Last week, the AU Catholic community welcomed their second new chaplain in four months, Father Zygmunt Kurzawinski.
Kurzawinski will replace Father Patrick Dempsey, who was reassigned by the Archdiocese of Washington to work full-time as a secretary for retired Cardinal William Baum.
"Fr. Dempsey already had a full time job when he was assigned to AU, so it wasn't working out when he was given another part-time assignment at AU," said Danielle Giusto, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and president of AU's Catholic Student Association.
This spring, the diocese retired 11 old priests and ordained five new ones, so it is taking longer than usual for the cardinal to place priests in their respective parishes and faith communities, she said.
Kurzawinski is Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's secretary and has taken on the job as AU chaplain part-time.
"Perhaps the greatest challenge I'm facing with this new job is that I have never worked with college students before," Kurzawinski said. "I am also concerned with the responsibility I have with being the secretary for the Cardinal and working with AU students at the same time."
Kurzawinski previously worked with Father Bill Gurnee, AU's former Catholic chaplain who was assigned to work at George Washington University. "Father Gurnee had me celebrate a few masses at AU in the past, and when I was asked to help by Cardinal McCarrick, I was more than happy to help," Kurzawinski said.
Dr. Karin Thornton, associate Catholic chaplain at AU, believes that Kurzawinski, 28, will be "a tremendous asset to AU's Catholic community."
"Everyone liked him right away after the Sunday masses last week," Thornton said. "He was very much in tune with our young community."
Many of AU's Catholic students said they feel Kurzawinski will be the right fit for their community.
"Father Zygmunt is excellent; he's very enthused about being here," Giusto said. "He has been a priest for only two years and this is his first campus assignment, so he is looking forward to bringing something to our campus and learning everything he can from us too."
Kurzawinski, an only child, grew up in Warsaw, Poland.
"As a child, I loved reading about the lives of the saints and was very interested in languages," Kurzawinski said.
