07/29/2021
You will be missed Ks. Józef Zuziak.
FUNERAL SERVICES FOR FR. JOZEF ZUZIAK
Friday, July 30, 2021
Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine
5755 Pennsylvania St. - Merrillville, IN
*Visitation from 10:30 am to 12:15 pm at the shrine; rosary from 12:15 to 12:30 pm
*Bishop Robert McClory (Diocese of Gary) will celebrate the Funeral Mass at 12:30 pm; following Mass, there will be a procession to SS. Peter & Paul Cemetery (located just north of the shrine), where Fr. Zuziak will be buried
Fr. Józef Zuziak was born on January 17, 1934, in Lipowa, Poland (near Żywiec) to Wojciech and Aniela Zuziak. At baptism, which he received shortly after his birth in his native parish of St. Bartholomew, he was named Józef Roman. In 1940, his parents and their five children were relocated to the Chełm area and later moved to Kraków. In 1945, they returned to Lipowa.
In 1949, Józef graduated from primary school, and in 1953, after graduating from the general school in Żywiec, he passed his secondary graduation examination and asked for admission to the Society of the Divine Savior order of priests. After almost a year of novitiate formation, he decided to interrupt it and began studying at the Academy of Agriculture in Krakow. His education was interrupted by a call to military service in the topographic unit in Komorów. He ended his service in the fall of 1958.
On July 12, 1959, he made a humble request to the Salvatorian Provincial to be re-admitted to the Congregation as a candidate for the priesthood. On August 14, 1959, he entered the novitiate in Bagno near Wrocław. On August 15, 1960, he made his first religious vows. In August 1963, he vowed to chastity, poverty and obedience for the rest of his life. On June 28, 1966, he was ordained a priest in Trzebinia by Bishop Karol Wojtyła (who later became St. John Paul II).
In the years 1966-1967, he stayed in a religious house in Krakow at ul. Łobzowska, where he held the so-called Pastoral Year. During this time, responding to the missionary needs of the Congregation, he made a written declaration in which he expressed his readiness to go to Africa. On August 31, 1967, however, he began his pastoral and catechetical service in the parish of St. John the Baptist.
On October 7, 1969, he reached the United States via the ship “Stefan Batory.” He took up a pastoral ministry among the Polish diaspora and settled in Merrillville, Indiana. From the very beginning of their stay, the superiors entrusted Father Joseph with responsibility for the community in Merrillville as treasurer, rector superior or vice-superior.
His merit was the pastoral and material development of the Salvatorian institution. Fr. Zuziak was instrumental in planning the construction of the church with the Millennium Panorama and the unique image of the Madonna of Częstochowa, which today is a Marian shrine. He founded and organized the Polish walking pilgrimage (from Chicago to Munster to Merrillville), which still attracts thousands of pilgrims. He also had a significant role in the organization of other Salvatorian ministry places in the USA.
It is difficult to overestimate the merits of Fr. Józef Zuziak in promoting Polishness among the Polish diaspora. There were many beautiful initiatives, not only of a religious nature, but also of a historical and cultural nature. On May 19, 2018, the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, awarded him with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
Fr. Joseph was a noted harmonica player and performed religious and other well-known melodies. Even Pope John Paul II listened to his music, which was also the highlight of the numerous gatherings in which Fr. Zuziak participated in.
Fr. Józef Zuziak died on July 27, 2021, at the Albertine Home in Hammond, Indiana. The funeral will take place on July 30, 2021, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Merrillville. He will be buried at the nearby local cemetery.
