PART 1 – CALL TO PRIESTHOOD
 
I was born and raised in Poland by my parents, Stanislaw, a retired policeman, and Elzbieta, a retired dietician for children in a Special Educational and Pedagogical Center in Poland. I have a wonderful brother, Bartosz who is currently a doctor with a specialization in surgery. No doubt about it, the most common question I am asked as a priest is, "Why did you decide to become a priest?" For me this is not a difficult question. Quite simply, I became a priest because of Jesus' love for me. With great certainty, I can say that I have met Jesus in my life, or better, Jesus has met me.
 
 The idea of priesthood came to me at a very early age. Faith was always at the core of our family and guided everything we did. It was my parents' example of belief that so greatly influenced my life. My parents' faith is the bedrock of their life. We share lots of good times, but most important, lots of honest heart to heart talks. I guess I can say, my parents taught me from an early age how important it is to listen with your heart. It was during these childhood conversations that I told my parents I would one day become a priest. I don’t know if they believed me, but I know they listened with their hearts and have always been supportive.
 
 Since a very early age, I have felt in my heart a gentle calling from God. It was a desire, stronger than any other desire I ever had throughout my whole life. As they say, the call from God is a mystery, but it is also a tremendous gift. Since a young boy, I was attracted to the "things" a priest did. I wanted to serve God the same way they did and do the same work they did for the people of God's church. I was blessed to know a number of priests who showed me that following Christ is worth the sacrifice.
 
 Priests were very much respected in my family home and people I looked up to. It was always a joy when our priest friends came to visit our house, or when we would visit them. With the guidance of my Spiritual Director, I was able to name my heart's inner voice as a true vocation to the Priesthood during my high school years. My spiritual director greatly influenced my life through his faithfulness to God and his commitment to serving others. He became a caring mentor who challenged me to question and deepen my faith. He believed in my vocation and gave me the chance to prove myself. It was through his example that I became ready to answer the call.
 
 I am especially passionate about prayer. Prayer makes us realize how close God is to us. Everything that I have done in my life, and presently do, comes from seeing my life as both a gift from God and an adventure to be lived in dialogue and prayer with God. My spiritual director always encouraged me to pray and helped me to find ways to increase my love for prayer, as well as guided me with the direction of my prayers. 
 
I view the relationship of my Priesthood to the people as a circle. The Church and her people are the circle, and in the center is us, the priests, to guide them closer to God, always working together. I do not support the pyramid model where the priest is on the very top level and the people are below him: rather we are all one, united in the Body of Christ. For me, people are the best teachers of life and God's love. I believe that everyone’s vocation is worthy, God loves equally those who are called to the married life, the single life, the priesthood, and/or religious life.
 
God has tasks for every person. It is a joy to see how many people are willing to give their time and talents and help the Church on her mission. It is a joy to all work together! When it comes to ministry work, I feel comfortable serving in all types of ministries. I have had experience working as a teacher for the youth, including troubled youth, as well as working with the imprisoned, the sick, the elderly, and with the police and their families.
 
 Because of my trust in God, I welcome any challenges He might give me. I enjoy helping young people seek meaning in their lives. It is always a joy to see how God works in helping young people to come to a better understanding of themselves as well as of God. They discover that there is something very real about God and life-giving about being a Catholic. During my assignments, I have learned patience and the importance of team work with the laity. Like the saying goes, "a drop of water pierces a rock not by the force of it but by the persistence of it." Patience, love, and
understanding is the foundation of any team work. When one is patient and truly loves his people, then one can do a lot with and for them.
 
