A local priest has been appointed Canon of the Basilica of St. Florian in Poland.
Fr. Robert Lynam, pastor of St. Augustine of Canterbury Church in Kendall Park, was conferred in respect for the dedication and honor to the life and efforts of St. John Paul II.
On May 17, Cardinal Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski, Lynam and several other priests celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving with the parishioners of St. Augustine in honor of the elevation of Pope John Paul II to sainthood.
Shortly after returning to his native Krakow, Poland, Dziwisz convened a meeting of canons and recommended Lynam as a new member. He will be officially invested at the Basilica of St. Florian on Nov. 4.
On May 12, 1984, then-Bishop Theodore E. McCarrick ordained Lynam in St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in Metuchen. He served as associated pastor at Our Lady of Victories Parish in Sayreville and St. Cecelia Parish in Iselin. He also served as temporary administrator of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Avenel before being assigned as pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Port Reading in 1990.
Lynam came to St. Augustine in 1995.
He has also served as the chaplain to the Catholic students at Middlesex County College, and has been part of various other educational, youth ministry and seminary boards.
Bootkoski nominated Lynam to be invested as a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and was recently promoted to Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre.
The only other American canons appointed to the Basilica are Rev. Canon Miroslaw Krol of St. Theresa’s in Linden and Rev. Canon Charles Kelly of the Archdiocese of Newark.
The Basilica of St. Florian was burned down many times in the 12th, 16th and 17th centuries, but survived during a citywide fire that consumed a considerable part of Krakow in 1528. The cross of Saint Florian appears in the emblem on fire trucks and firefighter uniforms.