By Gia Myers • Posted May 12, 2025

This is the third in a series of five profiles of the men to be ordained new priests for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on May 17.

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Deacon Przemyslaw Rozestwinski applied to the seminary seven years ago and joyfully shared the news soon after with his father, who passed away a few days later.

Along with grief, Rozestwinski said  he felt “grace in that time of mourning” and knew he had “made the right decision” to enter the seminary, adding, “This is where God wants me.”

Rozestwinski is now one of five transitional deacons who will be ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Nelson Pérez on May 17 at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

He was born and raised in Poland during the period of that country’s communist regime in the port city of Gdynia on the Baltic coast with his father Zenon, an economist, his mother Barbara, a secretary and then homemaker, and his identical twin brother Radek, who now lives in Poland with his wife and young daughter.

The family moved to the Netherlands after communism fell in eastern Europe in 1989. There, Rozestwinski completed high school.

He came to the United States as an exchange student, eventually receiving a master’s degree in tourism from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He then spent a few years working in the financial investment industry and living his “dreams in America.”

Yet Rozestwinski felt a dissatisfaction, thinking he was “making wrong choices” in his life and needing to change.

He started seeking God’s will, which grew into a discernment for the priesthood.

Rozestwinski went on a pilgrimage to Mexico, where he visited the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and “received grace and guidance” from the Blessed Virgin Mary, he said.

He later traveled to his homeland, Poland, following the footsteps of well-known Polish saints Pope St. John Paul II and St. Faustina, a religious sister who had apparitions of Jesus Christ which inspired the Divine Mercy devotion.

“Those were life-changing moments,” he said, and he learned to trust in God’s plan.

Rozestwinski enterered SS. Cyril & Methodius Polish Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan before entering St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 2021.

Of his years at St. Charles, he recalls fondly the times of prayer with fellow seminarians, beautiful choir music during Masses and the close friendships formed along the way.

“They are brave enough to respond to God’s call,” Rozestwinski said of his fellow seminarians.

As a transitional deacon, he served at St. Helena Parish in Blue Bell, where he enjoyed the parish’s family-like environment and preparing seventh graders to receive the sacrament of confirmation.

He looks forward to becoming a priest and “being close to the altar and the Holy Eucharist (and) bringing mercy to people” through the sacrament of penance, which he calls “a life-giving sacrament.”

At the ordination Mass, Rozestwinski’s priestly vestments will be placed upon him for the first time by Father Matthew Biedrzycki, parochial vicar at St. Helena Parish in Philadelphia.

Rozestwinski’s family will travel from Poland to attend the Mass.

His favorite saints who will be included in the Litany of the Saints prayer chanted at the ordination are two well-known Polish saints, St. Faustina and St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest who volunteered to die in place of another man in the German death camp of Auschwitz during World War II.

For any young man considering the priesthood, Rozestwinski advises, “Don’t be afraid to say ‘yes’ to Jesus, whatever that may be.”

Though people are often afraid of what God may ask of them, Rozestwinski believes  seeking God’s will is the path to finding true happiness and fulfillment.

“Without that, we’ll still be searching,” he said.

Rozestwinski will celebrate his first Mass as an ordained priest at St. Adalbert Church in Philadelphia, part of his home parish, St. John Paul II Parish, on May 18 at 10:30 a.m. The homilist will be Father Jan Palkowski, pastor emeritus of St. Adalbert.