FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 8, 2018
Contact: Theresa Carson, (847) 412-1606
The Society of the Divine Word has appointed Father Dariusz Garbaciak SVD as assistant treasurer general, working with the chief financial officer of the Catholic Church’s largest missionary order for men.
When Father Garbaciak arrives in Rome, he will help to oversee the worldwide finances of the religious congregation that serves the humanitarian and spiritual needs of the poor and marginalized in 84 countries. In May 2019, he will become the treasurer general, succeeding the priest who currently holds that office.
As the Chicago Province treasurer for the past 16 years, Father Garbaciak has been responsible for the congregation’s financial operations in Canada, the Caribbean and the Midwestern and Eastern United States. He provided leadership for the Society of the Divine Word’s PANAM zone, which encompasses North and South America. And he assisted and educated province treasurers in Africa and Europe.
“When Father Garbaciak became province treasurer in 2002, he cultivated appreciable growth in province assets despite a global economic downturn,” said Provincial Father Quang Duc Dinh SVD. “He overcame serious financial challenges, ensured accountability and transparency, and built an excellent team of staff, as well as finance, budget and investment committee members from Chicago’s financial community.”
Born and raised in Poland, Father Garbaciak began studying with the Society of the Divine Word in Chludowo in 1986. He studied the English language in Maynooth, Ireland, and fulfilled his two-year Cross-Cultural Training Program as a seminarian in Papua New Guinea.
Father Garbaciak was ordained to the priesthood in Pieniezno, Poland, in 1996. Before being assigned to the United States, he briefly served as a missionary in the Ukraine. Father Garbaciak studied accounting and business law at DePaul University and holds an MBA in banking and investments from the Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago. During his tenure in Chicago, he served as a trustee of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Divine Word College in Iowa and the Religious Community Trust in New York.
Father Matheus Ro SVD will succeed Father Garbaciak as Chicago Province treasurer.