Ties of History and Faith

I barely ever went to church in California. Only on Christmas and Easter would I attend mass, hear the priest give a sermon on why most of the congregation should come the rest of the year, and then wait until the next of these holidays to return. However, while in Poland I began going to mass regularly and discovered that I actually liked it.

Once I got to Budapest, I saw a sign for the city’s Polish church. Since then I have made it a point to take the metro out to Budapest’s 10^th district every Sunday to attend Polish mass.

A few Sundays ago, the priest announced that this day was not only the first day of Blessed Pope John Paul II, but also was the 55^th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 uprising against the Soviet regime. Understandably, this was a rather important day for both nations. The church had even planned the first communion of it’s Sunday school to coincide with it.

The mass began by blessing an image of the former Polish pope, and appealing to the the recently beatified pontiff. This only served to underscore to me the fact that while John Paul II is not yet a Saint, to many poles he might as well be already.

Of even more interest was the almost equal respect that the Polish speaking mass paid to the Hungarian October uprising. Like the Gdańsk shipyard uprising of the early 1970’s are regarded in Poland, this Budapest insurrection of similar import to the Hungarians. Throughout the mass the priest spoke of the importance of these events in building a good national foundation, and of the pope’s example in fostering solidarity between Christian and other peoples.

Judging by my experiences in America, mass was always about what people are doing wrong, but this one was an affirmation of what we have done right. Although it was about the past, it showed that their message still has relevance in the present day, and meaning for the future.

This experience exemplifies the sense of friendship between Poles and Magyars. While their cultures may be different, the journeys of faith and freedom that they have had to travel are strikingly similar. On that morning in mass it occurred to me that this manifestation would have been in keeping with the pope’s wishes. As one of my Friends from Kaliningrad put it: “Polak i Węgier, dwa bratanki.” Pole and Magyar, brothers in arms – and in faith.

Perspectives on Nowa Huta

29 years ago my mother traveled to Poland as a journalist, to cover the country under martial law. She spent the Christmas vigil with a family in the infamous communist housing complex of Nowa Huta. I grew up hearing Nowa Huta essentially described as the epitome of all that was wrong in communist Poland. So, despite having been to Krakow three times, it was not until a few weeks ago that worked up the courage to take the tramwaj out to this section of the city.
What I found there surprised me. I had heard up to that point Nowa Huta was still one of the poorest and ugliest parts of Krakow. However, I found a well kept development, free of any obvious poverty. Compared to other block housing developments I have visited in Romania and Moldova, the buildings in Nowa Huta are in good condition. Graffiti, prolific in many parts of Poland, seemed to be kept to a minimum.
Despite the city’s current condition, reminders of its troubled past are still everywhere. It’s not that the scars of socialist era have yet to heal. The development was originally conceived as a model socialist utopia, but the present day residents of Nowa Huta seem to enjoy finding new and creative ways of giving the finger to the Bolsheviks. You pass from streets such as Solidarity Avenue to Pope John Paul II Street. The statue of Lenin which once dominated Nowa Huta’s Plac Centralny is conspicuously absent, replaced on the far end of the square by a monument to the Solidarity movement. A chapel has been consecrated on the site where the government's refusal to allow the residents to build a church incited riots. The cross originally in the field is now a monument. One of the inscriptions on the cross, a quote by Pope John Paul II reads “ from the cross in Nowa Huta began a new evangelism, the evangelism of a new milennium.” It was amazing to know that I was standing one of the spots where Poles began their fight for freedom.
With these thoughts in my head I decided to stop in at a café on the main square before heading back to Krakow. Soon after I sat down, one of Nowa Huta’s senior citizens, a resident of 50 years, entered and asked if he could sit with me. We began talking about how the city had changed. “Everything works now,” he opined, “but these days we lack community.” He proceeded to tell me of late nights at the cinema, and dancing until dawn in the city’s famous Restaracja Stylowa. "It was truly beautiful,” he added, “ but young people these days are only interested in new things.” His statement made more sense when my teacher later explained that the entertainment of which he spoke of were events organized by the communist party. Restaracja Stylowa is still there, but is now a tourist attraction that caters to communism tour groups. The way the old man in the café spoke of it, it sounded like it had closed long ago. For him , it may well have.