Edwardsville, PA

From WBRE-TV: Polish Church Honors Those Lost in Plane Crash

Sadness over the tragic plan crash that killed Poland’s President and nearly 100 other people is reaching around the globe, even to our area.

The Polish National Catholic Church Resurrection of the Lord Parish in Edwardsville remembered the crash victims Sunday.

Reverend Pawel Filip and his family arrived at church wearing black clothes and black ribbons.They’re in mourning for the people of their native Poland.

He led the congregation in a prayer for the families they left behind and for the people of Poland. He said, I think all the polish nation lost the light of the Polish people.”

The pastor heard about the crash from a family member in Poland. It was night here. And the terrible phone call woke him up. He recalled,”I couldn’t believe that it happened.”

He left his home country just two years ago – and still feels strong ties to his homeland – it’s people and it’s leaders. He sighed,”It’s very hard to replace these kinds of people – especially the president.”

Even parishioners who never lived in Poland say this tragedy impacts them. Margaret Garvin of Edwardsville said,”It just brings everything right to you. Right to your heart.” Her grandparents came to the United States from Poland. She explained,”When it is your family like – polish it really means a lot.”

The reverend said the Polish are strong. And they will recover from this tragedy. Thanks in part to strong support from around the world. He said, “When something like this happens all the nations join together – we have the same spirit – the same thinking – we are very close.”

Frackville and Shenandoah, PA

Local Polish Pastor Remembers Friend Killed in Crash

FRACKVILLE, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY — A special memorial sits in front of St. John the Baptist Church in Frackville. It pays tribute to victims of a plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish President and Maciej Plazynski, a friend of St. John’s Pastor Robert Plichta.

“He was very dedicated man to his family, to the church and of course, to the country,” he said.

Pastor Plichta moved to the states 7 years ago. He’s responsible for polish catholic congregations in Frackville and Shenandoah.

Before Plichta moved to America, Plazynski was a parishoner of Plichta’s church in his hometown of Gdansk, Poland.

The former chief of Poland’s parliament, Plazynski was as friendly as they come says Plictha. “It was a blessing for me to know him personally,” he said.

But now Pastor Plichta, like the rest of his home country of Poland, is mourning a terrible tragedy. Plazynski was on a plane with several high ranking polish officials including the country’s president when it crashed.

Plichta hopes to help Polish-American communities in Schuylkill County cope with the loss. “The first question could appear, why. And there is no answer,” he said.

A special Monday mass is scheduled in honor of the crash victims. “Gods message, maybe for the Polish community, maybe for this entire world, Eastern Europe, Western Europe to live together and we have to realize that we are not masters of this earth, we are merely passing through,” he added.

Brooklyn, NY

From the AP: Polish immigrants worldwide mourn crash victims

Polish immigrants and their descendants around the world shared the anguish of their mother country on Sunday, mourning the 96 victims of a devastating plane crash as they crowded into Polish-language Masses.

Millions of Poles have emigrated over nearly two centuries, establishing large communities in the United States and Britain. They coped with Saturday’s death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other military, church and government officials through vigils, prayer and writing…

Maria Balcer, 65, a recent immigrant, sat in a pew at Polish National Catholic Church in Brooklyn and cried. She had been up until 2 a.m. watching television coverage of the crash, she said.

“The tragedy is terrible, a horrible feeling in my heart,” she said…

Hamtramck, MI

From Freep.com: Poles in metro Detroit share their shock, hurt

The death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash Saturday stunned metro Detroit’s Polish community.

At the Polish Market on Jos Campau in Hamtramck, all shoppers wanted to talk about was the crash. Overhead, loud speakers piped in a news broadcast from a Polish language radio station.

“Basically, that’s all we talk about all day,” said Sebastian Poweska, an employee and an immigrant who came to the United States five years ago from Stalowa Wola, Poland.

“It’s been really slow — only half the people who normally come in,” said Poweska, 24, of Sterling Heights. “It’s the same thing as 9/11. People just sitting around at home watching TV all day.”

He learned about the crash when his father woke him at 6 a.m. Saturday and told him.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Poweska said.

…

On Pulaski Street in Hamtramck at the Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, three women were cleaning up after serving a meal at the congregation’s soup kitchen.

They said they expected the priest would say special prayers during mass today for Poland and those who died in the plane crash.

Jolanta Nowak, 38, of Hamtramck, who emigrated 10 years ago from Katowice, Poland, a town an hour west of Kraków, said she was praying “for healing. For the future of the people because they will be thinking about what happened.”

Stephanie Marsh, 71, of Shelby Township said, “I was thinking what would happen to us if something like this were to happen in the United States. It’s just going to rip everything apart for them.”

Rochester, NY

From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Local Polish community grieves after tragedy that killed Poland’s president

The plane crash Saturday that killed Poland’s president and several members of his country’s elite was a tragedy not only for Poles, but for their relatives and descendants here in the United States.

During services today at St. Casimir Polish National Catholic Church in Irondequoit, the Rev. Melvin Walczak will lead congregants in prayers for those who have suffered.

—We will be praying for all of the people in Poland,— Walczak said. —We will be praying for the members of our congregation who have family members that are connected to Poland.—

Walczak, whose grandparents emigrated from Poland, was saddened by the loss of President Lech Kaczynski and other leaders.

—I can only imagine what we would feel if Air Force One crashed,— Walczak said. —That’s the parallel for American people to try to look at.—

The Polish leaders were heading to a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the slaughter of Polish military officers by Soviet secret police.

The massacre in the Katyn forest —is a very, very important moment historically for every single Pole, wherever we are,— said Maria Weldy of Irondequoit, a native of the Krakow area. —It’s just so, so sad.—

Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, added that the timing of the crash was —so tragic and so ironic.—

—The impact of this is really felt in Poland,— said Urbanski, who grew up in Nowa Huta, Poland.

Despite the tragedy, Urbanski said he believes Poland will recover.

—I think the country will survive this tragedy,— he said. —The Poles, like the Irish, are used to tragedy.—