Fr. Michael Fitzpatrick from St. John Neumann in Irvine led a pilgrimage to Poland with parishioners from St. John Neumann and St. Martin de Porres in Yorba Linda this past spring. The group is pictured inside St. Faustina Chapel at the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Lagiewniki after Fr. Michael celebrated Mass.
We also visited:
Niepokalanów – the Franciscan Monastery in Teresin, Poland, founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe where he also started the Knights of the Immaculata, and years later, was arrested by Nazis and taken to Auschwitz.
Swinice Warckie – the church of St. Casimir that is the childhood parish of St. Faustina (Helena Kowalska) where she was baptized, received her first confession and First Holy Communion and attended Sunday Mass with her family. We also visited St. Faustina’s family home.
Czestochowa – the Jasna Gora Monastery that is home to the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, also called Our Lady of Jasna Gora or the Black Madonna where St. John Paul II made frequent visits throughout his life.
Wadowice – the birthplace of Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II).
Zakopane – the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Fatima that was funded and built by the town’s citizens in thanksgiving to Our Lady for protecting St John Paul II during the attempted assassination in 1981.
—Submitted by Mike Walz