Archives for March 24, 2018

PACMI to host Katyn/Smolensk Remembrance Mass

On Saturday, April 7, 2018, at 6:00 pm, a Mass will be celebrated at St. Faustina Church in Warren (14025 E. Twelve Mile Road, Warren, MI 48088) to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Smoleñsk Polish Aircraft victims. The Mass, organized by the Michigan Division of the Polish American Congress (PAC-MI), will also pay tribute to Katyñ Massacre victims. Fr. Bogdan Mi³osz, the pastor of St. Faustina Parish, will celebrate the Mass.
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on April 10, 2010, when aircraft crashed near the city of Smoleñsk, Russia, killing all 96 people onboard. These included Polish President Lech Kaczyñski, and his wife, former President in-Exile Ryszard Kaczorowski and other officials and members of Polish clergy. The flight was heading to Katyñ taking many high ranking Polish officials to ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyñ Massacre.
The Katyñ Massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, in April and May of 1940.
The Polish American Congress, Michigan Division, is a local division of the Polish American Congress, which is a national umbrella organization of Polish-Americans and Polish-American organizations. Its membership is composed of fraternal, educations, veteran, religious, cultural, social, business and political organizations, as well as individuals. The PAC promotes civic, educational and cultural programs designed to further not only the knowledge of Polish history, language and culture, but to stimulate Polish American involvement and accomplishments.