Parish to be officially dedicated as a shrine

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

St. Andrew Bobola Parish in Dudley will be dedicated as a shrine May 11, Bishop McManus said in a letter sent to parish priests and lay faithful of the diocese last month.  

It will be a parish shrine, said Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, diocesan judicial vicar. “As a shrine, it will be a place of pilgrimage;” but it will still function as a parish as well.

“I wish to inform you with great joy that, by my decision, the Diocesan Shrine of St. Andrew Bobola” will be established, the bishop’s letter began.  

St. Andrew Bobola, a 17th century Polish Jesuit, fought division among Christians. After torture and martyrdom, at times he was forgotten, but now is a patron of Poland.

The pastor of the Polish parish in Dudley named for him, Father Krzysztof Korcz, has been working fervently to have a shrine there.  

Given the parish’s struggles with decreasing membership and financial need, he was going to ask Bishop McManus for a merger, he said. But he was moved to propose a shrine instead.
The first thing that moved Father Korcz was that after a scheduled meeting with the bishop was postponed, a St. Andrew devotee from Chicago, whose wife received a healing, requested a Mass at the Dudley parish. That led Father Korcz to read more about the saint.  

“I got the idea that St. Andrew Bobola is calling me to start the devotion in our parish,” and “he will help this parish survive,” he said. “Maybe he wants to have the shrine to unite all Catholics, and other Christians too ... and help people to persevere in serving God.”

Father Korcz also recalled announcing that thousands of dollars were needed for rectory upgrades and donations covering the cost came in immediately. A large financial donation and donations of labor from a parishioner, and a man who wanted to serve the Church, enabled renovations of the church hall, so it can be rented out.

The pastor started public devotions honoring St. Andrew and included opportunities to be blessed with his relics.

In his letter Bishop McManus mentioned Pope Pius XII’s desire, expressed in his 1957 encyclical about St. Andrew Bobola (Invicti Athletae), that Catholics, especially the Polish, reflect on the saint’s martyrdom and holiness.  

“Deeply moved by the testimony of St. Andrew Bobola’s life and his martyrdom for the faith, and admiring his merits in promoting Christian unity, I hope that this new Shrine of St. Andrew Bobola will become a center for fostering devotion to this great martyr among all Christians who seek to follow his virtues,” Bishop McManus added.  

He invited priests and parishioners to pray for the future of this shrine and participate in its dedication.

Father Korcz rejoiced that the dedication is to happen during the universal Church’s Jubilee Year and the diocese’s 75th anniversary. The dedication was moved from the saint’s May 16 feast day to a Sunday, when more people might be able to attend, he said.

He said he has help at the parish from another priest until July 21. Father Marcin Gazda, a student at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, doing research at Boston College, is celebrating some Masses and aiding with preparations for the dedication.  

To prepare for the dedication and bring more pilgrims to the shrine, Father Korcz scheduled a retreat and novena at his parish and talks in other states and he plans to distribute material.  

The March 22-26 retreat about the saint is to be given by Msgr. Józef Niznik, rector of the St. Andrew Bobola shrine in Strachocina, the saint’s childhood home in Poland. It is to be in Polish, and Father Korcz hopes to have a conference with lunch in English on March 29, as was done during Msgr. Niznik’s retreat here last year.  

A St. Andrew Bobola novena is to take place May 2-10. According to Bishop McManus’ letter, Bishop Piotr Turzynski, delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for pastoral care of Poles living outside of Poland, was to lead it, however, he might be unable to come for health reasons, Father Korcz said.  

Father Michal Jedrzejski, a professor at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, who helped at St. Andrew’s in Dudley when he was studying here several years ago, is now scheduled to lead the novena in English at 5:30 p.m. and Polish at 6:30 p.m. May 2-9, Father Korcz said.  

On May 10, Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa, popular for his EWTN programs, is to give morning and afternoon conferences in English and there is to be a lunch and time for confessions, Father Korcz said. A bilingual Mass with the novena is to follow.

Father Korcz is scheduled to speak at Polish-American churches and a shrine in Illinois and New Jersey in March and April. He said he also wants to distribute to parishes around the United States 30,000 copies of the encyclical about St. Andrew, with a letter from Bishop McManus and Bishop Turzynski. The letter, addressed to priests serving Polish-American parishes and caring for Polish immigrants is similar to the one Bishop McManus sent throughout the Worcester diocese.

Father Korcz also has pilgrim images of St. Andrew Bobola (framed photos of a statue at the Dudley parish) to give parishes he visits.

“This will be a gift from the shrine,” he said. He will encourage priests to send the image on pilgrimage to their parishioners’ homes.

On May 18 there is to be a celebration at the new shrine for the feast of St. Andrew Bobola, Father Korcz said. A bilingual Mass is to be followed by a festival for parishioners and pilgrims.