CEDAR LAKE – Not many people who find their vocation as a teenager end up spending 50 years doing exactly what they want to do.
One of those lucky few is Father Patrick Gawrylewski, O.F.M., who is celebrating the golden anniversary of his ordination as a Franciscan friar this year, his fifth as a parish priest at Holy Name of Jesus.
“Parish work gives me the opportunity to teach, minister to God’s people and celebrate the sacraments,” said Father Gawrylewski as he prepared for a gala dinner hosted by the Holy Name faith community on Oct. 10 in honor of his ordination anniversary and his 77th birthday.
“Parish work is a ministry of presence, serving the people and walking with them on their journey,” added the Green Bay, Wis.. native. “It’s a matter of listening, whether someone calls for an anointing or wants to say their confession. I liked parish ministry and felt it was the best place for me.”
That has now been true for half a century, since his priesthood ordination on May 29, 1976.
Born Oct. 9, 1949, the oldest and only boy among five siblings, Patrick Gawrylewski attended Assumption Grade School in Pulaski, where he helped out at the family business, The Blue Moon Tavern. “Friday fish frys were very popular, and I just enjoyed meeting people and listening to their stories,” he recalled.
At Pulaski High School, his favorite subjects were math and social studies, and he first thought of the priesthood in seventh or eighth grade. “I was an altar server, and helped with whatever needed to be done around the parish and the school,” said the priest. “I had thought about attending a minor seminary for high school, but went to Pulaski instead, helping with the family business.”
When he decided to enter the seminary after high school, it was natural to join the Franciscans, whom he admired. “Our parish priests were Franciscans, and the Legacy Province of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was headquartered in Pulaski,” Father Gawrylewski said. “I appreciated their friendliness, and I looked at our three parish priests as grandparents, even though they were not that old. There was always a sense of welcome, and the province held special events at our parish church. At parish picnics and when there were chores at the school, they rolled up their sleeves and joined in.”
“The summer after high school, I thought, ‘What would I do?’ I had taken the ACT test, but hadn’t picked a college, and by August, I had to make a decision,” he said. “I thought, ‘Let’s apply to the Franciscans,’ and I approached our parish pastor and shared with him my desire to become a friar or priest.”
A meeting was set up with the vicar provincial, who knew the young man from helping out at Assumption parish, and he was asked about his school records, while school administrators were also interviewed.
“I don’t think anyone was surprised at my decision; my family was very supportive and my parents encouraged me, saying ‘If this isn’t for you, the door is always open to come back home.’”
Father Gawrylewski spent one year at the novitiate in Lake Geneva, beginning Sept. 9, 1967, and then four years in college – one at St. Francis College and three studying at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside, where he earned a degree in math and sociology while still living in formation at St. Francis College. Spending the next four years studying with the Dominicans at Aquinas Institute in Dubuque, Iowa, he earned a Masters of Divinity, interning the last year as a deacon at St. Thomas Aquinas in Saginaw, Mich. before his priesthood ordination.
“I was assigned to my home parish in Pulaski for two years, the first of three stints at Assumption, where my classmates’ children were first- and second-graders,” he said.
Next, he returned to St. Thomas Aquinas in Saginaw (1978-87) and St. Mary of the Angels in Green Bay (1987-90) before moving to internal ministry as a guardian in Pulaski and Burlington, Wis., where he served on a committee that built two friaries, one for retirement age friars and another for those in assisted living (1990-95). After a one-year sabbatical in Menlo Park, Calif., Father Gawrylewski returned to parish work as the pastor at Ss. Peter and Paul in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (1996-99), back at Assumption (1999-2011), once again at St. Mary of the Angels (2011-15) and again at Assumption (2015-21) before arriving in Cedar Lake.
“I took a four-month sabbatical and then the providential asked what I’d like to do, mentioning an opening at Holy Name of Jesus, and I said yes,” said the experienced pastor. “I found a very welcoming community made up of families who have been living here for many years, as well as retirees looking for a place to settle and others leaving the city to begin life in a new area.”
One new adventure has been getting to know the Hispanic community at Holy Name and its culture, since his prior ministry experience “has not included many Hispanics. I have felt very much at home with them and found the homemade aspect of meals very important and wonderful.”
Father Gawrylewski has also enriched his experience in recent years by ministering to those in retirement and living their final years. “One of the advantages of being close to home was having the opportunity to anoint and assist with the needs of my parents, and celebrating their funeral Masses, my father at age 78 in 2001 and my mother at 92 in 2016,” he said. “My father was the quiet type, but when I served at Assumption, he would let his buddies know that his son was the parish priest, and my mom was very active in the parish.”
Proximity has also enabled the parish priest to remain close to his sisters and brothers-in-law, Mary McCabe and Alan Holewinski of Green Bay, Joanne Gawrylewski of DePere, Wis., Rosanne and David Johnson of Menomonee Falls, Wis. and the late Karen and David Krahn. He is proud to have been able to baptize and officiate the marriages of many of his six nephews, one niece, six great-nieces and five great-nephews, and even one great-great-niece.
He has also had the opportunity to minister to his senior Franciscan community at Queen of Peace, where they live in retirement. “It taught me to love men who I had never chosen to live with, following the motto, ‘A brother is to love another brother like a mother loves a son,’” Father Gawrylewski said. “Retired men come because of health issues, maybe due to not following doctor’s orders, but didn’t want to. It has been a matter of listening to their stories and helping them do what they need health wise, and some have been able to return to ministry, while others we journey with to death.”
After 50 years of service, Father Gawrylewski appreciates the Franciscan religious order more deeply than ever. “It’s about the fraternity, community life, the spirit of Francis that is expressed in the community, the sense of God’s great love for all of creation,” he said. “The example that Francis gave … to do what was his to do … challenges us to do what is ours today, be open to the Holy Spirit and God's voice.”
Caption: Raising the chalice, Father Patrick Gawrylewski, O.F.M., consecrates the Precious Blood during morning Mass on Oct. 2 at Holy Name of Jesus in Cedar Lake, where he has served as administrator for five years. The Franciscan priest is celebrating 50 years since his ordination in Wisconsin, his home state. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
