Paulist Fr. Edward Wrobleski was ordained on May 11, 1962. Fr. Ed entered eternal life on November 24, 2021, at age 91.
This obituary was published on paulist.org in December 2021:
With sadness, we announce that our brother, Paulist Fr. Edward Wrobleski, has entered eternal life.
He died on Wednesday, November, 24, 2021, in Los Angeles. He was 91.
Fr. Ed had been a member of the Paulist community for some 66 years. He had been a priest for 59 years.
Over a span of some 30 years, Fr. Ed served with distinction in our broadcasting apostolate and was known for his radio segments.
Edward Damian Wroblewski (his last name then spelled with the second "w") was born September 7, 1930, in Buffalo, NY, a son John and Hattie Guzowski Wroblewski.
He joined the Paulist novitiate on September 6, 1955, at age 24, following service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.
While he was baptized Catholic at birth, Fr. Ed later told an interviewer he "had no real religious background to call his own" and started posing questions of faith to an Air Force chaplain during his service.
“I took lessons, stayed with it and became Catholic,” he recalled.
He received his First Holy Communion and Confirmation in 1950 at Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, MS.
After his four years of wartime service in Air Force intelligence, he felt he “needed some stability in my life.” He had vague inkling the priesthood might be for him, but “really didn’t know what I was going to do” after returning from Korea.
He met with a parish priest, “and within five minutes, I realized there was so much I didn’t know about the faith.”
He used his G.I. Bill funds to study Latin in Canada, where another student handed him a brochure about the Paulists.
“Their media work and the work with converts appealed to me,” said Fr. Ed, who contacted Paulist Fr. Henry Flaut, who was then serving at St. Peter’s Church in Toronto. Fr. Flaut encouraged the young man to enter the Paulist formation program.
The future Paulist headed to Baltimore for studies at St. Peter’s College (our then-junior seminary).
“It was all so new to me,” Fr. Ed recalled. “Studying Scripture … everything.”
FROM 2012: A feature on the 50th anniversary of Fr. Ed's ordination
After St. Peter’s, he earned a master’s degree from St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C., where he also began producing radio and television programs.
“I liked using the media to get out and reach people,” said Father Ed, who made his Final Promises on September 8, 1959, and was ordained a priest on May 11, 1962.
The young priest served at Old St. Mary's Catholic Church in Chicago, where he helped the archdiocese with radio programming. Like his classmates, he then spent a pastoral year at the Paulist Center in Boston from 1962 to 1963, where he also ministered in radio and television.
Fr. Ed then went to the media mecca of New York, serving as associate pastor of associate pastor of the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, as well as doing work for two radio stations. He returned to Chicago for four years as associate pastor of Old St. Mary’s as well as hosting and producing radio and television shows.
The West Coast beckoned, and Fr. Ed then entered media ministry in Los Angeles, where he worked on projects in conjunction with the Franciscan Community from 1972 to 1985. He became associate pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Community in Los Angeles in 1986 while continuing to work on media projects.
During this time, Fr. Ed was hired to produce the first Catholic-sponsored radio campaign titled “The Sounds of Love” and accompanying television spots titled “Signs of Love.” The campaign received some 60 award nominations, and “beat beer and car commercials,” he said. “And they cost $35 to produce.”
Paulist Media Works was Fr. Ed’s next stop, from 1994 to 1998.
During his many years of senior ministry, he continued to serve at St. Paul the Apostle in Los Angeles, including teaching religion classes at the parish school.
Fr. Ed credited the Holy Spirit with guiding him throughout his priesthood.
“Just being a Paulist is really what it’s all about, just being part of this family,” he said. “If you are thinking of becoming a priest, go for it! You won’t know until you try. If God is calling a man to the priesthood, he gives that man whatever he needs in order to make it happen.”
In addition to his parents, Fr. Ed was preceded in death by a brother, Matthew Wroblewski; a sister, Martha Dinero; and two nephews, John and James Wroblewski.
Fr. Ed is survived by his brother Paulists; his brother, John, age 97; and his nieces and nephews, Joanne (Barbara) Wroblewski, Jennifer Wroblewski, Richard Dinero, Patricia Osgood and David Dinero.
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