Welcome Father Jan!
I
was born on August 29, 1973 in Frysztak, Poland. I attended primary school in
the village of Zawadka in the region of Podkarpacie, where I lived. I finished
8 years of elementary school and continued high school in 1988 at the Adam
Mickiewicz University in Strzyzow. I received my high school diploma in 1992 and
later that year joined the Major Seminary in Przemysl. After one year at the
Seminary of Przemysl and in light of the new administrative division of the
Diocese in Poland, I and fellow clerics from the area moved to a Seminary in the
new Diocese of Rzeszow. 6 years later in 1998 I finished Seminary School in
Rzeszow with a Master’s degree in Theology.
As a new priest I worked in the rural parish of Anthony in Gwoznica Gorna. After 2 years I was
transferred to the urban parish – Transfiguration in Ropczyce. A year later I went to do missionary work in Kazakhstan where I was vicar of pastoral work, helping my own brother in Mother of God Parish Czestochowski in Kamyszynka in the Apostolic Administration Astana See, current Archdiocese of Astana.
In 2003 I started working as a vicar in the Good Shepherd Parish in the Apostolic Administration of Aktiubinsk, Atyrau (in Kazakhstan). After 4 months I was named administrator of Holy Family Parish in Khromtau a church which the Bishop asked me to create and organize. A year and a half later I was named administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Uralsk. The next 4 years dealt with organizing the new parish in Uralsku – building a church, pastoral center and rectory, as well as organizing the repair of homes for the Order of Sisters of St. Elizabeth. These buildings were
officially opened on August 28, 2008 by the Apostolic Nuncio in Kazakhstan by Archbishop Mauri Miguel Buendia. Over the last year I was able to collect all documents necessary for official permission to operate the entire complex.
I obtained an exemption from my duties on June 1st 2009 from Bishop Janusz Kaleta, Apostolic
Administrator of Western Kazakhstan, and received permission from Bishop Upper Kazimierz of Rzeszow in my home Diocese to travel to the United States. Before arriving at St. Therese I enjoyed a holiday and spent 6 weeks in pastoral work in Bristol, England, replacing the priest with the Polish Catholic Mission, who was on vacation at the time.