Portland parish gets new pastor

Bishop Michael Mulvey formally installed Father Piotr Koziel as pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Portland on Saturday, Aug. 19. The bishop appointed Father Koziel pastor on May 10 to replace Msgr. Mark Chamberlin who retired after 49 years as a priest and 19 years as pastor at the Portland Parish.

Father Koziel was born on July 12, 1967 in Piaseczno, Poland to Halina and Josef Koziel. In 1970 the family moved to Zarki Letnisko – a small town outside of Czestochowa, Poland where Father Koziel spent his childhood, attending elementary and middle schools.

When the time came to choose a high school, he decided to apply to the Diocesan Minor Seminary in Czestochowa. Having passed necessary exams, he was accepted into the program and graduated in May 1986. Prior to the graduation he was offered the opportunity of going to the United States to study for the priesthood.

He came to the United States on November 13, 1986 and began studying English as the second language at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. While there, he started searching for a bishop who would accept him as a seminarian and eventually ordain him to the priesthood.

“After a year, or so, of my stay in Orchard Lake, I was introduced to Bishop Rene Gracida, at that time bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas,” Father Koziel said. “Shortly thereafter I was accepted as a seminarian for that diocese and moved to Corpus Christi to begin my college education.”

He spent his first two years of study at Del Mar College and then transferred to the University of Dallas from where he graduated with a BA in philosophy in 1992. He then entered St. Mary’s Seminary and began studies in theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Four years later he graduated with a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in theological studies, and was ordained a transitional deacon on May 25, 1996. He was assigned to St. Gertrude’s Parish in Kingsville, where Father Roger Smith served as the pastor and who became his mentor.

“Upon my ordination to the priesthood on Jan. 25, 1997 I was reassigned to St. Gertrude’s as a parochial vicar and a campus minister at Kingsville’s A&M University,” Father Koziel said.

On March 2, 1999 he was assigned as an administrator of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Kingsville, while continuing to offer spiritual and pastoral care at the Catholic Center at the Texas A&M-Kingsville campus. Four years later, on March 4, 2003, he was appointed pastor of St. Gertrude’s in Kingsville, while retaining responsibilities for the campus ministry at TAMUK.

While serving at Our Lady of Good Counsel he started working on the licentiate degree in theology of spirituality at the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski in Warsaw, Poland. He successfully completed the studies and graduated on the June 27, 2005. On July 1, 2011 he applied to the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, to pursue studies in bio-ethics. He successfully completed the course load and got the proposal for the doctoral thesis approved, but due to health reasons, was not able to complete the work.

On April 30, 2016, Bishop Mulvey appointed Father Koziel parochial vicar of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles and St. Mary Mission in Corpus Christi, from where he moved to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Photos by Ervey Martinez