Bishop Stanislav Stolárik

H.E. Msgr. Stanislav Stolárik, Bishop of Rožňava, was born on February 27, 1955, in Rožňava, the seventh of eight children born to Štefan and Júlia (née Kočišová). He grew up in Košice, where he received his primary and secondary education. After graduating from secondary school (1973), he continued his studies at the Roman Catholic Faculty of Theology in Bratislava and was ordained a priest on June 11, 1978, at St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava. He served as a curate in Trebišov (1978), Humenné (1979), and Prešov (1981), and later as a parish priest and dean in Obišovce (1984), Čaňa (1990), Humenné (1992), and the Queen of Peace parish in Prešov (1995); since 2001, he has served as dean and parish priest at the Parish of St. Nicholas in Prešov. Following the social changes in the country, he pursued further theological studies at the Roman Catholic Faculty of Theology of Comenius University in Bratislava (earning a ThDr. degree in 1993) and philosophical studies at the Pontifical Theological Academy (PAT) in Kraków (earning a PhDr. degree in 1998). In 1998, he obtained the academic degree of PhD. from Comenius University in Bratislava, and in late 1999, he completed his habilitation in the field of the history of philosophy at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov. In 1990, he was appointed diocesan censor of religious literature; he is a member of the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Košice and a member of the College of Consultors to the diocesan bishop. He has made numerous appearances in electronic media. He lectures on the history of philosophy, introduction to philosophy, and the philosophy of religion at the Theological Faculty of the Catholic University in Košice (where he heads the Department of Philosophy) and at the Greek Catholic... ...at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Prešov (PU). From 2001 to 2003, he served as Vice-Dean of the Roman Catholic Faculty of Theology at Comenius University (RkCMBF UK) in Bratislava; he is a member of the Joint Field-Specific Commission (SOK) and, since 2003, a member of the Accreditation Commission’s Working Group for Humanities, Vice-Chairman of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Theology at Catholic University (TF KU), and a member of several other faculty scientific boards at universities in Slovakia. He is the author of numerous theological, philosophical, and spiritual treatises, university textbooks, and books (one of which has been translated into Croatian), and has actively participated in various symposia both at home and abroad. He serves on the editorial boards of *Acta facultatis theologicae Universitatis Comonianae Bratislaviensis* (Rk CMBF UK in Bratislava) and *Verba theologica* (TF KU in Ružomberok). He was appointed university professor in the field of "History of Philosophy" by the President of the Slovak Republic on November 29, 2005. On February 8, 2003, the Holy Father John Paul II appointed him to the College of Papal Chaplains (with the title of Monsignor), and on February 26, 2004, appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Košice and Titular Bishop of Barika. On March 21, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Rožňava, and on May 16, 2015, he assumed the office of Bishop of the Diocese of Rožňava.