Polish-born Father Lukasz Kubiak, 38, always loved the idea of having a big family, but never expected it would include over a million people in a diocese 4,000 miles from home.
Born in Leszno, Poland, he is the fifth of six children born to Teodozja and the late Jozef Kubiak. He received his sacraments in St. Stanislaus Church in Rydzyna, and then joined St. Katarzyna Aleksandryjska Church in Dabcze, which his family still attends.
He graduated from public primary school in Rydzyna, public high school in Leszno and earned his bachelor’s degree from Wyzsza Szkola Spoleczno-Ekonomiczna (the Warsaw School of Social and Economic Studies).
“My dream is to help people,” he said, “to live as good a life as possible and be as helpful as possible.”
After graduation, he knew the best way for him to help people was not through a professional career and marriage, but rather by responding to the call in his heart.
“It wasn’t easy to recognize this (priestly) vocation. Since my childhood, I loved to ‘play’ Mass, but I loved also the idea of a big family because I am from a big family.”
He came to understand that the family God has in store for him goes far beyond flesh and blood.
In 2004, he entered the Warsaw Province of Redemptorists and undertook seven years of “intensive studies,” including three months studying German in Innsbruck, Austria.
As he became aware of the lack of priests in other countries, he knew he would like to go where he was most needed, perhaps in Austria or Germany.
Then during a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, he met Father Tomasz Gorny, a Polish priest serving in Springfield, Mass., who impressed upon him the need for priests in the U.S.
After prayerful consideration, he left the Redemptorists and a year later, entered SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Krakow, with the intention to serve in the United States.
In 2013, he arrived at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Mich., where he completed his theology studies, earning a master of divinity degree, and honed his English language skills.
He visited several dioceses to discern where God was calling him to serve.
Father Kubiak spent his first Christmas in the U.S. at St. Matthias parish in Ridgewood, and he immediately felt at home in the Diocese of Brooklyn.
“I am sure this is the place where God is calling me to serve,” he said.
Subsequent summers and vacations were spent at St. Matthias, where he grew in God’s friendship with the late Msgr. Peter Zendzian, whom he calls “the best priest ever.”
“He was like my father,” he said. “I hope to cultivate the memory of him in my life and to serve as well as he did.”
He credits the monsignor with teaching him how to minister to people, “how to listen to them and their needs, how to be helpful, how to serve others and how to follow God’s call.”
He admired how the late priest united his multicultural parish and formed it into a family.
In his priesthood, Father Kubiak strives “to be a priest who spends his time with people, to support them and to be their shepherd.”
His fluency in Polish, German and English, and ability to read and understand Russian and Spanish, will enable him to minister to the diverse flock of Brooklyn and Queens.
On his ordination day, he will be vested by Msgr. Thomas Machalski, rector of SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake, and Father Daniel Rajski, former parochial vicar at St. Matthias, now assigned to Blessed Trinity parish, Breezy Point.
His mother, sister-in-law and nephew will be present at the Mass. His siblings – Andzelina, Magdalena, Piotr, Pawel and Szymon – hope to watch online at NET-TV’s website.
Father Kubiak will offer his First Mass of thanksgiving at St. Matthias Church on Sunday, June 5 at 9:30 a.m. He hopes to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving in Poland this summer.