From the Sun-Sentinel: Calling of a reluctant bishop

South Florida priest appointed to New England diocese, just in time for Christmas

The Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski is a reluctant bishop. He never wanted to leave his warm little parish in Davie, where he has served for nearly three decades.

But the fourth time was the charm when the Polish National Catholic Church asked him to become a leading shepherd. This time he said yes.

Sobiechowski will say his final Mass on Dec. 11 at St. Joseph’s Polish Catholic Church in Davie, the exact 28th anniversary of his first Mass there in 1983. The next day, he and wife Karen will pack and move to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Manchester, N.H.

“I liked being a priest; I never wanted to do anything more,” Sobiechowski, 57, said after a morning liturgy at the church. “But now that I’m called to this, I just hope I can do what I need to accomplish [God’s] will.”

Sobiechowski was actually chosen in October 2010, during the general synod in Toronto. Polish National Catholic practice, though, elects qualified people before they are needed; that way, there’s always a supply. In May, he was assigned to the Eastern Diocese, 20 parishes in New England, on the retirement of Bishop Thomas Gnat.

Sobiechowski’s name had come up three times before, and he had declined. But this time, he says he heard an inner voice: “I want you to stand for election.” He accepted.

The move will end his work not only in his parish but the community. He was a member of the Davie-Cooper City Rotary Club and a board member of the EASE Foundation, which serves the poor in western Broward.

For 20 years, he and Karen coordinated an annual Advent candlelight service for neighborhood churches. The evening included choirs, sacred dancers, instrumentalists and a buffet. Also included was an offering for Sunset School, a center for special needs children.

Sobiechowski also headed the ecumenical chaplaincy at Memorial Pembroke Hospital, and served as state chaplain for the Polish Legion of American Veterans. And Oct. 18 was declared Bishop Paul Sobiechowski Day in Davie.

He shepherded the church and the 35 residents in its retirement home through three hurricanes and a tornado. Wilma dumped four feet of water on the center of the property. The land has lost some 200 trees altogether; Sobiechowski says he once blew out an arm trying to cut up fallen trees with a 20-inch chainsaw.

“Typical priest work,” he says with a smile.

He considers the stresses worth it for the 150 parishioners, who he says show a “cornucopia of nationalities”: Polish, African American, Asian, Caribbean, several kinds of Hispanic. Sobiechowski says the Spanish-language Mass is the best attended.

More than diversity, Sobiechowski has enjoyed the family atmosphere. “If someone gets sick, everyone is on the phones. If someone gets a birthday, everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday.’

“I love being a priest. You’re always with the people. You get to know families. As a bishop, it’s not just you and the community. It’s 20 communities.”

Even the rectory will expand. He and Karen have become accustomed to living in 800 square feet. He says the bishop’s rectory in Manchester is more than four times larger.

He still sees some pluses to his new home. He likes lobster. He’ll be an hour from Boston. New Hampshire has no state income tax. And people are people, in every state.

“God looked at his creation and said it’s good,” Sobiechowski says. “And if the winters are cold [in New Hampshire], the warmth of the people has to be exceptional.”

“Whatever challenges you have, somehow, with God’s help, we always survive,” he says. “We always pray, ‘Thy will be done.'”