Waldemar Maciag

Fr. Waldemar Maciag was born and raised in Częstochowa, Poland, the spiritual capital of Poland and home to the Shrine of the Black Madonna at Jasna Gora. He is an artist, musician, songwriter, and missionary priest whose life has been shaped by a faith formed under communism, a vocation he never expected, and a creative spirit he never abandoned. Before the priesthood ever crossed his mind, he was a university art student with long hair and holes in his jeans, following his dream of becoming an artist. A retreat at a Carmelite convent changed everything. Ordained in 1997, his journey took him from Poland to Sweden for six years of mission work, including one year in the Arctic Circle, before arriving in Florida in 2005. He has served the Diocese of Orlando for over two decades and was formally incardinated into the diocese in January 2025. Those who know him describe a priest who paints Stations of the Cross, writes lyrics for rock bands, designs windows inspired by the rural churches of his Polish childhood, and brings an artist's eye and a missionary's heart to everything he does.