By Chris Spoons
Staff writer

The priesthood is something Bishop-designate Thomas Paprocki was interested in from an early age.

“I used to play Mass as a child,” he said. At age 8 he was pastor of the fictional Sacred Heart Parish located in the family dining room, where he would say Mass for his siblings and neighborhood friends. “I even made vestments for him out of old dish towels,” recalled his mother, Veronica Paprocki. “He played Mass every day.”

Bishop Paprocki says his parents were very influential in his attitude about the faith and the priesthood. “I always thought he’d be a priest,” his mother said. “But I didn’t push him one way or another. I left it up to him.”

Coming from a family of pharmacists, Paprocki lived above the family drug store that his grandfather opened in 1919 at Cermak and Sacramento. “I started working there in sixth grade selling candy at the candy counter,” he said.

The Paprockis were all active in their parish, St. Casimir (now Our Lady of Tepeyac). “I served Mass there frequently,” Bishop Paprocki said. “We only lived a block away, so I would fill in a lot when they needed someone.”

By fifth grade he was thinking seriously about becoming a priest. He began formal studies for the priesthood at age 14 at Quigley South. He then went to Niles College Seminary and then Mundelein Seminary.

After his ordination in 1978, Paprocki was assigned to St. Michael Parish on 83rd Street. While at St. Michael, he also attended law school at DePaul University. “I was always interested in politics and law,” he said. “Even though I wanted to be a priest, I never lost my interest in law.”

Bishop Paprocki and a law school classmate opened the South Chicago Legal Clinic, a not-for-profit legal clinic, in 1981. “I was interested in social justice, but I didn’t just want to talk about it. I wanted to do something about it.” The clinic helps people with civil cases like bankruptcy, domestic problems and tenant/landlord issues.

Bishop Paprocki began working in the chancellor’s office in 1985. Since he was doing more canon law than civil law work, he was sent to Rome from 1987-91 to formally study canon law. “It was very exciting,” he said. “It was my first time in Europe. It was a chance to see a different part of the world, to extend my horizons a bit.”

Bishop Paprocki’s first trip to Poland came in 1988. His parents joined him in Rome for their 40th wedding anniversary and then they all traveled to Poland – after meeting with the Holy Father.

Bishop Paprocki returned to Poland the following summer to study Polish at the Catholic University of Lublin. “It is the only Catholic university that existed in the Soviet countries, and it survived because of the faith of the people,” he said.

Bishop Paprocki, whose great grandparents moved to the U.S. from Poland in 1890, didn’t grow up speaking the language. “We didn’t speak it at home, so I had to learn more in school —the language, culture, history, traditions.”

While he was overseas, he also traveled to the Soviet Union and China. “We were warned not to dress as priests, but as students,” he remembered. “As we entered the Soviet Union they checked our prayer and theology books. It was a real eye opener to see the different approaches to the law. When you see others don’t have the same kind of legal protection and freedom, you realize that we take for granted the legal system in the U.S. We can pray where we want and read what we want. It reminded me that we really need to cherish the freedoms that are protected by our constitution and laws.”

Back in Chicago, Bishop Paprocki was named chancellor in 1992. Two notable projects stand out in his mind from his eight-year tenure as chancellor: cataloging the policies and procedures of the archdiocese and his work on the issue of clerical misconduct with minors.

Compiling the policies and procedures took several years and resulted in five books that are now on the archdiocesan web site (www.archdiocese-chgo.org). “People would call and ask not only about the church’s teaching on an issue, but about specific archdiocesan policies on those issues,” he explained. “It was helpful to catalog all of it in one place.”

In 1992 Cardinal Ber-nardin appointed him as a delegate to work on the issue of clerical sexual misconduct with minors. He continued in that role under Cardinal George. “As we all know, that’s been a very difficult issue for the church,” he said. “I got involved right when Cardinal Bernardin instituted the new review board. It was a good thing to do and a lot of dioceses followed suit and created such boards.”

Paprocki would meet with the review board, but not as a voting member. He would brief the cardinal, report back to the board and guide the board in archdiocesan policies and canon law.

After two terms as chancellor, Paprocki was named pastor of St Constance in 2001. Founded in 1916 as an offshoot from Our Lady of Victory, St. Constance now has four Polish and four English Masses each weekend. “It is still a national parish,” he explained. “That is, it has no boundaries so people come from all over.”

“I think one of the reasons I was appointed bishop is my involvement in the Polish community, which in Chicago is second only to Warsaw,” he said. “It is important to have a bishop here aware of and sensitive to the needs of the Polish community.”

“One of the basic needs of the immigrant community is to have basic religious services available to them,” he said. “The Polish people are very Catholic, very devout. We need to make sure the Masses and sacraments are available to them in their native language.” He says that even for those who have learned English, it means a lot more to them if they can have their child baptized, get married, or bury a loved one with the liturgy in Polish.

He sees a lot of social issues among the community, particularly immigration issues and social services needs. “As pastor I wouldn’t try to handle all of that through the parish, but it’s about knowing the resources available and knowing where to refer people.”

Paprocki sees his new role as bishop as being a bridge for the Polish community and the archdiocese as a whole. “It is a constant challenge to maintain unity within the Polish community,” he said. “I hope to be able to foster unity within the Polish community and also with other with other areas of the archdiocese.” Being multilingual – he speaks Polish, Spanish and Italian – he is up to the challenge.

Outside of work, Paprocki likes to run and play hockey. He has run ten marathons since his first in 1995, including the Boston Marathon in 1998, and two marathons in 2000. While many people were worrying about the Millennium computer bug, Paprocki was in Rome on Jan. 1 for the Jubilee Marathon that started in St. Peter’s Square with a papal blessing.

“I originally got into running in the 1970s for health reasons,” he said. “Then one year my brothers and I were talking about New Year resolutions. I blurted out that I would run a marathon in the next year and that cinched it.”

One aspect important to Paprocki is fund raising while running. “I ask people to pledge one dollar per mile,” he said. Over the ten marathons he has run, he has raised about $186,000 for groups like Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, the Chicago Legal Clinic, the Annual Catholic Appeal, and the St. Constance School Endowment Fund.

“There is also a spiritual dimension to running,” he said. “It is a time for prayer for me.”

Dressed in black and white and wearing his trademark White Sox cap while running, he also prays the rosary. “You’re out there for more than three hours. A good way to pass the time is to pray. It helps me to focus and get my mind off of running.”

A life-long hockey fan, Paprocki is also goalie for the Lawyers ice hockey team. “One of my earliest memories is of my dad taking me to the Chicago Stadium,” he said. “The Blackhawks were always battling for first place then so it was always pretty exciting.” He is also goalie for a floor hockey team at St. Constance.