STAMFORD—Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, 95, retired Brigadier General in the United States Army, and native son of Stamford’s Holy Name of Jesus Parish, celebrated the 70th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on May 28th at Holy Name of Jesus Church. He was joined on the altar by Fr. Pawel Hrebenko, current Holy Name pastor, and Msgr. William Scheyd, who is now serving as a Diocesan Consultor.
(This profile of Msgr. Thaddeus Malanowski, reprinted below, first appeared in Fairfield County Catholic in 2007)
Priestly Life is an Adventurous One…
STAMFORD—Call it a “charmed life” or a good priestly life, but either way Msgr. Thaddeus Malanowski has led a remarkable life.
The 85-year old priest, who is ramrod straight and still playing tennis two days a week, has dedicated his life to serving others and along the way has met popes, presidents and celebrities.
Named after the famous Polish General and American patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko, he himself became a Brigadier General, though he had never really thought of being a soldier.
When stationed at an army base in Friedberg, Germany, he was approached by a lonely private who wanted to talk about the death of his mother. The private’s name was Elvis Presley.
After retiring from the military service, he moved to the Diocese of St. Petersburg to help out in a small parish—and soon found himself at the center of a national storm over removal of life support from one of his parishioners, Terry Schiavo.
In between his active military and parish life, he also managed to sandwich in 26 years as a missionary and impromptu dentist in Haiti!
But after all his globe trotting as a Brigadier General visiting troops on every continent and as a missionary, Msgr. Malanowski’s’s life has come full circle back to Stamford where he was born on November 30, 1922.
The hand colored, sepia-toned photograph over Msgr. Malanowski’s shoulder as he speaks in the rectory office is of the man who baptized him, Msgr. Francis Wladasz, beloved pastor of Holy Name Parish in the early part of the last century.
“This is where I grew up and were’ I’ll stay until I die,” says Msgr. Malanowski, who is in residence at Holy Name, assisting Rev. Stanley Staniszewski, CM, ministering to the largely Polish congregation. Many people know Holy Name by its familiar gold dome just behind the new Stamford railroad station. The highly ornate church is thought by many to be one of the most beautiful in the Diocese.
One of 14 children (five are still living), Fr. Malanowski is very proud of Holy Name parish and deeply grateful for the impact it has had on generations of Polish immigrants, including his parents, who first immigrated from outside of Warsaw in the 1890’s. His father died at age of 61 while working three job to support the family. His mother lived until 84 and was presiding spirit over family.
Msgr. Malanowski recalls a deep family prayer life centered around the church. His mother attended mass every day for the 69 years she was a parishioner at Holy Name, walking just a couple of blocks from the family home on nearby Ludlow Street. She gave the family a strong faith and a sense of duty that propelled Msgr. Malanowski into the priesthood.
Young Ted Malanowski attended Holy Name grammar and junior high school, and from there went on to St. Thomas Seminar in Hartford. He later entered major seminar at St. Bernard’s in Rochester, New York.
At the time of his ordination in 1947, Connecticut had not yet been split into thee dioceses, so one of his earliest assignments was in Middletown, where he met Rev.
Alphonse Fiedorczyk, who was also serving as a chaplain in the National Guard. Fr. Fiedorczyk told Fr. Malanowski that the Guard’s 43rd Infantry Division was looking for Catholic chaplains and urged him to join. Fr. Malanowski, who had never really given much thought to military life, agreed to serve his country, believing that it would only be a two-year hitch.
However, not long after he joined the National Guard, the Korean War broke out and his division was immediately federalized and prepared for battle. Shortly before the deployment, orders were changed and the division was sent to Munich, Germany as part of the NATO occupation forces. The young priest soon found that he enjoyed military life and was deeply committed to ministering to the troops.
Throughout his military career, he never lost sight of the fact that he served as the “parish priest” for soldiers and their families. He realized early on that many of the men deeply missed their churches and their lives back home. In order to earn their trust, he spent many hours in the mess hall and on the firing range with the men.
When his division was sent back to the U.S., Fr. Malanowski was given an opportunity to continue his military service, but needed permission from the first Bishop of the new Diocese of Norwich, the Most Rev. Bernard J. Flannigan. Bishop Flannigan provided the authorization and Fr. Malanowski was on is way to a great military career.
Ministering to Elvis
He began serving as Assistant Post Chaplain at Fort Benning, Georgia and in 1956, was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division at Fort Knox, where the young priest first met the young “king,” Elvis Presley. Their Combat Command “C” division was soon sent overseas, where Fr. Malanowski and Elvis would get to know each other.
“One day Elvis walked into my office in the chapel on the base in Germany. He asked me if I knew the priest in Memphis, Tennessee who visited his mother every day in the hospital before her death. Elvis’s people were Baptists and the protestant chaplains were after him to sing in the choir. But I think he sought me out to talk about his mother.”
During the meeting Elvis opened his wallet and showed Fr. Malanowski a photo of his mother’s grave with a huge statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the grave.
“It led me to believe his mother might have died a catholic,” he says. “Elvis was not a Church goer, but I believe he wanted to connect with his mother in this way and learn more about what had once been her faith.”
Msgr. Malanowski remembers Elvis, who was riding the crest of international fame, as a strikingly handsome young man who was warm, open hearted and loved by the troops. He says Elvis took his soldiering seriously and worked hard during his life in the army.
One weekend, Elvis invited Msgr. Malanowski to meet his father and Uncle Vernon along with some band members who had come over to Germany. Elvis had rented the top floor of a local hotel, where he and his band members played a few numbers for the appreciative chaplain.
