Rev. Piotr Calik Named Vicar General for Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, by Anne-Gerard Flynn, Republican via MassLive, February 8, 2021

Rev. Piotr Calik Named Vicar General for Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield

By Anne-Gerard Flynn
Republican via MassLive
February 8, 2021

https://www.masslive.com/news/2021/02/rev-piotr-calik-named-vicar-general-for-roman-catholic-diocese-of-springfield.html

The Rev. Piotr Stanislaw Calik, shown here with Bishop Emeritus Timothy McDonnell who ordained him to the priesthood, has been named vicar general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

The Rev. Piotr Stanislaw Calik, shown here with Bishop Emeritus Timothy McDonnell who ordained him to the priesthood, has been named vicar general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD - The Rev. Piotr Stanislaw Calik, currently pastor of All Saints and St. Mary parishes in Ware, has been named vicar general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield by Bishop William Byrne.

The position, the highest under a bishop in overseeing a diocese and its administrative offices, has been vacant since last summer when the diocese’s ninth bishop - Mitchell T. Rozanski - was named Archbishop of St. Louis, and the Rev. Monsignor Christopher Connelly, rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral, said he would not seek reappointment.

A report issued at that time had been critical of Connelly in its investigation into how the diocese had handled sexual abuse allegations against the late Bishop Christopher Weldon.

“After much prayer and consultation, I am appointing Father Piotr Calik as vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Springfield,” said Byrne in an announcement on the diocese’s Catholic Communications’ website.

Byrne, who was installed as bishop here in December, said Piotr’s “many gifts are well-suited for this time of transition” and said the appointment “will be full-time to allow me to be bishop, not of an office, but of our diocese.”

“I am grateful that Father Piotr has agreed to serve in this capacity because I know he loves being a pastor,” Byrne said.

Calik, who was ordained to the priesthood in 2013 by Bishop Emeritus Timothy McDonnell, called his appointment in the announcement “a very humbling experience” and compared it to “parish work but in bigger area.”

The 36-year-old priest has a twin brother Pawel and is a native of Krakow, Poland, where he once worked as an assistant chef in a Sheraton Hotel restaurant after attending culinary school. His studies for the priesthood began at the Papal Academy in Krakow, continued at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary there and then at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich., where he completed his studies for ordination.