From the Bronx, a bishop in a bulletproof vest

Meet one of New York City’s new auxiliary bishops, via The New York Daily News: 

He’s a bishop in a bulletproof vest.

The silver-haired pastor often seen on the streets outside Our Lady of Refuge in the Bronx has dodged gunfire, rallied for affordable housing and railed against drug dealers.

Now, Monsignor John Jenik, a Bedford-Fordham area fixture who still prefers to be called Father, will become a bishop.

The 70-year-old priest, who admits his crusade against drug dealers in the areas around Our Lady of Refuge has been a mammoth struggle, was surprised by the announcement.

“The Pope is on the right track by emphasizing the clergy that work in parishes,” Jenik said, comparing parish work to being in the trenches. “To me, the reward is just working with the people. You become a family together, a community.”

Pope Francis announced the appointment of Jenik and two other New York priests last week as auxiliary bishops who will assist Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan.

“It was a surprise,” Jenik said. “The older you get, you don’t think you’re in the running.”

Ordained as a priest in 1970, Jenik spent a summer at the Catholic University of Ponce, Puerto Rico, where he learned Spanish.

After stints at two South Bronx parishes, St. Jerome’s and Saint Thomas Aquinas, Jenik started at Our Lady of Refuge in 1978.

The area was slipping under the control of drug dealers, he said, and families were struggling to survive.  The priest and his parishioners did what they could to hold onto the neighborhood.

“We would announce these drug marches,” Jenik recalled. “Walking around at 10 o’clock at night. The cops thought we were crazy.”

They held all-night vigils, staged boycotts of bodegas that were fronts for drug pushers, and affixed wooden crosses to light poles inscribed with the words “Drugs Crucify.”

“I’ve had shots fired through my window,” Jenik said. “There’s always this danger, but you just have to go out there and do it.”

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