In the weeks leading up to his ordination, Bishop Andrew Wypych, 56, sat down with Staff Writer Alicja Pozywio to discuss his future and his faith. Catholic New World: What is going through the heart of a priest when he answers a phone call from the papal nuncio with a question of becoming a bishop? Bishop Andrew Wypych: What did I feel that day? My entire life appeared before me in one second. I didn’t believe that something like that was possible. For a moment I thought that my brothers, the priests, were playing a joke on me because we were waiting for a long time in the Polish community for a new auxiliary who would also be the liaison to Polish Catholics. So, I answered that phone call carefully. I was told I couldn’t talk about it with anyone but Cardinal George. I contacted him and he of course knew about the nomination. In the beginning I chose my words carefully, but thanks to God the cardinal has a good sense of humor. He told me that it was not a joke. In church tradition it is the bishop who calls a priest to become a bishop. Cardinal George was the one who called me. CNW: You discovered your vocation to priesthood in Poland. When did you first know that God was calling you to be a priest? Wypych: I don’t know if one could put a specific date for such a calling, but I know that from my childhood I was always attracted to the priesthood. I have never been an altar server, but I always liked going to church and being in church. As a child sometimes at home I tried to mimic what the priest did in the church. I grew up in an environment friendly to religion and Christianity. I had wonderful parents and my grandmother lived with us. In high school I was not any different from other young men. The desire to be a priest subsided a little at that time. It came back when I was finishing high school. I imagined who I would like to be and what university I would like to attend. I liked the teacher that we had, so it was appealing to me to be a teacher. I also entertained the idea of being a lawyer as well as a few other professions, but still the desire to be a priest never left me. There was a wonderful, very dynamic young priest in my parish. He took care of the youth with such zest that it helped me to choose my vocation. The seminary experience was very intense. I liked being there as the seminarians were like siblings to me. After I was ordained, I realized that sometimes I have to be a teacher, a lawyer, a plumber, an electrician and a janitor in the parish. God has a good sense of humor; He gave me more I than I had ever asked for. CNW: On a number of occasions you indicated that your vocation was influenced by Blessed John Paul II. Bishop Wypych: I attended the seminary in Krakow, the archdiocese where he was the archbishop. I was in the last class of deacons ordained by him. I began my priesthood almost at the same time he became the pope. I saw him many times talking to the seminarians. It was his practice that every year he met one on one with each seminarian, so when he ordained a priest, he not only ordained just any priest but someone who he knew and whose family he knew very well. Being approachable himself, it was always good to be around him as he was able to put people at ease with his simple and direct way of approaching them. CNW: Did you have many occasions of meeting him? Bishop Wypych: When he became the pope, he didn’t treat us any different than when he was the archbishop of Krakow, where we could see him even with no appointment. We got this same privilege in Rome. I remember my first encounter with him after he became the pope. It was early in my priesthood and I thought that I knew everything and the world was just there for me to change with a stroke of a pen. I prepared myself with what I would tell him and what the pastor wanted me to tell him. After Mass, which I concelebrated with him, the Holy Father came to me, but I just stood there and I forgot everything I was supposed to tell him. He looked at me and smiled and then started asking questions about my mother and my father. As a pope who changed the course of the world, he was the same man as the archbishop of Krakow. The position he was holding hadn’t changed him. I always wanted to model my life after him and I still want to be that kind of a person. CNW: You came to Chicago in 1983 after four years being a priest in Poland. Why did you decide to come to Chicago? Bishop Wypych: It is a good question. Looking back there were many reasons. On the human level I was alone in Poland. My mother immigrated to the United States in 1974 after my father died. I couldn’t speak with her for seven years because telephone connections between Poland and the United States were prohibited by the communist government. We exchanged letters. Since I grew up as the only child, even though I had a younger brother Robert who died as an infant, I saw the need for the family being together. When I first came here, I had no understanding of the American church and no plans to stay. Later in life, I have noticed that many times when I make my own plans, the Lord comes with something else and his plans are always better than mine. This time was not any different. In the 1980s there were not many priests from Poland in Chicago and those who came here after World War II were getting older. The Polish bishops would send about two priests every year to the United States and after their preparation they were sent to different places in the United States where there was a need for a priest. Cardinal Bernardin welcomed me and I started the process of incardination. I was kind of a guinea pig because the procedure of incardination was not yet routine. They practiced on me, and then I became the first incardinated Polish priest to the Archdiocese of Chicago. Now I’ve been in the priesthood for 32 years and for 20 of these years I’ve been in Chicago. CNW: Bishops are the successors of the apostles, do you feel pressure? Bishop Wypych: Not yet. I understand who a bishop is and I know who bishop is by faith. I have an admiration for the vocation of an apostle who is sent by the Lord to the world. I’m thrilled on many levels that the Lord calls me to be an apostle. It is a fulfillment of priesthood. It is humbling that the Lord would use me just the way I am and that he trusts me. So I will pray that the Lord and the church won’t be disappointed in me. I will do my best. I have love for the whole church and the Lord. My role is always to point to Christ. It is not about Andrew Wypych but about Jesus, the Christ, and that Andrew Wypych serves the Lord and asks, “Lord, what else do you need me to do, so