CHARLOTTE — Dressed in traditional native Polish attire, more than 200 people filled the pews of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte Aug. 27 for a special Mass offered in Polish – an annual custom held in honor of Our Lady of Czestochowa, St. John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
The 12th annual Mass was celebrated by Polish Father Michal Szwarc of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Buffalo, N.Y. Father Raymond Esuka Ekosse of St. Thomas Aquinas Church concelebrated. Deacon James Witulski assisted at Mass and was co-organizer of the celebration with his wife, Mary Witulski.
Attendees were treated to traditional hymns sung by a Polish choir. While the Mass was celebrated in Polish, the homily was also delivered in English. Confessions in Polish and English were offered prior to Mass.
After the Mass, the faithful had 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.
A reception was also held after Mass.
— Troy Hull, Catholic News Herald
