Andrzej Jeż (born 3 May 1963) is a Polish

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop, being the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarnów since 2012. He was previously the

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Tarnów and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Tigillava from 2009 to 2012.

Biography

Early life

Jeż was born on 3 May 1963 in

Limanowa Limanowa is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is the capital of Limanowa County and had a population of 15,132 in 2012. History Mentions of the town date back to 1496, when it was documented as Ilmanowa, a rural es ...

. He attended the local high school in Limanowa, and in 1982 he passed the secondary school-leaving examination. From 1982 to 1988 Jeż studied at the Major Seminary in Tarnów, and on 12 June 1988 he was ordained priest by Jerzy Ablewicz, the diocesan bishop of Tarnów. From 1993 to 1995 he completed specialist studies in

homiletics In religious studies, homiletics ( ''homilētikós'', from ''homilos'', "assembled crowd, throng") is the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific art of public preaching. One who practices or studies homiletics may be ...

at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw, which he completed with a licentiate. Jeż would continue his studies at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 2002 at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow he obtained a doctorate in dogmatic theology based on the dissertation Christus Communicator. An attempt to build a Christological model based on the theory of interpersonal communication, written under the direction of Stanisław Budzik.

Priestly ministry

He worked as a priest and victor in the parishes in

Krościenko nad Dunajcem Krościenko nad Dunajcem is a village in southern Poland situated in the Nowy Targ County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999 (previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship, from 1975 to 1998). Located near Poland's border with Slovakia, it is appro ...

from 1988 to 1991, and in Wierzchosławice from 1991 to 1993. In 2004 Jeż became a pastor of the parish of Saint Mary, the Queen of Poland, in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

. At that time, he was dean of the Tarnów deanery and became a member of the diocesan council for the formation of clergy. In 2007 Jeż was transferred to the office of priest of the parish of St. Małgorzata in

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...

. In this position he became the dean of the deanery of Nowy Sącz, he became a member of the diocesan pastoral council, and was also appointed the canon canon and provost of the collegiate chapter in Nowy Sącz. In 1996 Jeż was appointed as a priest and professor at the Major Seminary in Tarnów, and from 1999 to 2007 he taught

to seminarians of the diocese.

Ordination as bishop

On 20 October 2009, Jeż was appointed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Tarnów, as well as the titular bishop of Tigillava. He was ordained a bishop on 28 September 2011 in the

Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary A cathedral is a church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcop ...

, with the

consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches ...

being the former bishop of Tarnów, Wiktor Paweł Skworc, with the co-consecrators cardinal

Stanisław Dziwisz Stanisław Jan Dziwisz (; born 27 April 1939) is a Polish Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Kraków from 2005 to 2016. He was created a cardinal in 2006. He was a long-time and influential aide to Pope John Paul II, a friend of Pope ...

, archbishop of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, and

Józef Kowalczyk Józef Kowalczyk (; born 28 August 1938) is a Polish Roman Catholic prelate, canon lawyer and diplomat who, from 1989 to 2010, served as the first apostolic nuncio to Poland since World War II. He later served as archbishop of Gniezno and primate ...

, archbishop of

Gniezno Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...

. Jeż choose "Ad Laudem Trinitatis Et Deiparae" (To the praise and the Holy Trinity) as his bishops motto. On 12 May 2012 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Jeż as the new bishop of Tarnów, succeeding the retiring Władysław Bobowski. He was officially installed as bishop in the

on 15 June 2013.

Life as Bishop

In 2016 Jeż convened the fifth synod in the history of the Diocese of Tarnów to address questions facing the diocese on matters such as canon law and parish problems.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jez, Andrzej 1963 births Living people People from Limanowa 21st-century Roman Catholic titular bishops 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland Pontifical Gregorian University alumni