In 2026, the Polish Catholic community commemorates the 50th anniversary of Monsignor Witold Dzieciol’s death, the 95th anniversary of his ordination, and the publication of a book about his life and ministry.
Monsignor Dzieciol, a long-serving Polish chaplain and Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Australia and New Zealand, died suddenly in Lodz on 13 June 1976 while visiting Poland for the 45th anniversary of his ordination.
On 14 June, members of the Polish community came together to celebrate a Mass in honour of Monsignor Dzieciol’s anniversary.
The Mass was led by Perth Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton, together with concelebrants Fr Tomasz Bujakowski OFM, chaplain to the Polish community at Our Lady Queen of Poland Chapel in Maylands, and Fr Stanislaw Tomasiak OFM, Polish chaplain and Parish Priest at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic Church in Maylands.
Photo: Supplied/Gabriel and Ewa Dzieciol.
“Monsignor Dzieciol left a deep and lasting mark on the Polish community during his 25 or so years as chaplain,” Bishop Don said.
“Today we give thanks for his ministry and legacy. We pray that the Lord will bless him for his work, and especially for the courage he showed throughout his life: answering the call to priesthood, ministering to those interned in concentration camps, and coming to Australia to serve generously people who shared much of his wartime experience.
“As we mark the 50th anniversary of his death, we ask the Lord to bless us and help us, in our own time, to be apostles – people who bear faithful and effective witness to him,” he added.
Commenting further during his homily, Bishop Don recalled meeting Polish families during his time as Parish Priest in Wongan Hills and Dalwallinu. Many had fled to Australia to escape unrest in Europe with the intention of starting a new life.
“The story of Monsignor Dzieciol is one that mirrors (those stories) in so many ways,” Bishop Don suggested.
“He himself came here under a bit of a cloud. He had to conceal the fact that he was a priest, but he was able to regain the practice and ministry of his priesthood here. In that way that he became chaplain, not just to the Polish people of Perth, but for the migrants who came to various part of Australia and New Zealand also.”
Photo: Supplied/Gabriel and Ewa Dzieciol.
While he never had the opportunity to meet Monsignor Dzieciol, Bishop Don said he was held in very high regard in the Church.
“When I was a young priest in the cathedral, Archbishop Goody would often speak about Monsignor Dzieciol and the admiration that he had for him, the admiration of that courage that he displayed in his life,” he recalled.
Reflecting on the Gospel of the day, Bishop Don said, as was the case for Monsignor Dzieciol, there are many ways in which we are challenged and our faith is challenged because of the things that happen in our lives. The answer to those challenges, he suggested, is Christ Himself.
“At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, I’ll be with you until the end of time. That spirit of Jesus with us enables us to overcome the devastation that can come in our lives because of those events that occur,” he said.
“Our faith gives us hope in our lives and enables us to continue walking with Christ and continually opening our hearts to that spirit of Christ that provides hope.
“As we celebrate this Eucharist, we give thanks for the signs in which the spirit has been with us guiding us and providing for us in our lives, and we ask the Lord to help us continue to walk with faith and pray that it will (be strengthened).”
Fr Bujakowski said the Mass was a special moment that celebrated Monsignor Dzieciol and his extraordinary contribution to the faith development of the Polish community.
A faith-filled ministry
Born in 1907, Fr Dzieciol was ordained for the Kielce Diocese on 21 June 1931. During the Second World War, he was arrested by the Gestapo for helping a Jewish person and was imprisoned in concentration camps at Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Gusen and Dachau.
After Dachau was liberated on 29 April 1945, he began three decades of ministry among Poles in exile – first in Hohenfels and Regensburg, Germany, and then, from 1950 to 1975, in Perth, Western Australia, where he served Polish communities across 2.5 million square kilometres.
On 20 February 1953, he was appointed Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Australia, serving until 1975. His dedication was recognised with the titles of Papal Chamberlain and Honorary Prelate. He also served on the Polish Episcopate’s Commission for the Pastoral Care of Emigrants, and in 1973, the Australian Episcopate appointed him a delegate for Polish priests in Australia.
Monsignor Dzieciol’s legacy continues through the Polish Catholic Centre in Maylands, the annual Corpus Christi processions held there – during his lifetime, they took place through city streets – and the prayers for the faithful departed offered at Karrakatta Cemetery on the first Sunday of November.
Monsignor Dzieciol’s jubilee also inspired Gabriel Dzieciol, his nephew, and his wife, Ewa, to write a book about the prelate’s life and ministry. Written in both Polish and English, it is titled Monsignor Witold Dzieciol: Polish Chaplain and Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Australia and New Zealand (1950–1975).