House of Sirba 

Colors: Green and light blue  

Virtue: Prudence - the cardinal virtue that helps us to do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way. 

Scripture: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Biography: Bishop Paul Sirba (1960 - 2019)

Born in Minneapolis in 1960. He grew up in a family with three siblings. His older brother, Joseph, would also go on to become a priest in the Diocese of Duluth. 

Paul attended Catholic school from kindergarten through graduate school. 

He was ordained a priest in 1986 for the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Fr. Sirba served at various inner city and suburban parishes around the Twin Cities. 

Known for his deep spirituality, wisdom, and commitment to supporting and forming future priests. This made him a beloved mentor at St. Paul Seminary where he taught and served as spiritual director for a number of years, mentoring many of the seminarians who eventually would become priests in the Diocese of Duluth. 

Most people only knew him as a priest or Bishop, but to his family he was ‘Uncle Paul,’ who loved playing the piano at family gatherings, was a skilled tennis and racquetball player, and enjoyed camping in the north woods with his siblings, nieces and nephews.  

He was chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to become the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Duluth and was ordained in December of 2009. Bishop Sirba was a humble man who did not desire accolades, his brother said, and he didn’t necessarily aspire to be a bishop. When the papal nuncio called to tell him that Pope Benedict XVI had appointed him bishop of Duluth, he double-checked to make sure the nuncio was calling the right Father Sirba. 

Upon hearing Fr. Sirba would become the Bishop of Duluth, then seminarian Ben Hadrich remarked, “He’s one of the holiest men I’ve ever met, and probably the most humble man I’ve ever met,” Hadrich told the Twin Cities paper. “Praise the Lord — that’s the man you want appointed as your next bishop.”

Upon being elected a Bishop he was able to design his own crest and selected the latin phrase “fiat voluntas tua” meaning “thy will be done.” 

Upon being elected Bishop Sirba remarked, “If anything could be the hallmark of what I hope to do, it’s really to introduce people into the love that Jesus has for each and every one of us, especially, particularly his mercy, which I think we as a people need to hear, because oftentimes we are hurting in some way, and we experience the things that human life brings to us, and we need to know that God loves us. And God’s mercy is his love when we’re hurting.”

Catholic education was a very important ministry to Bishop Sirba, and upon becoming the leader of the Diocese of Duluth he desired to prayerfully discern how to best support and guide the schools in Duluth. In 2016 he felt the Holy Spirit encouraging him to further explore the opportunity to unite the Catholic schools in the city of Duluth. After much prayer and discussion with stakeholders it became clear the Lord wanted the four schools to unite in the 2017 school year. This was not a simple, nor easy decision; and Bishop Sirba never made quick decisions and always desired through prayer to discover the Lord’s will. Once the decision to unite was made the next item for the Bishop to discern was the name of the new school. After polling the people of Duluth there were two front runners - Stella Maris and St. John Paul II. One evening the Bishop stopped into the St.John’s sanctuary to pray about this decision. While admiring the statue of St. John Paul II he noticed the Pope’s right hand raised in blessing and as if pointing upwards. His eye then traveled up to the stain glass that the Pope was pointing at and found the answer to his prayer. The large circular stain glass window in  the west annex of the sanctuary is dedicated to Our Lady. And at the top of that window is a star over a sea, a symbol of our Lady Star of the Sea, also known as Stella Maris. 

 Bishop Sirba died of a heart attack before Mass on December 6th, the first Sunday of Advent in 2019. 

A fellow Bishop described his friend, stating,“For the ten years of which Bishop Sirba was the shepherd of the Duluth Diocese, he was known to be an incredibly kind and compassionate pastor, a wise and thoughtful administrator, and a holy and virtuous man of prayer and deep faith.”

Bishop Cozzens described his friend, Bishop Sirba statomg. “He had a very natural holiness. It wasn’t flashy, but it was authentic. He was authentically humble, which made him very approachable,”

“I think the thing about Bishop Paul was, no matter who he was with, he was 100 percent himself and you felt like he was your best friend.”

Bishop Sirba was a particularly holy priest because of his tremendous goodness, his kindness, his gentleness. He exemplifies the virtue of prudence in his careful and prayerful approach to making both big and small decisions in his life and leadership of the Church.