Alfonz Skerl was born in Szombathely and spent his childhood in Siófok. He began his high school studies in Hungary; in 1944, he completed his fifth year of high school in Veszprém, and then, at the end of World War II, he moved to Austria with his family. In 1948, he graduated from the Hungarian school in Innsbruck. He had originally planned to pursue a career in engineering, but a series of Redemptorist missionary lectures he heard in Austria played a decisive role in his decision to become a priest. According to his own recollections, he was particularly deeply moved by the account of a monk who spoke about the pastoral work he had carried out among his fellow prisoners during his time as a Russian prisoner of war. Within a few days, he decided to pursue the priesthood instead of studying engineering.

On October 9, 1948, he began his theological studies at the University of Innsbruck; until 1951, he was a student at the Jesuit-run Canisianum. In 1951, he moved to the United States, where he continued and completed his studies at the Saint Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. With the permission of Bishop Bertalan Badalik of Veszprém, he was ordained a priest on May 3, 1955, in Saint Meinrad to serve the Diocese of Veszprém.

He began his priestly ministry in 1955 in Michigan City as an assistant pastor. He then served in Gary, first at Holy Rosary Church and then, from 1959 to 1962, at St. Mary of the Lake Parish in the Miller neighborhood. He later recalled this latter period as one of the most beautiful phases of his priestly life; he was involved in the construction of the church as well as in the expansion of the school and the parish building.

In 1962, he was transferred to the state of Missouri, where he became pastor of St. Mary of Victories in St. Louis. In 1971, he returned to the Diocese of Gary and took over the leadership of Holy Trinity Hungarian Parish in East Chicago, as well as St. Emeric (St. Imre) Parish in Gary. He led the Hungarian parish in East Chicago for 45 years, until its closure in 2016. According to the alumni newsletter of the Saint Meinrad Institute, the Holy Trinity Parish held its final Mass on October 23, 2016, at which Alfonz Skerl also spoke.

A significant part of his pastoral work was dedicated to serving Hungarian Catholic communities in the United States and preserving Hungarian religious and cultural traditions. Through his more than four decades of service in East Chicago, he became one of the leading pastors of Hungarian Catholic life in northern Indiana. After the parish was dissolved, he retired, but he did not completely cease his pastoral activities: he also served as a hospital chaplain and as an assistant priest.

In recognition of his work, he received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary in 2015, and in 2016, the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference honored him with the Pro Ecclesia Hungariae Award.

A notable episode in his life was his appearance in a film. He played a priest in Norman Jewison’s 1978 film *F.I.S.T.*, starring Sylvester Stallone. He is credited as “Father Alphonse Skerl” in the film’s official credits; his appearance is also confirmed by the American Film Institute’s catalog.

In his free time, he was seriously involved in model railroading and photography; his interests also included travel, skiing, baseball, and soccer.

Even in his later years, he remained connected to the church and Hungarian communities. The Diocese of Gary currently lists him in its directory of priests as a “Senior Priest.”

Emlékkönyvek szerkesztése (St. Louis, East Chicago)