Priest collapses while celebrating Mass, not expected to survive

TACOMA, Wash. — The Rev. Michael Wagner loved and served two Catholic parishes in Tacoma.

He was finishing mass here at Visitation Church on Tuesday morning, when he suddenly collapsed.

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​Wagner suffered inoperable bleeding on the brain. Doctors say he is not expected to survive.

He also served at Holy Rosary Church. Parishioner Jeanne Rankin is praying for him.

"The sparkle in his eye you knew he was happy in what he was doing. And he always had time to talk to you," she said.

Wagner is a native of Poland, who escaped to the United States as a teenager. 

"When he was a very small child, he told his mother that he wanted to be a priest," said Thom Ryng, Holy Rosary liturgy director .

But Ryng says she discouraged him in the communist era. His dream resurfaced, however, in 2005.

"He went to the funeral of pope St. John Paul II and when he got back he just knew. He went to the Archdiocese of Seattle and said you know I'm in my 40s but the call is still there."

Wagner has been Priest at Holy Rosary and Visitation churches for just nine months.

"He's a good and holy man and this has been devastation for this community. He found his way into our hearts and I can't even explain it," said Ryng.

"That he goes straight to heaven. That's what I am praying for," said Rankin.

Cox Media Group