and a statue of Mother Mary. The Holy Spirit trail also includes an altar named for the Rev. Charley Irvin, founder of Holy Spirit Church, as well as the Diocese of Lansing’s FAITH Magazine.
Visitation for Rocus is set for 1-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, at Borek Jennings Funeral Home – Hamburg Chapel, 7425 M-36. The funeral mass is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, at Holy Spirit Parish, 9565 Musch Road, with a walking procession to Holy Spirit Cemetery for his interment. A luncheon will follow in the Holy Spirit Activity Center.