people see you and you will be visible in the church and in the world?” Catholic New World: What is going through the heart of a priest when he answers a phone call from the papal nuncio with a question of becoming a bishop? Bishop Andrew Wypych: What did I feel that day? My entire life appeared before me in one second. I didn’t believe that something like that was possible. For a moment I thought that my brothers, the priests, were playing a joke on me because we were waiting for a long time in the Polish community for a new auxiliary who would also be the liaison to Polish Catholics. So, I answered that phone call carefully. I was told I couldn’t talk about it with anyone but Cardinal George. I contacted him and he of course knew about the nomination. In the beginning I chose my words carefully, but thanks to God the cardinal has a good sense of humor. He told me that it was not a joke. In church tradition it is the bishop who calls a priest to become a bishop. Cardinal George was the one who called me. CNW: You discovered your vocation to priesthood in Poland. When did you first know that God was calling you to be a priest? Wypych: I don’t know if one could put a specific date for such a calling, but I know that from my childhood I was always attracted to the priesthood. I have never been an altar server, but I always liked going to church and being in church. As a child sometimes at home I tried to mimic what the priest did in the church. I grew up in an environment friendly to religion and Christianity. I had wonderful parents and my grandmother lived with us. In high school I was not any different from other young men. The desire to be a priest subsided a little at that time. It came back when I was finishing high school. I imagined who I would like to be and what university I would like to attend. I liked the teacher that we had, so it was appealing to me to be a teacher. I also entertained the idea of being a lawyer as well as a few other professions, but still the desire to be a priest never left me. There was a wonderful, very dynamic young priest in my parish. He took care of the youth with such zest that it helped me to choose my vocation. The seminary experience was very intense. I liked being there as the seminarians were like siblings to me. After I was ordained, I realized that sometimes I have to be a teacher, a lawyer, a plumber, an electrician and a janitor in the parish. God has a good sense of humor; He gave me more I than I had ever asked for. CNW: On a number of occasions you indicated that your vocation was influenced by Blessed John Paul II. Bishop Wypych: I attended the seminary in Krakow, the archdiocese where he was the archbishop. I was in the last class of deacons ordained by him. I began my priesthood almost at the same time he became the pope. I saw him many times talking to the seminarians. It was his practice that every year he met one on one with each seminarian, so when he ordained a priest, he not only ordained just any priest but someone who he knew and whose family he knew very well. Being approachable himself, it was always good to be around him as he was able to put people at ease with his simple and direct way of approaching them. CNW: Did you have many occasions of meeting him? Bishop Wypych: When he became the pope, he didn’t treat us any different than when he was the archbishop of Krakow, where we could see him even with no appointment. We got this same privilege in Rome. I remember my first encounter with him after he became the pope. It was early in my priesthood and I thought that I knew everything and the world was just there for me to change with a stroke of a pen. I prepared myself with what I would tell him and what the pastor wanted me to tell him. After Mass, which I concelebrated with him, the Holy Father came to me, but I just stood there and I forgot everything I was supposed to tell him. He looked at me and smiled and then started asking questions about my mother and my father. As a pope who changed the course of the world, he was the same man as the archbishop of Krakow. The position he was holding hadn’t changed him. I always wanted to model my life after him and I still want to be that kind of a person. CNW: You came to Chicago in 1983 after four years being a priest in Poland. Why did you decide to come to Chicago? Bishop Wypych: It is a good question. Looking back there were many reasons. On the human level I was alone in Poland. My mother immigrated to the United States in 1974 after my father died. I couldn’t speak with her for seven years because telephone connections between Poland and the United States were prohibited by the communist government. We exchanged letters. Since I grew up as the only child, even though I had a younger brother Robert who died as an infant, I saw the need for the family being together. When I first came here, I had no understanding of the American church and no plans to stay. Later in life, I have noticed that many times when I make my own plans, the Lord comes with something else and his plans are always better than mine. This time was not any different. In the 1980s there were not many priests from Poland in Chicago and those who came here after World War II were getting older. The Polish bishops would send about two priests every year to the United States and after their preparation they were sent to different places in the United States where there was a need for a priest. Cardinal Bernardin welcomed me and I started the process of incardination. I was kind of a guinea pig because the procedure of incardination was not yet routine. They practiced on me, and then I became the first incardinated Polish priest to the Archdiocese of Chicago. Now I’ve been in the priesthood for 32 years and for 20 of these years I’ve been in Chicago. CNW: Bishops are the successors of the apostles, do you feel pressure? Bishop Wypych: Not yet. I understand who a bishop is and I know who bishop is by faith. I have an admiration for the vocation of an apostle who is sent by the Lord to the world. I’m thrilled on many levels that the Lord calls me to be an apostle. It is a fulfillment of priesthood. It is humbling that the Lord would use me just the way I am and that he trusts me. So I will pray that the Lord and the church won’t be disappointed in me. I will do my best. I have love for the whole church and the Lord. My role is always to point to Christ. It is not about Andrew Wypych but about Jesus, the Christ, and that Andrew Wypych serves the Lord and asks, “Lord, what else do you need me to do, so people see you and you will be visible in the church and in the world?”