Fr. Zdzislaw Nawrocki, SChr

Fr. Zdzisław J. Nawrocki, S.Chr. 1948-2017
On Monday September 18th, Fr. Zdzisław Nawrocki, SChr
will be laid in state at Holy Rosary Church from 4:00 - 6:00 pm,
followed by a Bilingual Farewell Funeral Mass at 6:30 pm.

On Monday, September 11, 2017 Fr. Nawrocki passed away suddenly in the early morning. Fr. Zdzisław, the oldest of five children, was born on September 17, 1948 in Dzierzbino Poland, in a west province called Grand Poland near a town called Kalisz. In grammer school & the academy he showed talent as an actor & partrayed many roles & characters on stage. His teachers predicted he would have a great careeer in the theatre or the opera. But God had other plans and called him to fulfill his vocation in the Church. In August 15, 1966 he joined the Order of Society of Christ for Polania (Polish immigrants.) He spent the next six years studying in the seminary. He was ordained a priest in June 19, 1973 by Archbishop Antoni Baraniak in Poznan, Poland. His first assignment was in Szczecin by the Baltic Sea (Northwest of Poland to be co-pastor and a military chaplain to seminarian-soldiers in the army). He went on to Great Britain in 1975-1979: to Rochele-Manchester and London-Wimbledon. It was there that he learned to play tennis. Fr. Zdzisław said "all good things last a short time.”

His next assignment was to the USA. In 1979 he was asked to console Polish-American souls. He did pastoral work in Detroit MI, Cleveland OH; nine years in Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach area). He organized a fund raiser and collected money to buy a church (now under the name of Our Lady of Czestochowa) in Pompano Beach. He went on to Brooklyn NY, Passaic NJ and eight years as pastoral coordinator at Saints Cyril & Methodius a Slovak-Polish parish in Boonton, NJ.

He was chosen by Cardinal Edward Egan to be pastor at St. Joseph parish in Poughkeepsie NY. Two years later he received an emergency call to come to Baltimore to be pastor to save Holy Rosary parish and its beautiful church. From 2009-2011, as an administrator, Fr. Zdzisaw reorganized the parish and put the finances in order. The Bishop said to him: Well done and now you can rest! ”. He retired as Clergy in Residence at Holy Rosary and was put on special assignments as a priest „for emergency”. He embraced the final phase of his religious life continuing his evangelization as Mission Apostolate for the Society of Christ traveling in the United States to different parishes as he was needed.

At his family’s request, Fr. Zdzisław Nawrocky’s body will be shipped to Sterling Heights MI. On September 20th there will be praying of the rosary at 6:30 pm followed by Mass at 7:00 pm at Our Lady of Częstochowa Church. On Thursday September 21st at 11:00 am, there will be a funeral Mass at Our Lady of Częstochowa with burial at Resurrection Cemetery.