Melendez Carries on John Paul’s Wish for `Hope’

c. 2007 Religion News Service BAY VILLAGE, Ohio _ It started with a kiss. Tony Melendez, a musician born without arms, had just finished singing “Never Be the Same” while playing the guitar with his feet at a 1987 youth rally in Los Angeles before Pope John Paul II. The pontiff leapt off the 4-foot-high […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio _ It started with a kiss.

Tony Melendez, a musician born without arms, had just finished singing “Never Be the Same” while playing the guitar with his feet at a 1987 youth rally in Los Angeles before Pope John Paul II. The pontiff leapt off the 4-foot-high stage, walked into the crowd, and hugged and kissed Melendez.


The kiss became an iconic image of John Paul’s papacy, expressing in a gesture of love and joy what the millions of people who saw Melendez perform felt in their hearts.

Melendez was shocked. His eyes began to fill. “I felt like Jell-O, my whole body was trembling,” he recalled. But he never forgot John Paul’s next words: “You are giving hope to all of us. My wish to you is to continue giving this hope to all people.”

Nearly 20 years later, Melendez, of Branson, Mo., still follows that papal call, building a ministry that has taken him to churches, prisons, hospitals, corporate motivational seminars and concert venues in 34 countries.

During a recent stop here, his message remained simple: “I really believe we all need to carry our cross and face it head-on.”

Yet it continues to inspire new generations.

For Mary Gannon, 18, a University of Findlay student who also has no arms, spending time with Melendez and attending his concert held special meaning.

The education major, who is an accomplished skier and plays the French horn in school bands, had never met someone like her. Melendez’s story touched and reassured her.

In the back of her mind, she had worried what life would be like in her 40s. “Am I going to make it?” she would ask herself. After meeting Melendez, she said, “I know I’m going to make it.”

If John Paul’s signature advice was “Be not afraid,” Melendez’s would be “Don’t give up.”


Melendez was a “thalidomide baby,” born without arms because of the drug given his mother during pregnancy. His family moved from Nicaragua to Southern California so he could be fitted with artificial arms. He found the arms of little use, and he got rid of them at age 10.

Supported by extraordinary parents who refused to let their son place any boundaries on his life, Melendez learned to play instruments with his feet and began composing songs. He gained attention playing at guitar Masses, and at age 25 was selected to play a song at the papal youth rally.

“The kiss” turned his life around. He did interviews until 11 p.m. that night. Appearances on national talk and news shows followed, along with concert invitations, record albums and an autobiography.

At 45, he has not lost that open spirit that first endeared him to the world.

Melendez’s music is similar to that of Michael McDonald, Dan Fogelberg and Kenny Loggins, but with a joyous spirit all his own.

One wonders when the last time people in the pews at St. Raphael Catholic Church here were pulling on one another’s ears, tickling their neighbor and hugging strangers. Yet when Melendez asks people to be his arms for him and to “reach out and touch someone’s hand, make this world a better place,” his instructions and the laughter that accompanies them seem natural.


This is a not a place for people to feel sorry for themselves or to worry about appearances. Not when the guy with no arms onstage is celebrating the way he was made.

“I really believe I was blessed without my arms,” he told his audience.

The message hits home.

“It’s just phenomenal,” Carol Novak said during intermission at the concert. “He’s encouraging people to be the best they can.”

In an interview, Melendez said people come up to him and say they considered suicide before encountering him and his story. He is amazed how many people tell him, “I needed you at that time.”

In Latin America, newspaper headlines speak of Melendez and “the feet of Christ.”

The optimism and the joy are no act. “I love life,” he said

After their first meeting, Melendez would see John Paul several more times, at World Youth Days or concerts at the Vatican. Like the pontiff, who continued his work until his death in 2005, Melendez has no plans to retire from his music ministry.

“It’s really easy to say, ‘I’ve done enough.’ He never did that,” Melendez said.

And neither will Melendez.

Why? The answer may lie in a demonstration he gave the children at St. Raphael.

As the youngsters watched in amazement, Melendez caught a Frisbee and then threw it with his feet toward a basketball hoop more than 30 feet away.


The Frisbee did not go in. But no matter.

When it doesn’t go in, he told the children, “You try it again. Never give up. That is Tony Melendez. That is Jesus.”

(David Briggs writes for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.)

KRE/LF END BRIGGS

Editors: To obtain photos of Melendez, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

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