Fr Marian Brzozowski celebrated his 25th Anniversary of Priesthood on the 31st May 2009, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Esperance where he has been Parish Priest for the past five and a half years.  This was celebrated on Pentecost Sunday in memorable style with Mass, followed by a gathering with Parishioners.

The formal celebrations were held on June 2nd attended by Bishop Gerard Holohan, Fr Tony Chiera from the Diocese of Bunbury, along with Fr Noel Fitzsymons, and seven fellow Salvatorian priests, and the two SDS seminarians Daniel and Symon. Parishioners from Bruce Rock, where Fr Marian had previously served as Parish Priest, also made the long trip to Esperance to join us for this very special occasion.

The Mass was celebrated by Bishop Gerard and the homily given by Fr Leonard was very moving.  Fr Leonard spoke of Fr Marian’s journey as a priest, first in Poland, before he moved to Tanzania, East Africa, then to the Major Salvatorian Seminary in Bangalore in India and finally to Australia, where he served in Carnarvon and then Bruce Rock, before coming to Esperance. The beauty of the liturgy and celebration was enhanced by inspiring music, and the Mass with Fr Marian, Bishop Gerard and fellow priests and seminarians celebrating  together was a rare and wonderfully uplifting event and we felt very privileged to be participants along with other parishioners and visitors.

At the end of Mass, Mrs Pat Ivers, Chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council made a beautiful speech giving an insight into Fr Marian’s compassion and leadership in our Parish, prior to presenting him with a gift from the Parish.  She invited Bishop Gerard, Priests, visitors and parishioners to join Fr Marian in celebratory supper where he cut his anniversary cake.

A quarter of a century in any profession is a long time so much so that one family decided to answer their invitation to celebrate in an innovative way.  The first crush of the 2009 harvest from “The Olive Farm” Esperance, was presented to Fr Marian in the form of fifty bottles of cold pressed olive oil, commemoratively labelled to acknowledge his 25 years of priesthood.  The oil was made available for sale and all proceeds generously donated by Fr Marian to the Salvatorian Seminary in Poland.

The celebrations continued with a few revellers sparring voices against each other in song; Polish love songs vs. Irish ditties.  The ‘blonde fox’ found the piano and another round of song and fun followed, ending a very enjoyable evening.

We in Esperance are very thankful for our wonderful priests, special people who guide, teach and listen to us.  We thank God for all the priests who have served us and are very appreciative that we have a priest such as Fr Marian with us in Esperance.