​Polish Heritage Center in Panna Maria blessed to uplift the human spirit, teach lessons of the past

Polish Heritage Center in Panna Maria blessed to uplift the human spirit, teach lessons of the past

A dream years in the making — not just five or six years, but almost 170 years — was realized on September 27 with the blessing and dedication of the Polish Heritage Center in Panna Maria, the first permanent Polish colony and Catholic church in the United States.

The day’s festivities began with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS; with principal concelebrants being Bishop Emeritus John Yanta, Auxiliary Bishop Michael Boulette, and Auxiliary Bishop Gary Janak, as well as about a dozen priests of the archdiocese.

The liturgy preceded a short blessing ceremony at the center’s doors, followed by a luncheon and program in the parish hall.

Speakers at that gathering, which was emceed by Betty Kowalik, included Bishop Yanta, Archbishop Gustavo, Bishop Boulette; Deacon Mike Pawelek; Bishop Yanta’s brother Joe; and Robert Rusiecki, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Houston. Angelica Docog, executive director of the Center, greeted the attendees, and Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz sang both the U.S. and Polish national anthems.

For most of his retirement since stepping down as shepherd of the Diocese of Amarillo, Bishop Yanta has been focused intensely on the development of the Polish Heritage Center, whose founding he has spearheaded.

The first step began in 2008 when the bishop first conceived of how to remember his immigrant ancestors. He began to ask certain professionals how to bring this discernment to fruition. He made contact with Steve Harding, who had impressed him with his work in Sarita, Texas, for the Kenedy Memorial Foundation.

Bishop Yanta provided him with the “Blue Book,” which was a compilation of the bishop’s Polish heritage. The book was an aid to Harding in his task of bringing the bishop’s vision to life. Harding designed the concept that was given to Morkovsky AIA to draw the plans that would become a reality.

In April 2016, the land was cleared and ground as prepared for construction. The task of constructing the building itself went to MJ Boyle Construction. The structure of the Heritage Center would be “dried in” with the roofing laid in place. From the outside the Center looked finished. But the hardest work lay ahead.

In 2018 Keller-Martin was contracted to finish the inside of the Center. Revisions were made for technology on the Center, and the challenge of COVID also impacted completion.

The building will house and make available over the years a vast inventory about those who left Poland. The goal is to provide professionally prepared genealogies including church and civil primary records. Another ambitious endeavor will be to index all scanned family photographs provided by descendants.

The growing collection of families’ histories will be located in the Genealogical and Research Library, where patrons can conduct research. There will also be a wide collection of books related not only to immigration history but also Polish history, available in both English and Polish.

The rotunda features a dome with a blue sky and painted gold stars, embedded with Swarovski Crystals. In the band that circles the dome written in English, Polish, and Spanish is the great command given by Jesus to his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

In the middle of the lobby floor is a nine-foot diameter, terrazzo tri-seal medallion featuring the seals of the United States of America, the Republic of Poland, and the State of Texas.

Bishop Yanta had been previously honored in June 2019 during a presidential welcome reception at Our Lady of Częstochowa Church in Houston with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

The honor was presented to Bishop Yanta by President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda. The decoration is awarded to non-citizens and those living abroad for distinguished contributions to international cooperation and was presented in recognition of Bishop Yanta’s numerous initiatives in the Polish community.

Bishop Yanta thanked President Duda and the First Lady, stating, “You honor us with your presence — welcome to America and to Texas and its Polonia. I humbly accept this prestigious award in the name of our Polish people living today in Texas and throughout the USA, and in Poland.”

On that occasion number of high-ranking Polish government officials were in attendance, along with over 300 representatives from Texas Polish communities, churches and organizations.

The first bishop of Polish heritage to be appointed to a Texas diocese, Bishop Yanta’s roots went back to the Opole area of Silesia, Poland, the same area that produced St. John Paul II. There was the typical immigrant connection — his ancestors sold their possessions and purchased sailing-ship tickets to America — and Texas.

