New Bishop of Alotau Appointed

Vatican City / Port Moresby – The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has appointed Father Jacek Piotr Tendej, CM, as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Alotau, a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Fr Jacek Piotr Tendej CM

The announcement was officially made by the Apostolic Nunciature in Port Moresby and confirmed by the Holy See at 12:00 p.m. Rome time (8:00 p.m. PNG time, 9:00 p.m. Bougainville). The new appointment follows the retirement of Bishop Rolando Santos, CM, whose resignation was accepted by the late Pope Francis.

About Bishop-elect Jacek Piotr Tendej

Father Jacek Piotr Tendej was born on 26 June 1963 in Łańcut, located in the Subcarpathian region of southeastern Poland. He completed his primary education in Handzlówka and graduated in 1983 with a diploma in mechanics from the Mechanical Technical School in Łańcut.

He entered the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), making his temporary profession on 8 December 1984 and his perpetual profession five years later, on the same date in 1989. He was ordained a priest on 25 May 1991.

Academic and Pastoral Background

Bishop-elect Tendej is a highly accomplished academic with a master's degree in Moral Theology (1991) from the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków. That same year, he obtained a licentiate in Educational Sciences from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. In 2007, he earned a doctorate in pedagogy from the Pedagogical Academy of the Commission of National Education in Kraków.

His pastoral and academic work spans decades and continents:

• 1991–1995: Assistant parish priest and teacher at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish in Zakopane-Olcza, Poland

• 1995–1997: Assistant parish priest and secondary school teacher in Kraków

• 2000: Teacher and chaplain at St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish, Brooklyn, New York

• 2001–2002: Youth educator at the Fr. Siemaszko Foundation, Kraków

• 2001–2013: Lecturer in Education at the Theological Institute of the Pontifical University John Paul II, Kraków

• 2002–2013: Director of the Vincentian High School at the “Radosna Nowina 2000” Education Centre in Piekary, Kraków

  
  

Since 2013, he has served as the Rector of the Holy Spirit Seminary in Bomana, Port Moresby, where he has played a key role in the formation of local clergy.

Contributions to Catholic Education

Bishop-elect Tendej is also a published scholar in the fields of education and Catholic schooling, having authored numerous academic articles and delivered various conferences, primarily in Polish.

As the Diocese of Alotau looks forward to this new chapter, the local Church expresses its gratitude for the faithful service of Bishop Rolando Santos and warmly welcomes Bishop-elect Tendej with prayers for a fruitful episcopal ministry in the Milne Bay Province.