Submitted by: Dr. Eileen Quinn Knight

I want to share my good news about Father Marek Smolka, who is such a generous and thoughtful priest. His Mass this morning on the Feast of the Sacred Heart was filled with his love for Christ and the Church. He is a man who takes seriously his job and does it well. During this time he was in charge of all the online Masses from the Cathedral with Cardinal Cupich and Rector Sakowicz and daily online Mass with the priests from Holy Name and all around the diocese. Father Marek included everyone. This is a great deal of work to get all the technology set up and to make sure each priest who prayed the Mass knew exactly what was expected and how to make sure everything was taken care of. On Sunday, the Mass had music, too.

Besides all that, Father Smolka takes care of the Polish ministry for the diocese. He again sets up Polish online Masses for people as well as attending to the many needs of the large Polish community in Chicago. He speaks fluent Polish as that is his heritage but was born in the United States. There are so many pieces of the ministry that have to be taken care of and he does it willingly and well.

Probably one of the most endearing aspects of Father Smolka is his kindness to all. He likes people and has fun with them. He has a good sense of humor and does not micro-manage whatever needs to be attended to. He works hard at his ministry.