CHARLOTTE — All are welcome to attend the sixth annual diocesan Polish Mass in honor of Our Lady of Czestochowa, St. John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to be offered at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.
Polish Father Matt Nycz will be the celebrant and Deacon James Witulski will assist. The Mass will be in Polish with the homily given in both English and Polish, and it will fulfill the Sunday obligation. Confessions in Polish and English will be heard beginning at 1 p.m. A Polish choir will provide music.
After the Mass, the faithful will have the opportunity to venerate a first-class relic of St. John Paul II: a drop of his blood on a fragment of his cassock from the day he was shot in 1981. Also, for the first time, there will be a first-class relic of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
Anyone owning traditional native Polish attire is encouraged to wear it to the Mass.
A reception with light refreshments will be held after Mass. Donations for the reception are appreciated and can be dropped off before Mass at Aquinas Hall, across the courtyard from the church.
St. Thomas Aquinas Church is located at 1400 Suther Road in Charlotte. For details, call Mary Witulski at 704-290-6012.