More than 10,000 Polish immigrants visited the shrine of Czestochowa, in Pennsylvania, on June 26 to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Considered to be the spiritual center of the Polish community in the United States and Canada, the shrine – known as the American Czestochowa because it is a replica of the famous sanctuary in Poland – is visited by millions of Poles each year.
Even Polish Pope John II was reported to have visited the monastery in 1969 and in 1976.
As Poles commemorated the event, Pope Benedict XVI sent his blessings, while Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, former personal secretary to the Pope John Paul II, sent a special letter to the organizers.
The American Czestochowa is a large complex situated in the pretty hills of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson witnessed the ceremony to consecrate the monastery.
“Poles should be thankful for this special gift to the American society and the respect it represents for the faith in the world. Particularly now, when there is an increased disregard for the Church in Europe and when people, blinded by terrorism ideology, are ready to kill themselves to destroy the enemy,” said Cardinal Jozef Glemp, primate of Poland.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, pilgrims came from many places in the United States, and Canada. Organizers have estimated that over 10,000 people attended the celebration Mass, including Archbishop Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, Archbishop Adam Maida of Detroit, and the Vatican City’s Archbishop Szczepan Wesoly, who was the former spiritual leader of Polish in the world.
The Mass, which was officiated at the lawn of the American Czestochowa, went very well. Security and social workers worked together to help the pilgrims and distributed bottles of fresh water.
"In the United States – the land where we are living as immigrants and citizens – we must be brave, full of hope, and united under one flag, which is peace, truth and reconciliation,” Father Barlomiej Marciniak, vice president of the American Czestochowa, told the Super Express U.S.A..
The American Czestochowa, which was officially opened in June 26, 1955, has had a special place in many of the pilgrims’ hearts since the 1950s and 1960s.
"My name is engraved in five places in the American Czestochowa,” said a proud Jozef Matkowski, a pilgrim who served as a volunteer in Doylestown since 1961.
"For me this is the only place in America where I can hear Polish spoken," said Teresa Zajko, of Pennsylvania. Zajko works as a supervisor in the Hilton Hotel chain.
