ARTICLES

Year for Priests: Young man from Poland comes to U.S. to become a priest

By Father Remi Sojka
special to The Catholic Virginian

As I raised my eyes from the Book, I knew I had found the way.

For years growing up in Poland I had been trying to change, but when people label you it is next to impossible. You are always the same in their eyes regardless of what you try to do.

I knew I was not a saint. I was always in trouble. My parents were called to school often, and other parents used to come to our apartment to complain that I had once again beaten up their sons.

Even in kindergarten I had to stand in a corner on a regular basis to be punished for my behavior.

Now I was reading about this guy from the Gospels who had the power to do whatever he wanted, yet chose to help those who were marginalized and ostracized. And I realized there was someone besides my mom who believed in me.

All my trips to church youth meetings to look at the love of my life (whom I was too shy at the time to tell of my feelings) were going to yield fruit, but quite a different kind than I expected.

I was captivated, and I found myself wanting to be as close to Christ as possible.

Then, in August, I was arrested. I was just trying to get home from church after an anniversary celebration of the Polish “Solidarity” movement.

But the police attacked. Helicopters were flying around the church steeple, gas was pouring into the church, and people were running for their lives.

I remember sounds of explosions, the screams of people, the advancing troops of police, the sirens and lights of the police cars and then the police station. We were all standing in lines with our hands on our heads.

The police walked around with machine guns, ready to kill us if necessary. I faced two martial law courts, was suspended from high school and was under house arrest for about two weeks.

It took several more months and a few more life experiences, but I finally made the decision to join a religious order. I wanted to serve others – those who were looked down upon, those who were in need.

The kicker is... At that time I thought the grass had to be much greener in the church environment. After all, those in the church were following the teachings of Jesus, and who could be closer to Christ if not a priest?

I won’t go into details, but the reality of life did not fit the ideals which I had expected to find. To make a long story short, I did not renew my temporary religious vows and left.

But I knew there had to be more to the church.

I got my passport and visa and a one-way ticket to America. I still wanted to be a priest, to serve God and His people.

It did not matter to me that I did not have any friends or family here. I was determined to try again, to make my new life in the land of the free.

So I landed in Detroit with three suitcases and less than 20 dollars in my pocket to go to Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake (Michigan). I was 24 years old, and it was 1989 – the year the Berlin Wall went down.

After finishing my studies at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, I was ordained a priest of our diocese in 1995. I have been very fortunate.

As a seminarian, I was trained under some excellent priests of our diocese: Msgrs. Tom Caroluzza and Joe Lehman and Fr. Don Lemay. I learned while serving at Christ the King in Norfolk, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News and St. Mary’s in Blacksburg.

Msgr. Tom Miller showed me the ropes of priesthood at St. Bridget’s Church in Richmond, where I was his parochial vicar for four years.

Then I became Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Salem. I am now Pastor of St. Mary’s in Blacksburg. All the places I have served have shaped me and helped me to grow spiritually. In all these places I have met exceptional, generous and loving people who were willing to welcome me in their midst. I have made some good friends among them.

Some years have passed and I have some mileage on me now, but my heart is still restless and searching for a closer relationship with Christ.

I have hiked and camped in the deserts of the West. I have driven across our country three times. I have climbed on Denali, in the Andes and in the Himalayas.

I almost died on Aconcagua in Argentina. I have run five marathons, and I am getting ready to run the next one on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Roanoke.

I earned my MBA in 2004 from Radford University and the diocese sent me to Rome for my sabbatical. But my heart is still restless and still searching.

My Jesuit spiritual director told me before I left for America that my problems and questions would go with me, and he was completely right. I am still searching for answers.

I hope that my restlessness and search for a deeper relationship with Christ will never leave me until my last breath.

No angel appeared to me to call me to the priesthood, but it has been one of the most fulfilling adventures of my life. My dream is not to save the world.

I am seeking only to live my life while serving God and His people in a way that will enable me say to Christ when I see Him one day: “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7).

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