Pilgrimage To WYD Also A 'trip Home'
On my first visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., I expected to see many things, heart-wrenching things; but the most memorable caught me completely unaware. A large glass wall created one side of a hallway that led to the Polish area, and into this wall had been etched names of those who had lost their lives. At the time, I knew little about World War II beyond that which I had seen on television or learned in history classes; however, I imagine I thought I knew as much as the average American about the Holocaust. I suppose that’s why I was simply unprepared to read my family name etched in memoriam.
I am not Jewish; I have no family who are Jews. But learning why my family name was etched into history only required that I walk a few yards farther. As you enter the Polish section of the museum, among the first images you see are those of Catholic priests and seminarians being forced to their knees as Nazi soldiers lower rifles to their heads. The pictures are so disturbing that you do not need to see the aftermath to know that the triggers were pulled, and my family blood became part of the Polish soil.
My sister found a register of names for those who died in Auschwitz. “I was really taken aback when I found information on the number of people with the last name of Dabrowski that were killed at Auschwitz,” she wrote in the email that contained a PDF list: 54 Dabrowskis were murdered; 3 of them were named “Stefan,” my dad’s legal name, a version of my own.
Of happier note, a Fr. Dabrowski appears in the early pages of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska’s diary, now published as Divine Mercy in My Soul. She met Fr. Dabrowski at St. James’ Church on Grójecka Street in Warsaw, where she attended Mass. My Grandfather, Marjan, was from Warsaw. I’ve often wondered if I am related to Fr. Dabrowski.
Naturally, as a Polish Catholic, I love Pope John Paul II, our only Polish Pope. St. Maximillian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest who was martyred in Auschwitz, has always been dear to me, as well, and Our Lady of Czestochowa is one of my favorite titles for Our Lady. None of this is too surprising, I suppose.
In just under three years, a group of youth and young adults from the Diocese of Evansville will join millions of others in Krakow, Poland for World Youth Day. It was John Paul II who began WYD, and it is anticipated that this will be the largest gathering of Catholic youth in history. God willing, this will be the first time I step onto Polish soil, that same ground into which the blood of my family has flowed.
We will spend our first night in Poland in Czestochowa, under the loving gaze of the “Black Madonna.” I imagine I will sleep well under her mantle. Our pilgrims will also visit Jasna Gora monastery, and we will pray together at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary where Jesus revealed the immensity of His mercy to St. Faustina.
As part of our pilgrimage, we will also visit Auschwitz. I look forward to being a living testament to the faith of my fathers, a visible witness of the failure of evil. I will pray there, asking for the intercession of St. Maximillian Kolbe at the site where, out of love, he gave his life for others.
Then, in the homeland of John Paul II, our youth and young adults will gather to praise God as they show the vibrancy and richness of their faith at World Youth Day.
Although the location for WYD 2016 is meaningful to me personally, this great country bears powerful witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Poland is 94 percent Catholic – not merely culturally like so many places in the U.S., but literally, the majority of the country lives our Faith. The pierced side of God’s Divine Mercy has flowed upon this land where so many have died for our Faith, and that witness bears fruit today. The names of martyrs are etched into walls in museums; but more importantly, their witness lives on, carved into the very heart of the Church. Thank you, Lord, for the blood of martyrs that carries your Divine Mercy into our world today. May it inspire all from our diocese who travel to World Youth Day in 2016.
