Bishop Joseph Dabrowski appointed to lead Hamilton diocese

Bishop Joseph Dabrowski Appointed as New Bishop of Hamilton

Bishop Joseph Dabrowski will leave the Diocese of Charlottetown in early February to continue his work in Ontario. Pope Leo XIV has appointed him as the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton.

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to be called by the Holy Father to serve the Church as the Bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton in Ontario. At the same time, I am filled with a sense of surprise and wonder, as I have been joyfully serving the Diocese of Charlottetown for only two years,” Dabrowski said in a news release.

“In that brief time, I have come to know and love the priests, consecrated men and women, and the faithful of this diocese on Prince Edward Island.”

Dabrowski will succeed Bishop Douglas Crosby, who recently retired. Dabrowski was born in 1964, the second of five children, in Wysoka Strzyżowska, a small village in southern Poland. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1991 in Italy. Dabrowski served as the auxiliary bishop of London before being named Bishop of Charlottetown in April 2023.

“I look forward to shepherding and serving the people of the Diocese of Hamilton,” he said in the release. “Please pray for me as I begin this new ministry and also for the people of God of the Dioceses of Hamilton and Charlottetown, who will always remain close to my heart.”

The move leaves the Charlottetown diocese without a bishop for now. Sister Susan Kidd, the campus minister at UPEI, stated that a group of clergy on the Island will meet in the coming weeks to choose an administrator.

Kidd expressed that Dabrowski will be missed by the Island’s faith community. “To be honest, I was a little sad that he did that, that he was considered by the Holy Father to leave the diocese,” she said. “He only came here two and a half years ago and it’s hard to really make things happen in that short length of time.”

During his time on P.E.I., Kidd noted that Dabrowski launched a vision for pastoral renewal, a plan for the future of the Charlottetown diocese. “That’s why it’s unfortunate that he isn’t going to be the one to help us live into the fullness of that vision,” Kidd said. “It’s my hope that the new bishop, whoever that is, whenever he comes, will be somebody who will not take us back to square one, but will be able to continue the vision.”