St. Mary Catholic Church: A new face in town

Fr. Gerald in 2017 while ministering to Catholics and other Christians in northern Iraq

submitted by St Mary Parish

In the spring of this year, Bishop Boyea of the Catholic Diocese of Lansing made a change in our Village community — especially to the people of St. Mary Church, but also to the broader community as we all share in one another’s blessings.

Father Bosco, whom many Manchester-ites had come to know and love, would be leaving in July for another assignment in Jackson county. And our Manchester Catholic community would be welcoming Fr. Gerald Gawronski.

The people of the parish wanted to introduce him to all and invite you to get to know him. Here is a brief introduction.

Upon ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Gerald served the Bishop at Saint Mary Cathedral in Lansing and assisted at Holy Redeemer and Immaculate Heart of Mary parishes. Then he received the assignment of pastor for Old St. Patrick’s parish in Ann Arbor and served there for 11 years, until 2016.

Then the Lord put on Fr. Gerald’s heart the desire to serve Catholic Christians in Iraq. And so, in the summer of 2016, he began three years of ministering to Catholics and other Christians in northern Iraq.

Fr. Gerald returned to the States in 2019, serving at St. Matthew’s parish in Flint before going to a special assignment at St. Thomas in Ann Arbor where he helped the parish begin an option for celebrating the Traditional Mass in Latin (sometimes called the Extraordinary Form). He helped make possible that ministry and outreach, serving for four years, beginning in July 2020.

And then this year, at the beginning of July 2024, he joined our small and beautiful parish here in Manchester. He became our pastor.

While each of Fr. Gerald’s assignments have been quite different (at a cathedral, in an historic church in Ann Arbor, in war-torn Iraq, as a traditional Latin Mass priest), God has brought him to our village fieldstone church to bless us. “There are different gifts but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).

We are still a “village,” and so in our friendly Manchester way, let us welcome Fr. Gerald to our community. Stop by St. Mary’s. Or if you see him downtown, say hello and introduce yourself! Like the people of the parish are discovering, he is a warm and gentle man, with a deeply Christian heart.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.