Fr. Malanowski stayed with Elvis’s unit until 1960, when he returned stateside to attend Company grade courses for Chaplains at Ft. Slocum, New York. After that he studied at the U.S. Army War College and later graduate from the Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. His advanced training led to many overseas assignments and promotion until 1973, when he returned to USAREUR and Seventh Army Headquarters as Deputy Chaplains and Chaplain Delegate to Terence Cardinal Cooke. His “rank” within the Church was also elevated that year, when Pope Paul VI appointed him a Prelate of Honor with the title of Monsignor.
On January 22, 1974, he was nominated by President Richard Nixon to be the new Deputy Chief of Army Chaplains with the rank of Brigadier General. His promotion ceremonies took place in Heidelberg, Germany and were conducted by General Michael S. Davison, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army.
Pulling Teeth in Haiti
After circling the globe for four years visiting chaplains and meeting with soldiers, Monsignor Malanowski retired from the military in 1978, returning to pastoral life in the quiet country parishes of the Diocese of Norwich.
However, his life of adventure was far from over. While serving at St. Andrew parish in Colchester, one of his parishioners, a dentist, asked Msgr. Malanowski if he would like to accompany him on a trip to Haiti, while he did some charitable dental work.
Msgr. Malanowski was deeply touched by the poverty-stricken lives of the Haitians and resolved to help. His dentist pal, Dr. Jeremiah Lowney, took him up on it and quickly put him to work pulling teeth.
“The children over there worked in the field all day and chewed sugar cane all day. It gave them energy but ruined their teeth,” says Msgr. Malanowski, of his conscription as dental surgeon to meet the emergency needs in the village.
“Dr. Lowney would give the Novocain and I would do the extractions. I didn’t do many children because their roots were so deep and I wasn’t strong enough, but I always worked on the elderly.”
Msgr. Malanowski chuckles as he remembers the case of one ninety year old man who rode down the mountain into the village on a donkey. He had only three teeth left in his mouth and two had to go. Monsignor, who always worked with his collar on, pulled the two teeth, but when the dentist came to review the surgery, he noted that the third tooth should also go.
“When the dentist prepared for the extraction, the old man waved him off and said, ‘No, I want Father to do it,’ recalls Msgr. Malanowski. “After that I could always remind Dr. Lowney that I one upped him with a patient.”
Over the 26 years he has worked in Haiti, Msgr. Malanowski has donated much of his General’s pension to build chapels and health clinics and to encourage his parishioners to make contributions. He has also worked with Mother Teresa’s order to reach out to the poor and suffering.
In 1984, Msgr. Malanowski left his dental career behind and announced his “second retirement” as he headed to the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida to serve his old classmate and long-time friend, Bishop W. Thomas Larkin. The plan was to say mass in an out of the way parish and help out here and there as needed.
The “Pinch-Hit Priest”
Before long, he became known as the “pinch hit” priest, sent in to minister to troubled parishes whose priests had been removed in abuse cases.
“I always tried to work for reconciliation and healing, simply by being a good priest,” he says. He was rewarded with the gratitude of parishioners who were reassured by his priestly example.
While serving in a quiet parish in Largo, Florida, Msgr. Malanowski met the Schindlers, who were very concerned about their daughter, Terry. She has suffered brain damage and the family was at odds with her husband about her care. For the next six years, Msgr. Malanowski visited Terri Schiavo in the hospital as her plight moved center stage into America’s conscience.
He anointed her at Hospice House Woodside in Pinellas Park Florida and then led the vigil for her after her feeding tube was removed by doctors following a court order.
Though he chose not to get into specifics, Msgr. Malanowski was deeply disturbed by the decision to remove life support and by her husband’s actions. He felt that since Terry’s husband had remarried, he had the moral obligation to defer to the Schindlers wishes regarding her care.
The 85 year old Monsignor is clearly moved as he talks about the Schiavo case, but quickly rebounds to affable reminiscence. Though it has been 60 years since he was ordained, there’s something of the young priest still in his bearing—devout, clear eyed, and eager to serve with a zeal for the priesthood.
He says that one of his biggest hardships in the military was the lack of company of his brother priests. He loves living in community with those dedicated to the Lord and believes in the simplicity of a vocation. While working in the military and in parishes, he never tried to be anyone’s friend. He job was to be a priest.
“The role of the priest is not to be liked but to be a priest. Sometimes, that means doing the hard thing. You are the altar of Christ in the community.”
He says that people in Fairfield County are atrophying their spiritual life as they purse wealth and success, and he thinks that we lost the sense of sacrifice and personal redemptive suffering that are at the core of the faith.
“We have children buying $650 iphones. People here are so taken by what money can buy, but what kind of life is that? You will be judged on what good you did in this world, not what you have. If you don’t have a spiritual life, you don’t have anything.”
Though he globe trotted for much of his priesthood, he always took the time to come back to the parish to perform weddings, funerals and baptisms—many of them for his 115 nephews and nieces.
How did he lead such a charmed life?
“My mother’s prayers,” he says without hesitation. He deeply believes that his mother set him and his brothers and sisters on the right path, and he is grateful for the faith and example of his parents. “I attribute everything to the power of prayer, especially my mothers.”
Shortly after joining the National Guard as a chaplain, he stopped back home to visit his mother.
“’Teddy, you’re going to be a general some day,‘ she said to me. “Not in my farther imagination did I think that would be the case, but sure enough 26 years later, I was a general,” says Msgr. Malanowski in awe of the love of a mother and the power of prayer.
He has been all over the world and said the mass in Latin, English, Polish and French. Call him Father, Monsignor, Doctor General, or Uncle Teddy, but underneath it all he has always been a priest first and foremost.
“I’ve had a rich priesthood,” he says, and he gets up every morning thanking God for the job.
