Detroit — The Very Rev. Canon Thomas Machalski, rector of SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, was installed as the third chancellor of Orchard Lake Schools on Feb. 19 during a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Allen Vigneron at the Shrine Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake.

Orchard Lake Schools includes SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary — an interdiocesan seminary that trains men, predominantly from Poland, for the priesthood in addition to its lay theological degree programs — as well as St. Mary’s Preparatory High School and the Orchard Lake Polish Mission. Fr. Machalski was made rector of SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary on July 1, 2011, replacing Msgr. Charles Kosanke.

Fr. Machalski succeeds Fr. Timothy Whalen of the Diocese of Pittsburgh as chancellor of Orchard Lake Schools.

Fr. Machalski, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn (N.Y.), is an alumnus of St. Mary’s Preparatory, where he graduated in 1976, and St. Mary’s College, where he graduated in 1980. Fr. Machalski holds a Master of Divinity degree from New York’s Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, a master of science in education degree from Fordham University, and a licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Fr. Machalski, who has lived in Poland, has served for many years as an officer of the Polish American Priests Association, including two terms as president.