- The first time I was confronted by the reality of climate change was in the summer of 1995 before I joined the Franciscan friars. While backpacking in Europe, we did some ice climbing near Interlaken, Switzerland. As we climbed on top of a glacier, our middle-aged Swiss guide showed us where the glacier was just two decades earlier. It retreated over 200 yards due to the burning of fossil fuels and the ensuing climate change.
- My involvement in the peace building efforts in the Holy Land goes back over 20 years. After hearing a presentation by Rabbi Michael Lerner in Durham, NC, I ended up going on a Christian Peacemakers Team delegation to Israel and Palestine. We met with the amazing Palestinians and Israelis, Christians, Jews and Muslims working for justice, peace, and an end to the occupation.
- You might be surprised to know that when I was in my teens growing up in Poland under the communist regime, I used to listen to the music played by Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, etc.
- One of the best things that has happened to me as a Franciscan friar was being sent for a culture and language immersion program in Latin America: one summer in the southern Mexican city of Merida, Yucatan; and in a slum area of Lima, Peru. I’ve fallen in love with the peoples and the cultures of Mexico and South America.
- Prior to coming to Siena to work at Laudato Si’ Center for Integral Ecology, I spent over 20 years serving at the multicultural parishes in Silver Spring, MD and in Durham, NC. Besides the sacramental ministry, I’ve been very involved in the community’s involvement in justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
- I began playing table tennis when I was 17 living at a refugee camp in Italy. There was a ping-pong table in one of the halls. It was a good way to pass time and play with some of the Polish and Vietnamese refugees.
- The longest and most challenging hike I have ever taken was a trekking expedition into Peruvian Andes around Cordillera Huayhuash: 80 miles in 10 days at the altitude between 13,000 and 16,500 feet.
- After graduating from High School, I spent seven days and eight nights rafting with a group of people the entire length of the Grand Canyon. It was a plunge into a deep-time; one of the most powerful experiences of the evolutionary Spirit of God present across the vast span of Earth’s evolution.
- When I lived in small fraternities, I used to do a decent amount of cooking. I find it relaxing and fulfilling. What’s my favorite dish? Some Polish food: stuffed cabbage, polish pork chops; and a fair amount of improvised, multicultural dishes, depending on what’s left in the refrigerator…
- A few days ago, my niece gave birth to her second child: Konrad. It’s yet another reason to seek intergenerational climate justice.
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