On June 1, Benjamin Schrantz and Pawel Zmija were ordained to the priesthood, one day later than The Catholic Sun printing deadline. Our June 20 edition will include full coverage of the event; in the meantime, the ordinands sat for pre-ordination interviews we share with you below. Visit thecatholicsun.com and youtube.com/syrdio for extended coverage of the event.
By Dc. Tom Cuskey
Editor
Hundreds of family members, friends and clergy were expected to gather on
June 1, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse for the ordination of two men to the Holy Order of Priesthood. Transitional deacons Benjamin Schrantz and Pawel Zmija were scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in a joyful liturgy by Bishop Douglas J. Lucia.
In anticipation, we sat down pre-ordination with each of the men for this brief preview of our full coverage.
Rev. Mr. Benjamin Schrantz
Father Benjamin Schrantz
Father Ben has been caught up in the “very chaotic” process of wrapping up his studies, making his canonical retreat and planning for the ordination Mass and celebration of his first Mass.
“But it’s a good chaotic,” he said. “I’ve used the expression: I’m planning my own wedding by myself. I don’t have that spouse there to help me plan it.” His comment sent the Sun interviewers into a brief fit of laughter. “That’s, I think, the best way to describe how all of this is going right now for me.”
Looking back on the beginning moments of his journey to the priesthood took him back to college days.
“Back in undergrad I was part of the Newman Center at SUNY Fredonia, and it was there that I met people my own age,” he said. “And it was the first time I met people my own age who were away from home, growing in their faith. They took it seriously.”
It was then that Ben started attending daily Mass, praying the Rosary and enjoying a life that was faith-filled. As graduation approached, “The idea of priesthood started coming up, but it was a foreign concept, as like ‘that’s for someone else.’ So I pushed it away.” Just before he was scheduled to start graduate school, something wasn’t sitting just right. He decided to take a year off instead. He found work at his home parish, St. Paul’s in Whitesboro.
“During that year, I became more involved in the parish, in the diocese. And my life started to revolve even more around the church,” he said. “And that idea of priesthood just started coming up again. And instead of pushing it away, I started to pray with it a little more.”
A deacon at Ben’s home parish was aware of Ben’s discernment and advised him to give the call a try. “You’ll never know if God’s calling you to this unless you try,” was the deacon’s advice in Ben’s words.
“And that’s [when] I was promised pizza one day at a vocations event … and the next thing I know, it’s seven years later, and I’m going to be ordained a priest.”
To say Ben brings a feeling of peace, joy and a great sense of humor to the call is a tremendous understatement. But Ben’s deep discernment has been part of a very serious journey through seminary, through five parishes he has been assigned to during that time and a personal prayer experience that draws him closer to God.
“I have to go out into nature,” he said. “I have to get away from the world. I have to go out in nature and that’s where I find God. Being out by myself. And that’s whether it’s kayaking, hiking or camping. That’s where God is.”
Ben has embraced preaching and other faculties of his year-long deacon experience. He looks forward to work as a priest serving God’s people, especially providing sacraments that people sought during his time in chaplaincy practicum, sacraments and anointing that only a priest can provide.
“It brings peace to people.”
Get to know Father Ben by visiting the Diocesan YouTube page youtube.com/syrdio.
Rev. Mr. Pawel Zmija
Father Pawel Zmija
Pawel (pronounced PAH-vul, Polish for Paul) is a native of Poland, growing up in the Silesia area in the southern part of the country. His home district of Katowice (Kat-oh-VEEtsa) is known as a coal mining region and, unlike Ben’s college experience, Pawel knew from an early age that he would walk a different path in life.
“My grandfather, great grandfather, all my uncles, my father, they all worked in the coalmine,” he told the Sun. But as a kindergarten student, a homily given by a missionary priest caught Pawel’s attention. Sounds unique, doesn’t it?
“I never considered [it] as unique. However, everybody — all my neighbors, all my family members — everybody knew that I will be a priest in the future,” Pawel said. “And even through my whole life, like for another 20 years. I wasn’t 100% sure that that will be my life path, there was always something in the back of my head that I wanted to be a priest.”
As with any discernment process, Pawel had his “ups and downs” as he says. While this first impression came from a missionary priest, Pawel came to truly feel the call to diocesan and parish priestly service while in high school. Following a propaedeutic year, an introductory time of study, he entered the seminary in Poland in 2014.
“[It] was a beautiful place,” he said. “We focused more on the spiritual formation instead of intellectual formation. And that was a good time to recognize my call.”
His first four years were spent in Katowice, “But at one point in my formation, I decided to work abroad … and I decided to move to Orchard Lake (Michigan).” SS Cyril and Methodius Seminary there had a long tradition of forming Polish students studying for the priesthood. Unfortunately, after 137 years of service, the seminary closed in 2021.
God’s plan for Pawel started to really unfold just before that.
At a celebratory luncheon on the day before ordination, Bishop Douglas J. Lucia blessed the chalices of Pawel Zmija (left) and Benjamin Schrantz. The two newly ordained priests will celebrate their first Masses on Sunday, June 2.
In November 2020, anticipating the change in seminaries he would have to make, Pawel accepted an invitation to spend Thanksgiving in the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois. Father Andrew Baranski, Rector of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Syracuse, read an article about the Orchard Lake seminarians. Pawel’s biography caught his attention; Father Baranski’s home region in Poland was not far from Pawel’s.
“So he decided to invite me to the Basilica, however, I had other plans, you know,” Pawel said. “I received a letter a week or two weeks before and Father Baranski asked me, ‘Where are you going for Thanksgiving?’ And I said, I’m going to — I have already my ticket to — Illinois. And he said, ‘Okay, what about Christmas?’ I said, Well, I don’t have any plans.”
The rest is history. His visit to Springfield didn’t bear fruit but Christmas in Syracuse felt like the right place to be. Pawel’s first Mass was celebrated with his “American family” at the Basilica on June 2. His mother, sister and childhood friend from Poland were there for the celebrations. On June 9, he will travel to Poland to celebrate a second “first Mass’ at his home parish there, among family and friends. Sadly, Pawel’s father passed away earlier this year. Pawel carries his father’s memory in his heart during these spiritual moments.
Pawel said he looking forward to sharing the message of the Gospel with his congregations. He is grateful to all who have accompanied him on his journey and asks one favor of all. “To pray, to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life.”
Get to know Father Pawel by visiting the Diocesan YouTube page youtube.com/syrdio.
