Hey! So Glad You're Here.
My name is Rev. Lawrence E. Polansky and I am a Priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, New Jersey. I grew up in the Woodstream section of Marlton, New Jersey and attended public school in the Evesham Township School District through eighth grade. My high school years were spent at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken, New Jersey. I have always been interested in math, science, and history. Upon graduation from high school in 1982, I entered Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania and matriculated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Asian Studies. When I attended Albright, they had a program called "clustering" where one's general studies requirements were taken around a central theme, and so I centered mine around Asian Studies. While I believed i was being called to a career in healthcare, I received my certification in Medical Technology and worked as a med tech in hospital laboratories in and around southern New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore, Maryland area for almost twenty years, concentrating primarily in immunohematology (blood bank), histocompatibility (organ transplant), and cancer research. I had no idea that the Holy Spirit would eventually move me in a totally different direction.
In 2001, a desire to enrich my spiritual life led me to a Catholic-lay organization known as Our Lady's Missionaries of the Eucharist. As I spent more time in prayer, I felt called to discern a vocation to the Priesthood. I joined a group in Baltimore which would eventually lead me to the application process for the seminary. The Holy Spirit would act again and it wasn't long before I was moving back to New Jersey and home. i was accepted as a seminarian for the Diocese of Camden and entered Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Becoming a student once again at the age of 39, in August 2003, I was considered a late vocation. I obtained my Master's in Divinity in 2008 with a concentration in Sacred Scripture, prior to being ordained a Transitional Deacon by Bishop Joseph A. Galante, DD, JCD in Our Lady of Lourdes Church (now Mary, Mother of Mercy) in Glassboro, New Jersey. I was assigned to Saint Isidore the Farmer Church in Vineland, New Jersey for my transitional diaconate year. My final year in seminary was spent, in part, completing a Master's of Arts Degree in Theology, again concentrating in Sacred Scripture.
I was ordained to the Priesthood on May 16, 2009 by Bishop Joseph A. Galante, DD, JCD in Saint Peter Celestine Church (now the Catholic Community of Christ, Our Light) in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I was once again assigned to Saint Isidore the Farmer Church (now Christ the Good Shepherd) in Vineland, serving there from June 2009 to February 2012. My second assignment was Parochial Vicar in the Catholic Community of the Holy Spirit, a merged Parish serving the communities of Mullica Hill, Woodstown, and Elmer, New Jersey from February 2012 until October 2013. From October 2013 to June 2015, I served as the Catholic Chaplain of Shore Medical Center and was in-residence at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Somers Point, New Jersey. My fourth assignment, which began on July 1, 2015, was serving as Parochial Vicar in Saint Peter Roman Catholic Church in Merchantville, New Jersey.
On June 12, 2017, I was honored and humbled when Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, DD, named me as Pastor of the Parish of Saint Michael the Archangel, serving the communities of Clayton and Franklinville, New Jersey and their surrounding communities. I began my six-year term on July 1, 2017 and was formally installed as Pastor on September 23, 2017.