On Sunday, June 9, St. Casimir's Parish in Toronto celebrated the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Fr. Kazimierz Kozicki OMI, who is still ministering in the parish.

Fr. Kazimierz was born on October 18, 1946, in Sławatycze, Lublin province (diocese of Siedlce). He graduated from the Minor Seminary in Markowice and after his novitiate in Obra (1965-1966) took his first vows. There he studied philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest, June 23, 1974, by Bishop John Taylor OMI, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Stockholm.

Every Jubilee is a good opportunity to recall memories and, above all, to express gratitude to God for the mystery of one's vocation. How was it born? The Jubilarian recalls it this way:

“I met the Oblates 1959 at the end of September. In my home parish in Sławatycze, the Jesuit Fathers were leading parish missions. Nearby is Koden, from where two Oblates came to help with confessions. One of them was Fr. Walenty Zapata OMI, who worked as a people's missionary and vocation promoter. He met my oldest brother, whom he was trying to recruit to the Oblates. As he was already studying in Wroclaw and had plans of his own, he told Fr. Walenty that he had a younger brother who was thinking about the priesthood. Fr. Walenty therefore asked that this younger brother be sent to him. I went to meet Fr. Walenty and after talking for a while, we arranged to meet in Koden. After a few days, my older brother, Marian, drove me to Koden on a bicycle. I met with other Oblates who were there at the time, and Fr. Walenty, after talking with me, gave me a contact to the Minor Seminary in Markowice.”

Why did Fr. Kazimierz become an Oblate? What was it about the Oblates that captivated him that made him decide to become one of us?

“My father told me right away that if I decided to go to the seminary it would not be to a diocesan one, and that I should choose a specific religious order. I no longer had the need to choose because I had already decided. I thought: there is Father Walenty, there are the Oblates, there is Our Lady of Kodeń - that is enough for me.”

50 years of priestly ministry is quite a lot. How and where did those years pass?

“After ordination, I was a vicar in Katowice's Koszutka district for a year. At that time came the provincial, Fr. Kupka and asked if I wanted to become a people's missionary. I answered him that I didn't. And he replied that I would be one. And a week later I received an obedience to Poznan, where I ministered for 7 years. In total, I served as a people's missionary for 20 years, from 1975 until 1995 when I came to Canada. I first came to Canada in 1991 for a Lenten retreat and after 4 years I returned here permanently. During those 20 years of missionary service in Poland, I think I preached retreats and missions in a total of 247 parishes. The 190 other few parishes I visited were shorter ministries like parish patron feasts sermons, one-day retreats or confessions.”

During those 50 years, did anything happen that had a special impact on Fr. Casimir's priesthood?

“There were no extraordinary situations in my priesthood. But I must say that being in the seminary, it never occurred to me that I could preach the sermons, that I could be a missionary. Then, of course, it came, and I remember that in the beginning the sermons or retreat teachings I preached lasted about 15 minutes. As time went on, they got longer and longer, an hour or two, and sometimes I even had to divide one topic over several days. What was important and significant for me on this priestly path was probably most the issue of ministry in the confessional, especially when I encountered cases where confessions were made after many years, even after 50. Then I thought: ' it is worth it to be a priest and to wait for such moments, since the Lord God brought this man exactly to me after so many years'. I don't regret that it worked out this way, that I am a priest.”

Is there any specific “prescription”, not only for perseverance but, above all, for love of the priestly vocation? What advice would the Jubilarian give to younger priests?

“A specific prescription I can't give, because we know very well that each of us is different, no two people are alike, no two oblates are alike, etc. But I think that the important thing to abide in the priesthood, to abide in faithfulness to Christ is faithfulness to prayer. I think that's where you have to start. Because if this foundation is missing, then everything will gradually begin to crumble, crack, break down and finally fall. Therefore, if I can recommend anything, it is faithfulness to daily, but sincere and heartfelt prayer, and faithfulness to the breviary”.

What does Fr. Kazimierz value most in the Oblates, in our charism?

“In the Oblates, in the Congregation, I especially value the fact that I never had to be a man who had to fit into certain frames, because sometimes I ‘stuck out’ this side, that side, but no one told me: “don't do this”, “that something is not allowed”. If what you do, you do well, then let it be so.”

(TJ/DJ; photos: private album of Fr. Kazimierz, facebook.com/janusz.blazejak, TJ)