Father Andrew takes time to strengthen marriages

Father Andrew Hejdak

Editor's note: Marriage Encounter Interview, which will highlight the stories of local people involved with Marriage Encounter, will be a new feature to the South Texas Catholic.

Father Andrew Hejdak was born July 14, 1955 in Swidnica, Poland. An only child, he grew up during the time when Poland was under Communist rule. As a teenager, Father Andrew was a typical teenager - being a priest was far from his mind, but it's not to say that the Holy Spirit had not planted that special seed in his heart.

After completing his regular schooling, he studied mechanics for several years and then worked as a mechanic in a train factory for a couple of years. The work was hard and for very little pay and he says he grew tired of the communist systems's lies. He prayed to God to help him figure out what he could do to change the lives of the people suffering around him. After much deep & serious prayer, it was revealed to him – he had to find God and be with him. After 8 years in the field of mechanics, he made a commitment to accept the Lord's calling.

While a student at the seminary, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His professors were kind enough to allow him to go visit his mother frequently. As a matter of fact, he took care of her during most of her illness. His mother, a beautiful, distinguished-looking lady, and his father, a very handsome man, were still living when Fr. Andrew was ordained on May 26, 1984. And to think, initially, no one believed this mechanic would become a priest.

His first assignment was a parish in Poland. During the first year and a half of his assignment, his mother passed away. He completed his time there, then he received another assignment in a parish for 3 years, at which time he was studying for his doctorate. Before completing his studies, his father passed away and Fr. Andrew was unable to finish his thesis. At this difficult time in his life, he was struggling with what to do with his vocation. He finally decided to become a missionary priest. This would mean about a year of preparation which included learning Spanish beginning in Warsaw, Poland and then in Madrid, Spain, as he was to go to Argentina first. Then came his very challenging and difficult missionary assignment in Venezuela, with 2 parishes and 35 missions. He recalls having over 20,000 parishioners to serve in his second parish community. It was in Venezuela that he became fluent in Spanish very quickly and learned to really dislike beans!

There was a short period of time that he went to Calgary, Canada to see if he might work there but because of the bitter cold, he returned to Venezuela. He remained in Venezuela for a total of 7 years when an opportunity to come to the United States arose. His first assignment in the USA was in Phoenix, Arizona. There, he worked with 2 parishes in a Spanish community and spent these first 2 years acclimating to this new American culture and what a culture shock it was.

In 2002, Bishop Carmody welcomed Fr. Andrew Hejdak to the Diocese of Corpus Christi, specifically to the small parish of St. Thomas More. While in residence there, he celebrated Masses, attended Del Mar College taking English classes and continued acclimating with another culture – our south Texas culture! Texas may just be a hop, skip, and a jump from Arizona, but the people of the United States are quite diverse from state to state and even region to region within the states, as he quickly learned.

In June 2003, upon the retirement of Father Epi Rodriguez (a Dominican priest) serving in the small town of Benavides, Fr. Andrew was asked to serve at the parish of Santa Rosa de Lima – as a matter of fact this was his very first parish administrator assignment in Texas. This church, from its inception in the early 1930s, had been served by Dominican priests from Spain, until this tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Polish priest stepped foot in Benavides.

The parish community of Santa Rosa de Lima soon learned that Father Andrew was a very diligent and hard-working man who definitely puts all his passion to see a project, no matter how big or small, completed. Fr. Andrew spent 6 years in Benavides and then was assigned to Saint Therese, the Little Flower Catholic Church in Woodsboro, where he currently resides and celebrated his 25th anniversary of ordination last spring with his close friends and his new parish community. It was a lovely celebration and a great new beginning.

Now Fr. Andrew Hejdak has begun a new "project" – a long term one hopefully. Fr. Andrew will be part of a presentation team for the next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend taking place this Nov. 6 – 8 at Zephyr Retreat Center. This is the first weekend he is presenting and with great enthusiasm and passion (and of course all of God's graces), he can only accomplish beautiful things in this wonderful ministry. He hopes to contribute to this very important family ministry by serving in this position for as many Marriage Encounter Weekends as his schedule and parish responsibilities will allow. He strives to make a positive impact on the many sacramentally married couples as well as those civilly joined couples wishing to turn their lives to a life of sacramental marriage, following the Lord our God and living as He wants us to. Fr. Andrew says that in order for a family to live a Christ-centered life, you have to start at the core, with the couple. He says when you build a strong, faith-filled, loving couple relationship, then that spills into the children, the love, the faith, and everything falls into place. All strong vocations are built from strong families. Fr. Andrew is a priest today because of the foundation that his parents built for him in the church and home. Let us all take time to offer special prayers as Fr. Andrew begins this journey – with the Worldwide Marriage Encounter Ministry.

"Worldwide Marriage Encounters' Mission of renewal in the church and change in the world is to assist couples & priests to live fully intimate and responsible relationships by providing them with a Catholic "experience" and ongoing community support for such a lifestyle." (adopted by U.S. Secretariat, Jan., 1996, Dallas, TX)

For more information call Rolando and Nelda Garza at 361-851-8306.