‘Beautiful yet humbling’

Father Manerowski reflects on 30 years as a priest

Father Joseph Manerowski

“... just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” — Matthew 20:28

I was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Lindenhurst on Long Island in a Polish/American family with a devotion to Our Lady of Czestochowa. I became a priest through a rather unconventional path earlier in my life. I married and had three children. I worked as an elementary school teacher and upon retiring, became a professional counselor in a drug rehabilitation center. After my subsequent divorce and annulment, I was led by the Spirit to explore the vocation of priesthood. With the help from the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, I was accepted as a seminarian by the Albany Diocese and began formal studies at Sacred Heart Seminary School of Theology in Wisconsin.

After my ordination in 1995, I became an associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Church in Schenectady. After a year in Schenectady, I was reassigned to St. Peter’s Church in Delhi, where I also served as the campus minister at SUNY Delhi. In 2000, I became pastor in Hoosick Falls. While serving the Church of the Immaculate Conception, I was also chaplain for St. Mary’s Academy and the St. George Mission.

I retired on Sept. 1, 2017, after serving as pastor for 10 years at St. Mary’s Church in Glens Falls.

I am so very grateful to God for calling me to the priesthood to serve Him, the church and His people. It is so beautiful yet humbling for me to be able to administer the graces of the sacraments to people and thereby often become a part of their lives as they struggle with or rejoice over issues as they journey in life. It is also a joy encouraging and working with people who wish to bring Christ’s presence to others and to become active in the church’s ministries.

I feel God called me to use my gifts and talents to help parishes grow and flourish by tapping the gifts and talents of God’s people. When a priest and people are joined together, the parish becomes a community which grows in a great variety of ways, thereby giving honor, glory and praise to our triune God. For the past 30 years, the celebration and administration of the Eucharist has been the greatest joy and privilege of all, instilling in me the love and mind of Christ for his people of whom I am one.

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” — Mark 10:43-45