A commemorative Mass marked the 130th anniversary of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Greenpoint and the 300th anniversary of the canonization of its patron. For the occasion, an icon of the saint, donated by Elżbieta and Dariusz Knapik, was installed and blessed in the church.
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The solemn jubilee Mass was celebrated on Sunday, Oct. 25. It was led by Bishop Robert Chrząszcz, the delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigrants and an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków. He was joined by Rev. Marek Sobczak, provincial of the New England Province of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul and longtime former pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Greenpoint; the parish’s current pastor, Rev. Grzegorz Markulak; and several priests from other Polish-American parishes. During the anniversary Mass, worshippers thanked God for the 130 years of this Polish parish and the 300th anniversary of the canonization of St. Stanislaus Kostka. They also prayed for those who built the church, created its history and ensured that it survived and continues to grow to this day. The Hejnał choir, directed by Łukasz Plis, enhanced the jubilee service with its beautiful singing.
Bishop Chrząszcz delivered the homily. Repeatedly citing words from the Gospel read earlier, he referred to the jubilee being celebrated. “For 130 years, St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish has been an important place for successive generations of Polonia in Greenpoint, a place of prayer, gathering, the Polish language, tradition and ties with the homeland. And although Greenpoint itself has changed over these decades, the community remains alive,” the priest said. He also noted that jubilees have a way of prompting us to look back, to memories tied, in this case, to the priests and faithful who built up this parish over the years. “It is good that we remember them and invite those who are living to be here. We should be grateful,” the clergyman said. He added that “today’s Gospel does not allow us to dwell on the past.” He also pointed out that a jubilee cannot be only a celebration of what has been; it is a question about what will be in the future, 20, 30 or even 50 years from now. He said that an important challenge and task is to create in this church a place where future generations will be able to meet Jesus. “This is the task for this community for the coming years,” Bishop Chrząszcz stressed. “That is why I look with great joy at the front pews, where I see altar servers and children, who are also among you throughout the church. They are the future of this parish,” he added with pride. He also said that after 130 years of the parish’s existence, we can give thanks for the priests, the faithful, teachers, organists and choir members, for Polish-American organizations, and for everyone who offered it their time, prayer, money and heart, and also remember those who have passed into eternity. He stressed that we can be proud of the history of this community, but he pointed out that the most beautiful sentence of this jubilee should remain the words of Jesus from the Gospel read earlier: “Today I must stay at your house.”
“May Christ continue to stay here in Greenpoint, in this church, in our families, and may He stay with the person who is very close to God and with the one who looks at Him from afar,” said the delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigrants. “Let us pray that in the years to come, someone will be able to say something far more important about this parish than that it survived and preserved its tradition and beautiful history,” he stressed. “May this house endure for generations to come. That is why we are here, and that is surely what we are all praying for together. And how it will look depends only on us and on what we do,” Bishop Chrząszcz said in closing.
Rev. Marek Sobczak, provincial of the New England Province of the Congregation of the Priests of the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul, thanked the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Kraków for the homily and the Eucharist. The former pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Greenpoint also thanked him for honoring the jubilee Mass with his presence, for the power of the Holy Spirit, his true faith and the wisdom of the Word of God he preached. He also expressed gratitude to the priests and the faithful for sustaining the life of the parish. “You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, which encourages others to seek Christ,” Rev. Sobczak said, quoting Jesus’ words from the famous Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of St. Matthew. Bishop Chrząszcz, in turn, thanked the parish for the invitation and for the opportunity to take part in this special and very beautiful double jubilee in Greenpoint.
Toward the end of the Mass, the icon of St. Stanislaus Kostka, donated to the church that bears his name by parishioners Elżbieta and Dariusz Knapik, was blessed. “May this icon become for our community a sign of gratitude for the past 130 years, a source of strength in the present and a hope for the future. May future generations, through the intercession of our patron, grow in holiness and remain faithful to the Gospel,” Bishop Chrząszcz said during the ceremony of blessing the icon, which was installed in the church’s right side aisle. He then gave those attending the Mass a special blessing that concluded the jubilee service.
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The beginnings of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Greenpoint date to 1896, when Poles settling in Brooklyn were creating their own religious and educational institutions. According to the archives of the Diocese of Brooklyn, from 1896 to 1898 the community was served from St. Casimir Parish, and in 1898 Rev. Leo Wysiecki became its pastor. Today the parish has about 400 registered families, and about 1,200 people attend Sunday Masses in total. It also remains a venue for religious and patriotic observances, including Masses for Flag Day, the anniversary of the May 3 Constitution, Independence Day and the anniversary of the martyrdom of Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko, as well as anniversaries tied to St. John Paul II. The church has hosted many distinguished guests. Ignacy Jan Paderewski appeared there on March 1, 1916, and Kraków Archbishop Karol Wojtyła visited on Sept. 29, 1969. The church was also visited by the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Józef Glemp, and by Presidents Lech Wałęsa, Lech Kaczyński, Andrzej Duda and, this year, Karol Nawrocki.
By: Wojtek Maślanka
Photos: Zosia Żeleska-Bobrowski
Source: Nowy Dziennik