Father Piotr is a daddy

Father Piotr.

A YOUNG city Roman Catholic priest has sensationally quit the church to look after his love child.

Father Piotr Koczorowski, the former Polish chaplain based at St Mary’s RC Church, Inverness, mysteriously disappeared following a Christmas party.

Rumours were rife among members of the congregation that a woman was involved, and that they had a baby. This week the Scottish Catholic Church confirmed the bombshell news.

In a terse statement, a spokesman for the Aberdeen diocese said: “After meeting with Bishop Peter Moran, Fr Koczorowski plans to leave the priesthood in order to focus on his parental responsibilities.”

One source suggested 35-year-old Father Piotr had given up his charge and gone to live in Glasgow with his partner and their baby, but colleagues at the picturesque St Mary’s, in Huntly Street on the banks of the River Ness, were tight-lipped and would not discuss the issue.

The news will stun many of the devoted Polish Roman Catholic residents in the Highland Capital, of which there are an estimated 6,000.

When contacted by the HN, fellow Pole Lukasz Poplawski who helps behind the scenes, and answered the telephone in St Mary’s office, said he understood Father Piotr was still in Scotland, but he would not disclose where or give any telephone number or email address.

The head priest at St Mary’s is Father James Bell, but he was unavailable for comment as he is currently in hospital, and replacement Polish priest Father Joachim Zok said he did not know Father Piotr.

He would only say: “I have never met him. I am a new person here. I did not ask anything. I am not much involved.”

But Zosia Wierbowicz-Fraser, of the Inverness Polish Association, thought there might have been background issues behind Father Piotr’s departure.

She said: “I was suspicious that maybe there was something like that in the air. I did not know. I really did not know. This was kept very quiet. This man used to teach at our school and suddenly he was not there.

“He started off at our Christmas meal on December 18. After that he left and I have not seen him since. This is going to cause a lot of embarrassment to the Polish community.”

Mrs Wierbowicz-Fraser added: “I am sorry it has happened. He was very much involved with our school. He was a good priest when he was here. It made Polish things going on in the church much easier.”

Traditionally, the Roman Catholic Church priesthood has been a bastion of bachelorism and celibacy, and fathering a child very much a taboo.

Ironically, however, a former priest of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s St Michael and all Angels Church in Abban Street, Inverness, Canon Len Black, a married man who has two grandchildren, has converted to Catholicism, and will be ordained as a Deacon at St Ninian’s RC Church, Inverness, on April 23. He hopes eventually to become a Catholic priest.

Last September Father Koczorowski was at the centre of a drama at St Mary’s when he went to investigate an alarm going off in the church sanctuary.

He was attacked by two drunken intruders who jumped on him and punched him to the ground before making off.