Fr. Billy Kosco

Former filmmaker, teacher preaches faith boldly

By Joyce Coronel | Nov. 16, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

He was never an altar server. He dropped out of his confirmation class at 16. He lost his faith in God and the Church. Yet today, Fr. Billy Kosco is pastor of St. Henry Parish in Buckeye.

It’s been a wild ride.

Growing up in Prescott, Fr. Kosco attended public school, then entered Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles to study filmmaking.

“My first love was film because of the message,” Fr. Kosco said. “I wanted to share deep messages with people that would impact them and teach them about love.”

Fr. Kosco spent a couple years working in Los Angeles, trying to break into the television and movie industry. After a time, he realized that he might go to his grave never having made a meaningful film.

“I didn’t want to spend my whole life trying to be part of something that wouldn’t impact people’s lives. It wasn’t worth the gamble,” he said, figuring there must be another way to share a powerful message of love.

At age 25, he quit his job, climbed on a bike and journeyed across America for the better part of 1988, in search of answers. Very quickly he discovered himself alone with God.

He decided to become a high school English teacher and entered Northern Arizona University. But before he even finished his student teaching, he was snapped up by the Peace Corps and shipped to Hungary. The Eastern bloc was opening up after the fall of the Berlin Wall and students wanted to learn English.

It was there that Fr. Kosco’s faith came under fire. The inhabitants of the village in Hungary where he lived were dumbfounded by his Mass attendance.

After decades of communist rule, there wasn’t much faith left in the country. Villagers questioned Fr. Kosco about why he felt it necessary to pray or receive Communion.

“Show us God,” they said.

“I didn’t have much of an answer,” he admitted.

He started “reading the wrong stuff,” and eventually came to the conclusion that God exists but He didn’t care.

On New Year’s Eve in 1992, he left a party where people were jubilant over the start of the New Year and the imminent split of Czechoslovakia. He began walking through the icy streets, wondering what difference it made, really, whether it was 1992 or 1993.

Then he heard it: the sound of church bells. People were streaming into the Catholic church for midnight Mass. Fr. Kosco decided to enter, just to get warm.

Though he planned on leaving after warming up, he felt himself at home in the church. He recognized the parts of the Mass. And during Communion, as he sat in the back, he sensed God telling him, “This is My Church.”

He was finally home.

Fr. Kosco draws a parallel between priesthood and the movie “Jaws.”

“My approach to the priesthood, and what partially drew me into it, was that the evil in the world — the ‘jaws of death,’ has to be contended with. It has to be attacked.” Fr. Kosco said.

What are you passionate about as a priest?

I’m the youth minister at our parish. Every Wednesday night for three hours I am with the teens. We meet in married couple’s houses. Teens see the reality of love — this is how they stay Catholic. Every kid gets an invitation, modeled after Christ saying, “Come after Me.” It’s not in the bulletin. I went for a two-week summer camp two years ago and took 14 kids to Magdalene College in New Hampshire. Our parish has the most per capital parishioners at a Cardinal Newman college, with five out of our 2,000 who go there.

Did someone invite you to consider the priesthood?

I was never invited by a priest to be a priest, but I was attracted to the priesthood by good preaching. I met with Fr. Clements, the vocations director at the time, and brought up some of my concerns. He said, “You’re right; I’m looking for guys who are willing to change that. Would you like to do something about it?” I said, “Give me the application [for the seminary] right now.”

What can families do to encourage more vocations to the priesthood?

Your job is to expose them to an authentic Catholic experience. Expose them to a monastery. Your job is to expose them to the treasures; that means go on pilgrimages. Drive them to San Xavier del Bac or find a shrine nearby. Let them see that when they’re Catholic, they fit in. Go to conventions. The more you expose them to the vastness of the Church, the more they’re going to understand what Catholic culture is about. When Catholic culture exists, the soil exists for vocations. Expose them to more than just Mass on Sunday. Know their baptismal birthdays. Just expose kids to Catholicism and the vocations will come.