Two local priests honored at 27th Polish American Priests Association convention

Orchard Lake — Fellowship, heritage and mercy were the themes of the night at the Orchard Lake Schools April 27, when the center of Polonia in the United States hosted the annual Polish American Priests Association convention.

The annual convention is a chance for Polish and Polish-American priests to gather to share stories, pray and discuss how best to minister to one of the most devoted ethnicities in the United States.

“We come together in a spirit of fraternity to share our priesthood,” said Canon Walter Ptak, dean of human formation at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary and outgoing president of PAPA. “We discuss some themes about how to minister to people of Polish descent throughout the United States and the changing demographics of large Polish centers. It’s not the Polish community of the 1960s.”

Canon Ptak said today’s Polish priests need to be creative in serving the pastoral needs of the Polish-American community, while at the same time introducing Polish traditions to parishes that don’t have historically Polish roots.

“Polish priests are no longer just serving Polonia in the traditional sense, at these large parishes that are only Polish,” Canon Ptak said. “We’re talking about what we can do to bring out the Polish in any community where a Polish priest may be.”

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron celebrated Mass with the Polish priests at the Orchard Lake campus chapel, expressing his gratitude for the witness of Polish priests in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“It’s a great honor for us here in the Archdiocese of Detroit to host the PAPA convention,” said Archbishop Vigneron, who was gifted with bread and salt at the beginning of Mass by SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary rector Msgr. Thomas Machalski, a Polish custom of welcoming a visitor.

“I’m always thankful for the witness of all Polish Americans and the entire Polonia community,” the archbishop said during his homily. “By being a witness for Jesus, I’m saying, ‘I stake my integrity on vouching for this truth, this reality. That’s what the Apostles did. How could they not go back to the temple area and proclaim Jesus?”

Archbishop Vigneron noted the Polish community has a proud history of being a witness for Jesus Christ, from St. Stanislaus Kostka to St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Paul II.

“This convention, let us all strive to be a witness in a heritage of grace, guided by the Holy Spirit,” the archbishop said. “Let us be a bold witness.”

After Mass, the priests and others met for a banquet, where Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass., delivered a presentation of “The Second Greatest Story Ever Told” — the story of St. Faustina receiving the message of Divine Mercy from Jesus, and how the message spread with the assistance of a Polish cardinal who would eventually become St. John Paul II.

“It’s up to us as ministers of the Church to keep alive the message of mercy,” Fr. Gaitley said. “We seem to have forgotten the message of John Paul II that now is the time for mercy. In the time of great evil, God wants to give modern man grace — the good news that God will not be outdone by evil.”

Fr. Gaitley highlighted important moments in Poland’s history of defending Christianity — and most of western civilization — in Europe, culminating in the papacy of St. John Paul II and the proclamation the Feast of Divine Mercy.

“Mercy is a particular kind of love,” Fr. Gaitley said. “Faustina knew this devotion would be challenged. But in post-war Europe, the message of Divine Love was needed.”

At the end of the night, Msgr. Machalski, who will soon leave his post at the Orchard Lake Schools and return to parish ministry in the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Canon Ptak were awarded PAPA’s Fr. Leopold Moczygemba Award for service to the Polonia community.