English
On 10 June this year, on the first day of the 398th Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Marek Marczak, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Lodz, was elected Secretary General of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for five years.
At the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Marczak holds the positions of a member of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith, a member of the Council for Youth Pastoral Care and the Delegate for Academic Pastoral Care of the Polish Episcopate. As Secretary General, he is an ex officio member of the Presidium of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.
The Secretary General is elected from among the members of the Conference by the Plenary Assembly for five years. The function can be held continuously for two consecutive terms. The Secretary General heads the Secretariat, which is an organ of the Polish Bishops’ Conference that supports the Conference and its President in carrying out its statutory tasks. The Secretary General may be delegated by the President of the Conference to liaise with the state authorities in matters concerning the relations between the Church and the State, while preserving the competence of the Holy See.
Bishop Marek Marczak was born on 17 February 1969 in Piotrków Trybunalski. He entered the Higher Theological Seminary in Lodz. He was ordained priest on 11 June 1994 in the Archcathedral of Lodz by Archbishop Nuncio Janusz Bolonek. In his pastoral ministry he worked as a vicar at the parish of St Andrew the Apostle in Restarzewo Poduchowne.
In 1996 he began specialist studies in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, graduating in 2004 with a doctorate in theology.
Since 2004 he has been teaching dogmatic theology at the Higher Theological Seminary in Łódź. As a pastoral assistant he was involved in the parishes of St Apostles Peter and Paul and St Dorothy and St John the Baptist in Łódź – Mileszki. He participated in the meetings of Home Church circles.
On 22 November 2012, Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, Metropolitan of Łódź, appointed him Archdiocesan Chaplain of Science Workers. From 2013 to 2015 he was Rector of the Higher Seminary in Łódź. As a member of the Priests’ Council of the Archdiocese of Łódź, he also served as its vice-secretary.
On 28 February 2015, the Holy Father Francis appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Łódź, assigning him the titular See of Lentini. He received the episcopal ordination on 11 April 2015 at the Archcathedral of Lodz.
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
Photo: Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
