Adding Polish to my Faith

As far as I know, I have no personal Polish ancestry, though I can't say this with certainty since I'm effectively a North American mongrel - a combination of hundreds of years of European immigrants, particularly ranging from Ireland, through plenty of England and Scotland, passing through the Netherlands and France, and full of German, including my last name.

So, when Pope John Paul II became the first pope from Poland in 1978, I found it mildly interesting, but it wasn't something that spoke to me personally, as I was still a Presbyterian Protestant - and not even baptized yet.

And when, having attended the University Catholic Community's Sunday Masses for a year, I decided to take RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) in order to better understand the Catholic Church, my only Polish connection was a friend of mine I'd know in the early 1970's, whom I hadn't seen for over a decade. His parents had taught me one or two Polish words at the time, and I retained some vague recollection of them.

In January of 1986 that all changed, when I started going out with a girl of Polish descent who attended the same Catholic Community and whom I'd gotten to know as a friend over the preceeding months.

We were still going out at the conclusion of RCIA, just on time for Easter, when I had to decide whether to finish the process and become a Catholic, or just take what I'd learned and live as a somewhat better-informed Protestant. Her supportiveness, including a commitment not to break up with me regardless of which decision I made, enabled me to have the clearest possible perspective, as I decided to continue my Christian journey inside the Catholic Church.

A year later, we were married. As a result, in addition to my church-level exposure to Catholicism, I got a front-row seat in some of the best of cultural Catholicism, since Catholic Poles (i.e. most Poles) treat their faith as central to their culture, and celebrate every season of the church year with great attention.

Over the years, while there are some parts of the cultural practices of various Catholics that I've never been able to agree with, the Polish Catholic culture has come to be a very special and positive part of my life and faith journey, and one that I have been able to joyfully embrace, as have our two children.

Of course, the fact that there was even a Polish pope added something very special as well. I guess you could say he was kind of like a Polish Catholic Billy Graham in some ways. Which is a good segue to my next topic.

(Copyright (c) 2011, Reg Harbeck, all rights reserved)