 
PART 2 – GROWING IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
 
Like all young boys, what I wanted to be when I grew up kept changing: a firefighter, a doctor and most of all, because of my love for animals, a veterinarian. But the call to priesthood, was a persistent and relentless thought in my mind and in my heart, that would not give up and would always bring me back to my true purpose in life. A definite moment in my spiritual life happened when I was preparing for my Confirmation in 8th grade. Many things were happening during that time. Attending daily Mass became extremely important for me. I was actively involved in various ministries in my parish and was attending a Bible group called "Oaza" (the Oasis). During this time, I met a wonderful priest who inspired me with his faith and his works. This friendship was and continues to be a central part of my life. Before my Confirmation he asked me if I was determined to do something to be better prepared to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. For me, this was a once in a lifetime confession. More than ever, I felt this inner voice in my heart telling me to work hard and to open myself for a deeper awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence in my life. "Be Open," were the guiding words I seemed to hear all the time. It was 1996, and heading into the Technical High School of Szczecinek, Poland, I decided to take a concrete step towards the priesthood by serving Him at the altar. My desire to work for the Catholic Church has always been a strong one, placed deep in my heart. Because of this, I tried to help in any way, and in any ministry, I could. When I was working in the Church, I felt happy, and my heart felt at "home." Anything that I would do since the beginning of high school always evolved around the Church. My participation in Church became my whole life and it was the beginning of my path to become a priest. 
 
The final decision to enter Seminary came when I graduated High School. I entered Seminary in Poland in the year 2000. My years in Seminary were some of the most precious and valuable time in my life. It filled me with growth and challenged me personally and ministerially. More than ever, I discovered in Seminary my love and need of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There are no words to describe the peace and joy of being in front of Jesus and saying to Him, "I am all yours." During my seminarian years I also developed a strong devotion to our Blessed Mother. In fact, the motto of my Priesthood is, "Totus Tuus", the same one as Pope John Paul II, (Totus Tuus was Saint John Paul II's apostolic motto). It is a Latin phrase meaning "totally thine" and expressed his personal Consecration to Mary based on the spiritual approach of Saint Louis de Montfort and the Mariology in his works. I am sure that it was our Blessed Mother who helped me through all these years of discernment. She has been my best teacher and I have entrusted my priesthood to her. During my stay at Saint Nicolas Parish, I befriended a priest working in a diocese in Connecticut. Many of our talks were often devoted to the topic of the Catholic Church in the United States. As on any journey, you have to be open to where the road leads you. These talks prompted me to think about working as a priest in the United States. He introduced me to the Vice Rector of the Orchard Lake Seminary, the Polish-American Seminary. And by no coincidence, the Vice Rector was visiting Poland when I called him, so we were able to meet right away. That was in December 2007. He put me in contact with Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli to discuss the possibility of coming to work in the Diocese of Paterson. After a few months' wait, and through the grace of God, I received permission in April 2008, from my former bishop to come to the United States. Although this process seemed to take forever, I never lost trust in God that He was leading me down the right road. In August 2008 I received my official letter from the Diocese of Paterson inviting me to come. Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli graciously appointed me as a transitional Deacon of St. Rose of Lima in East Hanover. Only nine months after, in May 23, 2009, I was ordained a priest by Bishop Serratelli and he appointed me as the Vicar of St. Rose. I welcomed my new assignment with excitement and an openness of mind and heart. Nothing gives me greater joy than to dedicate my life to the service of others, especially young people, who are our future. To be of service to others, is to be a conduit of God's grace, and that is the heart of being a priest. Our Blessed Mother gave us the ultimate example of saying, "Yes" to God's call. She must have felt uneasiness at first, being asked to be the Mother of God, but her enormous faith and complete trust in God let her say yes without any fear of the future. The same way, I answer with a "Yes" and trust in God as I continue my priestly journey.
 
