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Gifts of Providence: From Wyoming Pioneers to Vatican Diplomacy
Gifts of Providence: From Wyoming Pioneers to Vatican Diplomacy
by John Klink
TESTIMONIALS
“One of my fond memories of John Klink is from a 1998 UN Conference on Youth. Depending upon the country, the term youth could include anyone from 10 to 35 years of age. At the time, John was the lead negotiator for the Holy See and was blocking consensus. He said three times in the same baritone voice without emotion: ‘There are millions of people married in the world, and the word marriage should be included in this paragraph.’ Each time he said it, tension in the room increased, and a different country would object. On the third and final time, the representative from a European country in an angry voice demanded: ‘Why is the Holy See so obsessed with marriage?’ To which John (on behalf of the Holy See) replied: ‘Perhaps, the honorable representative should ask his wife.’ The comment provoked an instantaneous outburst of laughter, and the Chairman hammered the table with his gavel to adjourn the meeting.” – Jane F. Adolphe, J.C.L./J.C.D., LL.B./B.C.L., Professor of Law, Ave Maria School of Law, Naples, Florida, and lead editor of Politics, Law & Religion in Times of COVID and Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol 2: A Foundational Conversation
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Klink recounts some of the intriguing stories of his unique life of faith-based humanitarian service, diplomacy, finance, and politics which he attributes to gifts of Divine Providence that he would like to pass as a baton to future generations.
The grandson of 19th-century emigrant pioneers from the Kingdom of Württemberg and Ireland, he was born on October 8, 1949, on one of Wyoming’s oldest ranches. His paternal German grandfather’s Flag Ranch near Laramie hosted three U.S. Presidents and served as the departure point for Teddy Roosevelt’s famous 60 mi. compulsory horseback ride to Cheyenne with his Cabinet, while his maternal Irish family’s scion served as the first foreign-born U.S. Senator from Wyoming, and a pallbearer for his close friend Buffalo Bill. Following his father’s sales of the family ranches that ran from southern Wyoming to northern Colorado in 1952, his father made a precipitous move to a Bernard Maybeck home in Montecito near Santa Barbara which greatly influenced his love for architecture, art and music.
This move at a young age saw him growing up as a neighbor and friend to many luminaries of Hollywood, industry, and royalty where he says he felt strong similarities with the Beverly Hillbillies, but his family was steadied by his mother’s deep faith-life. During, and following a Jesuit education at Santa Clara University, Georgetown, and Loyola University in Rome, which sparked a lifelong devotion for the poor and refugees, he joined CRS, the Catholic equivalent of the Peace Corps, and served in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean. This led to postings in some of the poorest countries of the world, collaborating with St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and being Director of a refuge Program in Thailand charged with the care of 400,000 traumatized Khmer during the Cambodian Crisis.
He was then recruited by the Vatican, and subsequently the White House, to serve as a diplomat/negotiator for scores of United Nations World Summits and Conferences during the critical period of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the European Union, became an advisor to Popes and Presidents, was elected President of the International Catholic Migration Commission, and with his wife Patricia began a sovereign securities firm on Wall Street.
John is quick to note that his fascinating, and at times highly challenging, experiences had little to do with his personal talents, but to his willingness to make himself available to Divine Providence without which he would have been a dusty but happy sheepherder on the Wyoming prairie to this day and sadly would probably not have met his beautiful wife with whom he recently celebrated their 37th anniversary in their home in Umbria.
Honors: Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Knight of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, Knight of Columbus (3rd Degree), and a Knight of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus. Royal Thai Armed Forces Award for Humanitarian Assistance to Displaced Persons in Thailand; 41st CRS Anniversary Award for Humanitarian Assistance; Legatus Ambassador Award.
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