BUSHNELL  | Two weeks ago Father Waldemar Maciag received a call from Bishop John Noonan that filled him with joy. He would be incardinated into the Diocese of Orlando, Jan. 26, 2025.

The icing on the cake: his mother, sister, and nephew would be in town from Poland to witness the occasion.

“It’s time to adopt Father Waldemar,” Bishop Noonan told the faithful of St. Lawrence in Bushnell.

His words warmed Father Maciag’s heart.

“After 19 years in the diocese, I already felt a sense of attachment. It means a lot,” Father Maciag said. “At this point, our priests and Bishop Noonan are closer to me than everything I’ve left behind in the Diocese of Radom in Poland where I was ordained.”

He only worked in that diocese for three years, then five years in Sweden, before arriving in Florida. Going to Poland only once per year, Father Maciag said he barely knows that bishop.

“Everything here has become part of me. Those are my roots, but I am attached here,” he said.

He is grateful Bishop Noonan has allowed him to incorporate his artistic and musical talents into evangelization, skills he almost lost after an accident injured his hand early on in his vocation.

Having missed significant holidays and events during the 26 years he’s been away from Poland, Father Maciag said, “It felt like the finger of God made it possible for my family to be at my incardination.”

Also dear to him was the cassock he wore, made of a fabric he purchased in the Holy Land three years ago on his 25th anniversary of ordination and sewn by his mother, Teresa. She learned the trade while living under Communist Poland to survive.

At his jubilee celebration in 2022, he said, “The greatest part of being a priest is being a part of something bigger than myself and experiencing all the graces and blessings that come from God. For any person to leave his own country, and go thousands of miles from a loving home, needs the grace of God. On a human level it is impossible.”

To learn more about Father Maciag’s art click here. 

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, January 31, 2025