 
PART 3 – EDUCATION AND MINISTRY
 
My life has been one blessing after another. Thanks to the grace of God, I had many successes and accomplishments that any student would want. I was the President of my High School Student Council for many years, which gave me amazing opportunities to interact with my classmates, to engage them in interesting discussions about life and faith topics, and more important to encourage them to participate in parish related activities. During this time, I also
became the leader of the altar servers at my parish and was the main contributor to bring an organization called "Mission's Friends" to my parish. We were a group of young people who would pray and raise money for the Catholic missions in Africa, following the message given to the Church by Pope Saint John Paul II and the Vatican II documents. All of this was not easy, but with the grace of God I was able to combine my high school activities with parish activities. In my free time, I liked to organize prayer and bible groups and participate at the Church. To connect myself with nature I would go rowing on a lake near my house, even becoming a member of the Polish Rowing Association and Polish Fishing Association. During Seminary, I was grateful to have the opportunity to earn, in addition to a degree in theology, a master’s degree in psychology. These studies gave me a great love for being a spiritual director, which has become a central, life-giving ministry of my Priesthood. My psychology background has helped me to do counseling work with the youth in some of the parishes that I have worked at. I was ordained as a deacon by His Excellency, Bishop Paweł Cieślik in Poland. Throughout the years I have been blessed to be assigned to many different parishes, helping others encounter the compassionate God that I have known and loved. In Poland, I was assigned to work in the parishes of Holy Spirit in Koszalin, Saint Michael Archangel in Podczele, and Saint Nicholas in Walcz. While working in these parishes, I also worked as a teacher in their respective high schools and junior high schools. Without question, serving in the privileged position of teacher and helping in all these parishes, helped keep the flame alive within my own heart and grew my
desire to become a priest, continuing this work in God's name. In 2007 I went on retreat at Our Lady Shrine in Czestochowa, Poland to reflect and ask God in prayer for guidance. I wanted to make sure coming to the United States was His call for me. While I was there, I attended a number of masses, which of course were celebrated in Polish. However, on the last day of my retreat, I went to Mass at the Our Lady's Chapel and to my surprise, as I opened my breviary to pray, I heard a priest celebrating Mass in English! I felt that this was the sign I had asked for, my journey to Priesthood would continue in the United States. That was not easy decision. I never was before in the USA. I did not have any family and friends in the USA, but I knew that God wanted me to work in the USA. My discernment was a gradual process of opening myself to God's will and paying attention to those nudges and whispers that God was using to talk to me. St. Rose became my first home as a priest since this was my first parish. It became a special place where I was able to open my heart, and was received with open arms. However, a few months after starting as the Vicar, the pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Chatham was tragically killed. (October 22, 2009) I was asked to take responsibility for the Church in Chatham until the assignment of the new pastor. This was in addition to the work at St. Rose. A year later, on July 3, 2010, the Bishop appointed me the Director of Catholic Campus Ministry at William Paterson University, as well as the Jesus Christ Prince of Peace Chapel. At the same time, I also began my doctoral studies in social sciences at Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland. After a year and a half of campus ministry, the Bishop asked me to become the Director of Discernment House for Seminarians in Boonton, where I worked with seminarians preparing for ordinations. This assignment also entailed, starting March 19, 2011, being Vice-Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Paterson.

And only three months later, on June 24th, the Bishop asked me to step up and be the new Vocation Director. In 2013, I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation from the Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw with the concentration area in social science. However, due to my passion and love for studying, in the fall of 2014, I began another doctoral program, this time in Counseling psychology (PsyD) at the College of St. Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. In May 2018 I graduated and completed all required coursework as a Doctor of Psychology in Counseling Psychology. On June 21, 2017, I furthermore defended my “Doktor Habilitowany” thesis, a special European post doctorate degree, and was granted a Docent of Religious Studies degree from the Greek-Catholic University in Presov, Slovakia. In May 13th 2017 Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli appointed me the administrator of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Hewitt, NJ.

In 2018 thanks to my 3 doctorate programs, I had a chance to work in the University in Warsaw and teach Psychology and Sociology for International Students (I taught in English). This was a great experience spiritually and intellectually. I was happy to develop my scientific passions. In 2019, after a year of academical work, I returned to NJ and I worked in The Center for Counseling and Psychological Services and Center for Clergy and Religious, Denville, NJ with Fr. Brendan McLoughlin, Ph.D. and at the same time I helped at the parish as being in residence first at St. Joseph Parish, Passaic and later St. Luke, Long Valley.
I still continued my academical passions working with a few international universities. So far, I have published a total of 58 articles in different academic journals and 7 books and I did almost 70 different presentations and conferences on different international universities.

In 2023 I received permission from the Bishop again to return to Warsaw University and teach (in Warsaw and Satellites campuses). This time I taught psychology, sociology, and ethics for psychologists. 

In 2024 I returned and stayed at St. Francis Parish, Haskell, NJ. In May 2024, Bishop Kevin Sweeney asked me to be the Administrator of St. Simon, Green Pond. I received this assignment with great happiness and trust in Our Blessed Mother. As the Second Vatican Council taught, "A man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself,” so I strive to give everything in myself to God, and in service to His children on earth as a spiritual father. As priests, we belong to Christ so deeply. I just cannot imagine myself not having that depth of relationship with God. My heart is His forever!