By Susan Stevenot Sullivan

In a liturgical season characterized by waiting and preparation, three candidates for priesthood in the Archdiocese of Atlanta are taking the next step in their formation process -- diaconate ordination.

Adam Z. Ozimek

Adam Z. Ozimek, a native of Stary Dzikow, Poland, was ordained a transitional deacon on Dec. 4. Rev. Mr. Ozimek is currently completing his diaconate internship at the Church of the Transfiguration, Marietta. He returns to St. Vincent de Paul seminary in Boynton Beach, FL, in January to complete his studies.

Rev. Mr. Ozimek, 31, said he was recruited in Florida by Father Don Kenny, vocations director, who invited him to visit the archdiocese for a week.

"I was amazed and overwhelmed by how much support seminarians received from the vocations office and from Archbishop (James P.) Lyke. This is a very warm, welcoming, accepting diocese," he said.

Georgia reminds him of Poland, he said, in its natural beauty, particularly in the mountains. The factor that finally convinced him, however, was his internship at Transfiguration parish.

"It is because of my work here that I have decided that I made a good decision," Rev. Mr. Ozimek said. "I hope to bring my own gifts and talents to the archdiocese as a priest as I am now bringing them as a seminarian and a deacon."

His gifts, which include the ability to speak three languages and read Spanish, may also include the establishment of a Polish Apostolate, if one is needed.

Rev. Mr. Ozimek's educational background includes elementary, high school and seminary education in Poland. He holds a 1989 Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Mich.

He then began seminary studies at St. Cyril Methodius in the same city, a major Polish cultural center. In 1990 he transferred to St. Vincent de Paul in Florida, where he has one semester of study remaining.

Richard A. Zivic

Richard A. Zivic recently returned from five months of study abroad. The 40-year-old native of Pittsburgh, PA, spent two months in Mexico for intensive study of Spanish. He then left for the Holy Land on a trip sponsored by Catholic Theological Union, the Chicago seminary where he is enrolled.

"I spent three months in the Holy Land," he said. "We followed part of Paul's journey through Greece and Turkey, and also visited Israel and Jerusalem. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one I hope to share in homilies with the people I serve in the Archdiocese of Atlanta."

Zivic will be ordained to the diaconate on Dec. 19 at St. Pius X Church in Conyers. The pastor, Father John Walsh, was instrumental in his decision to choose this archdiocese. The oldest of seven children he is the son of Rosemarie and Dick Zivic, who serve as organist and choir master at St. Pius.

Zivic's family has lived in the Atlanta area since the '70s. He was once a member of both Corpus Christi and St. John Neumann parishes in Atlanta.

"Atlanta has been my adopted home and in my heart for years," he said. "Atlanta had a Franciscan archbishop (James Lyke) who invited me to come here when I left the Franciscans."

He holds a 1977 undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Cincinnati. He later joined the Franciscans as a Brother in 1986, serving as a retreat director for Christian Brothers University in Memphis and as a pastoral associate at a church in Batesville, Indiana.

Zivic began his studies at Catholic Theological Union in 1990 and left the Franciscans in 1991.

His ministerial interest and experience includes youth ministry, retreat work and continuing formation of Catholic adults. He is a committed evangelist, describing both the unchurched and the churched as needful of the Good News.

"I'm looking forward to the support and the warmth that I feel from the people and the priests in Atlanta," he said.

Victor J. Reyes

Victor J. Reyes was born in Barcelona, Venezuela, two days before Christmas in 1956. He has an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Evansville in Indiana. He then started the seminary program at St. Meinrad in Indiana, but dropped out.

"I left the formation program, but some Atlanta classmates invited me to come to visit Atlanta. I met Father Don Kenny and decided to spend time in the archdiocese."

Rev. Mr. Reyes spent time doing pastoral work at St. Jude in Sandy Springs and at Christ Our Hope Church in Lithonia. He then spent a year as pastoral administrator of the Grant Park Hispanic Catholic Center.

During that time he decided to go back to the seminary and complete his education so he could minister in this archdiocese as a priest.

He was ordained a transitional deacon at St. Meinrad on Nov. 6.

Rev. Mr. Reyes expects to devote a great deal of ministerial energy to the Hispanic community. Pastoral care and counseling, especially of abused women and people with HIV/AIDS, as well as youth ministry, are among his greatest interests.

"I'm looking forward to doing whatever I'm called to do," he said. "Ministry is all about being open to the experience of people and being able to understand where people are at."

The Benedictines at St. Meinrad have also put their mark in his ministerial approach.

"There is a strong scriptural and doctrinal foundation that I'll bring to my ministry," Rev. Mr. Reyes said.

He speaks English, French and Spanish and has some facility in Italian and Portuguese. He has experience teaching languages and working in administration.

All three candidates anticipate priestly ordination in late spring or summer of 1994.