Father Zbigniew Kotliński CSsR – a missionary who served in Argentina, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Poland and currently again in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan – celebrated the beautiful jubilee of 70 years of priesthood on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at the local Shrine of Divine Mercy.
The solemn Mass was presided over by Archbishop Tomasz Peta of Astana, while the Jubilee homily was delivered by Father Dariusz Paszyński CSsR, superior of the Warsaw Province. The priests, nuns, and parishioners present offered warm congratulations and good wishes to the celebrant.
The oldest Polish Redemptorist, 96-year-old Father Zbigniew Kotliński, is still active as a confessor and exorcist appointed by the local ordinary. Despite his ailments, he maintains a clear mind, serenity of spirit, and desires to continue his missionary work.
The missionary was born in 1930 in Zamość. He was ordained a priest in Tuchów in 1956. He worked as a pastor and popular missionary, but his great dream was to serve in foreign countries.
In 1970, he was sent to carry out missionary work in Argentina. There, he served among Polish emigrants and the local indigenous people. In 1980, he moved to Bolivia, where for the next 12 years he was responsible for the pastoral care of the indigenous populations. In 1992, Father Kotliński took on a new challenge. He travelled to Belarus and, from there, a year later, left for Kazakhstan, where he founded the first Redemptorist missionary community.
In Petropavlovsk, he became pastor of the new parish. There, he began construction of the church dedicated to Divine Mercy, which was later proclaimed a diocesan shrine. After 2000, he worked in Russia, then in Kazakhstan again in 2011, and subsequently in Poland. In 2023, he returned to Kazakhstan to continue serving the local community of faithful and the diocese as a priest, confessor, and exorcist.
(www.redemptor.pl)
