ST. CLAIR SHORES — Fr. Ronald Kurzawa is remembered as a joyful priest and advocate for youth pilgrimages, whom parishioners described as having a “way of deviously spreading joy.”
The former pastor of St. Clement of Rome Parish in Romeo, Precious Blood Parish in Detroit, St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in St. Clair Shores and St. Aidan Parish in Livonia died Nov. 17, his 86th birthday.
Ronald Kurzawa was born Nov. 17, 1938, in Detroit to Sigmund and Helen (Kopas) Kurzawa. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit by Cardinal John F. Dearden on June 6, 1964.
After completing associate pastoral assignments at St. Cunegunda Parish (1964-68) and St. Bartholomew Parish (1968-73) in Detroit, Fr. Kurzawa was assigned pastor at St. Clement of Rome Parish in Romeo, where he served from 1973 to 1982.
Fr. Kurzawa was then assigned to St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in St. Clair Shores, where he served from 1992 to 2002.
His third and final pastor assignment was St. Aidan in Livonia, where he served from 2002 to 2008, when he was granted senior status.
Paul Pyrkosz, business manager at St. Fabian Parish in Farmington Hills, worked with Fr. Kurzawa during his time at St. Aidan and said Fr. Kurzawa was a big advocate for sending youth from the parish on pilgrimages.
“Shortly after arriving at St. Aidan, Fr. Ron asked me why we did not send teens to World Youth Day,” Pyrkosz told Detroit Catholic. “Months later, 30 pilgrims from St. Aidan arrived in Sydney, Australia (in 2008). The best part was that the fundraising was so successful that most teens only had to pay about half the tour costs. Since then, St. Aidan has sent well-funded pilgrims all over the world.”
The key reason the parish supported the pilgrims was that Fr. Kurzawa had a way of getting parishioners to “buy in” to the mission behind the pilgrimages or whatever parish project needed completing.
“He had a way of deviously spreading joy,” Pyrkosz said. “It was formulaic, but it caught you every time. He would lay a trap, the victim would be caught, and then they smiled at his genius when they realized what Fr. Ron had pulled off.”
After his time at St. Aidan, Fr. Kurzawa moved to the nearby Senior Clergy Village in Livonia, but he didn’t stay there long.
After coming across an advertisement about the need for a Catholic priest at The Reserve at Red Run in Madison Heights, Fr. Kurzawa packed up his belongings and answered the call once again, moving up to Madison Heights to be the priest in residence at The Reserve.
“Even at 80 years old, he was called to continue his ministry to a community,” Pyrkosz said. “He packed up his condo at Senior Clergy Village and answered an advertisement for a Catholic priest at Red Run. In June, he gathered people from all the communities where he had ever been present to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination. He just had that way of drawing in people.”
Fr. Kurzawa’s funeral was Nov. 25 at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in St. Clair Shores.
Fr. Kurzawa was predeceased by his parents, Sigmund and Helen. He is survived by his siblings, Marleen (Lawrence) Galka, Judith (the late Roy) DeRoche and Richard (Micky Mack) Kurzawa; as well as many nieces and nephews.
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