MICHIGAN CITY – If variety is truly the spice of life, then Father Walter Ciesla has had a most flavorful journey.
“It’s an adventure, and God runs it” is the way the longtime pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka parish sums up his life, which began with his birth in Newark, New Jersey in 1949, the oldest of three siblings in a proud Polish family.
His path to the Diocese of Gary after graduating in a class of 69 from Christ the King Catholic School in Hillside, N.J. in 1963 and Essex County Vocational and Technical High School in Irvington, N.J. in 1967 is anything but simple to explain.
“I had a difficult time in grade school, and was sent to typing classes in middle school; my advisor thought it better for me to go to a vocational high school, and after that, in March, 1967, I entered the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement as a candidate for the religious brotherhood,” said Father Ciesla, of his postulancy in Rhode Island, where he obtained a certificate in Graphic Arts and as a catechist for the local diocese while completing Religious Studies courses in 1968-69 at Providence College.
After professing Temporary Promises as a religious brother in 1971, Father Ciesla headed to Atonement Seminary in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1975 from American University with a Philosophy degree, then completing two years of graduate studies at Washington Theological Union in Maryland.
Father Ciesla next took a year off while discerning a priestly vocation, working full time as director of religious education at St. Martin parish in Gaithersburg, Md., where he set up a pastoral care program for people with disabilities.
Not sure of his next step, Father Ciesla thought about leaving the East Coast and a friend put him in touch with Father Robert Charlebois in the Diocese of Gary. “He asked me if I’d like to come out to Gary, and I took a train, first just for a visit, in 1977. Father Charlebois took me on a tour of the diocese and to meet Bishop (Andrew) Grutka, who was very welcoming,” recalled Father Ciesla, who made several more visits before becoming a seminarian for the Diocese of Gary.
His assignments included a summer guiding Camp Lawrence, where he used a donated gorilla suit to create Big Mamu to the delight of campers, and Nativity of Our Savior in Portage, where he was talked into reprising Big Mamu for schoolchildren on Halloween, prompting a visit from the local police. As a deacon, he assisted at St. Jude the Apostle in South Holland while finishing studies at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Ill.
Ordained to the priesthood on July 11, 1981 at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary, Father Ciesla served as associate pastor at St. Mary of the Lake in Gary for three years and at St. Paul of Valparaiso for one year before beginning an 11-year assignment as chaplain and director of volunteer services at Westville Correctional Center. “It was very ecumenical; I smoked a peace pipe and had discussions with Muslims,” said the priest who was in residence at St. Joseph in LaPorte for four years before adding administrative duties at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Kingsford Heights to his chaplaincy in 1989.
Assigned as pastor of Sacred Heart in Michigan City in 1997, he developed a diocesan board of prison ministry concerns before leaving Westville. In 1998, Father Ciesla was assigned as administrator at St. John Kanty in Rolling Prairie in 1998 in addition to his pastorate at Sacred Heart. “I was able to procure property to expand the diocesan cemetery at St. John Kanty, which is quite beautiful,” he added
After all of his travels and assignments, Father Ciesla found a true home when he arrived at St. Stanislaus Kostka as pastor in 1999. Always a pet lover, Father Ciesla once had a parrot and now shares his home with a dog, Micky, and a cat, Kuba, who have the run of the rectory.
“I fell in love with the place,” he admitted, fitting right in with the Polish traditions that continue despite boasting a broader ethnic population in recent years. “We had quite a time financially when I arrived, but we got on our feet and have spent well over $1 million on building renovations. We are now in the midst of a campaign to raise more than another $1 million to fix up the church. At Christmas, the church is decorated with 7,000 lights.”
Father Ciesla also oversees a school with 107 students who greet him affectionately as he moves between the church and rectory via the playground.
Spiritual director of the Apostolate of Our Lady of Fatima, Father Ciesla also maintains a collection displaying the relics of more than 200 saints. “My favorite saints are St. Joseph, St. Jude the Apostle and St. Faustina,” he noted.
He is assisted by Brother Shaun Gray, CSC, pastoral assistant for the past 10 years following the closing of his previous home, LeMans Academy. “He is invaluable as my driver, taking Holy Communion to the homebound, and serving in so many ways; he even makes Polish sausage,” said Father Ciesla.
Anticipating a possible retirement to senior priest status next year, when he reaches age 75, Father Ciesla hopes to continue serving his adopted diocese in any way he can, despite a recent double knee replacement that somewhat limits his mobility.
As always, he hopes to live up to the prediction his novice director made when the young seminarian was just 21. “He told me, ‘You are an unpolished gem, and you will do great things for the Church.”
Caption: Father Walter Ciesla has shared his musical talent through the years, including leading St. Stanislaus Kostka School students on a Christmas carolling visit to a Michigan City McDonald's restaurant. Folk music is his favorite genre, and he once performed for a bishops retreat, prompting then-Bishop Andrew G. Grutka of the Diocese of Gary to exclaim, "That's my boy!" (Provided photo)