His mother’s relatives came from the Pluznica area near Opole with the first 100 families who settled in Panna Maria in 1854.

In 1970-1971, Bishop Yanta went to Poland to study the country’s history and culture and to improve his knowledge of the Polish language. “I have great respect for the variety of ethnic cultures within the archdiocese. It was my exposure to the Hispanic and Black cultures that made me realize that I knew almost nothing of my own Polish heritage,” he said.

At the time he was there, Poland was under Communist control and he marveled at the strength of the Catholic Church and the Polish people. “I could understand the euphoria of the Poles when Karol Wojtyla because the first Polish pope,” he said.

Bishop Yanta is a charter member of the Polish American Priests Association (PAPA) and became its first national president in 1991. Highly active in several Polish-American organizations, he was the coordinator of Pope John Paul II’s visit with Panna Maria parishioners and Texas Polonia in 1987 at Assumption Seminary.

And Archbishop Gustavo mentioned the saint’s visit to the Lone Star State in his homily inside the small pristine church.

“I am sure that many of you might have a clear image of what this place looked like in the 1850’s. But most of all, this land had a promising meaning for Father Leopold Moczygemba and the first Silesian settlers of Panna Maria,” the archbishop said. “That profound significance still speaks loudly to us today about the identity of this town. Even St. John Paul II said here – 34 years ago this month — that everyone in Poland remembered Father Moczygemba and the people who left for Panna Maria.”

The future saint said, “When we meet Polish immigrant communities anywhere in the world, our thoughts turn to the homeland.”

“So, not only do these walls and fields connect us to people who arrived here beginning in 1854, but they are a connection to their roots, to over a millennium of Christianity in Poland, and so on,” continued Archbishop Gustavo. “History tells us who we are, which is important because knowing who we are, we know who we ought to be.”

Pope Francis says that: “The transmission of the faith not only brings light to men and women in every place; it travels through time, passing from one generation to another. Because faith is born of an encounter which takes place in history and lights up our journey through time, it must be passed on in every age. It is through an unbroken chain of witnesses that we come to see the face of Jesus. … Persons always live in relationship. We come from others, we belong to others, and our lives are enlarged by our encounter with others. … Self-knowledge is only possible when we share in a greater memory. The same thing holds true for faith, which brings human understanding to its fullness. … The love which is the Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contemporaries of Jesus, thus guiding us along our pilgrimage of faith.”

The San Antonio prelate described the Church as being God’s People, walking together in a spirit of synodality throughout the centuries.

“The founders of Panna Maria could not have imagined what would become of the hopeful vision that Father Moczygemba had shared with them. Their life struggles certainly did not end as they arrived to America,” he acknowledged. “But they did not lose courage. They kept the faith and their hope alive.”

The Missionary of the Holy Spirit shared the fundamental difference between wishful thinking and hope. “The latter is the product of our imagination, which does not correspond to reality,” he emphasized. Meanwhile, hope is rooted in faith, which is our response to the Word that God speaks to us about Himself. He is at the same time the beginning and the end. By revealing Himself to us, He also reveals us who we really are. So hope is the continuation of the path begun by faith. It is the journey to the One who makes reality ‘real,’ in other words meaningful, worth engaging!”

The archbishop told listeners that the Polish Heritage Center being blessed today is meant to connect people to their past — whether they were born there or not — but also to their future.

“It is meant to help us become like children again, in our sense of detachment, innocence, openness and freedom. But how can an old person become like a child?” he asked. “Wishful thinking is no source of joy for an old person, but hope is like a breath of fresh air while contemplating a beautiful Texas sunset, with the sure knowledge that sunrise will be even more beautiful. Take courage! Keep passing on the faith!”

Archbishop Gustavo concluded by praying – in English and Polish – “Mary, Queen of Poland, / I am close to you, I remember you, / I keep watch. Maryjo, Królowo Polski, / jestem przy Tobie, pamiętam o Tobie / I czuwam na każdy czas.”