Fr Karol Kulczycki SDS, Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Port Pirie, will be ordained in Poland later this month before taking up his ministry in the regional South Australian diocese.

Fr Kulczycki’s episcopal ordination will take place on September 29, the Feast of the Archangels, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Trzebinia – the church in which he was ordained a priest in 1994.

Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio to Australia, will be the principal celebrant, assisted by the Archbishop of Krakow and the Auxiliary Bishop of Wroclaw.

The ordination Mass, which will be celebrated in English, will be live-streamed through Catholic television station TRWAM at 7pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Fr Kulczycki, who became an Australian citizen during his 21 years of ministry in the Archdiocese of Perth and Diocese of Geraldton between 1997 and 2018, is expected to travel to Australia in early October before serving two weeks in quarantine.

He will be installed as the 12th Bishop of Port Pirie (formerly Port Augusta) on October 28. The celebration will have limited attendees due to COVID-19 restrictions, but bishops from the Adelaide Province, which includes the Northern Territory, will be present. The installation will be live-streamed.

Port Pirie Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ said the people of the diocese are very much looking forward to welcoming their new shepherd.

“Bishop-Elect Karol will arrive at an unusual time in the history of our diocese, our country and our world, but we plan to ensure he receives a welcome befitting the new ministry he is undertaking,” he said.

“We continue to pray for him, and will do so especially on the 29th of September, when he is ordained bishop.”