Fr. Jozef Roszynski, of the Society of the Divine Word “Societas Verbi Divini” (SVD) order, has been appointed Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wewak. The appointment was made by Pope Francis, and Fr. Jozef will be ordained officially on Saturday 25 April, in Wewak, East Sepik Province.
Fr. Jozef first arrived in Papua New Guinea on the 13th of October, 1992, and has been working as a parish priest and District Superior of the SVD’s in the Wewak diocese, for 23 years. He also held the role of Acting Provincial Superior, of the SVDs, in PNG for almost two years.
Fr.Joe is a lively man and loved by the people and the priests and religious of the diocese. He is big in size and so he is lovingly called “Big Joe”.
At present he resides at Wirui, in Wewak, as the District Superior for the SVD confrères and also assists with pastoral work in the parishes of Wewak diocese, which are without a resident priest.
The position of the Bishop of Wewak has been vacant since 2013, after the death of Bishop Tony Burgess.
The ordination of Fr. Jozef will follow the Annual General Meeting in Port Moresby from April 15 to 24, and is expected to be attended by around 20 Catholic Bishops from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
The Society of the Divine Word “Societas Verbi Divini” (SVD) order is an international congregation of Catholic missionary priests and Brothers, founded in 1875 by Arnold Janssen. The SVDs work “primarily where the Gospel has not been preached at all or only insufficiently and where the local Church is not yet viable on its own.”
Fr. Jozef was born in Nidzica, Poland, on the 18th of August, 1962. He joined the Society of the Divine Word in 1981, September 1 at Chludowo, Poland where he began his priestly training.
He was ordained priest on the 30th of April 1989, at Pieniezno in Poland.
