Let’s be honest. Up to recent years, it has not been too difficult to live as a Catholic in these United States. But that is changing. Efforts have been underway for some time to undermine our right to the free exercise of our religious beliefs.
For the most part, we have sat silently, acquiescing to such a radical agenda.
In the not too distant future, each of us may have to make the same type of choice my Lay Dominican brother, Roman Gorski, had to make some years ago in his native Poland – forfeit his physical comfort, and freedom or lose his soul.
He has given me permission to share his story, not to bring attention to himself but in hopes it will serve as a clarion call to all Catholics and Christians in this nation – be ready to suffer for your Faith.
Although lengthier than most of the work I have shared on this blog, the article is well-worth your time.
Strengthened by Faith by Mr. Roman Gorski, O.P.
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| (Image Source: From the House Tops) |
[This firsthand account by Roman Gorski, who lived in Poland at the same time as Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, tells of his struggle to keep the Faith in an atheistic regime.]
On October 16, 1978, I was in a streetcar in my college town of Lublin, Poland, when a stranger entered the car and announced: "Have you heard the news? Cardinal Wojtyla from Krakow is our new Pope." It was shocking news and hard for me to believe. When I arrived at my college dorm, my colleagues were also excitedly talking about the new Pope. Why did this news make us so happy? Why was it so important to us? In Poland, for all practical purposes, it was challenging to keep the Faith and now the person in the highest position in the Church comes from our country. It was like a miracle from Heaven, and a sign for all Catholics that God is still in charge, no matter how powerful governments may appear.
I grew up in a very patriotic Catholic family. To understand Poland it is essential to know that Church and politics cannot be separated there like in other countries. Members of my family fought against the Russians in the 1863 insurrection. My grandmother's twin brothers joined the battle against the Russian Army in the First World War and again in 1919 against the Bolsheviks. One of the twins died in combat, killed by the Soviets. Only nineteen years later, in September, 1939, we faced another war when Poland was attacked by Germany from the west and the Soviet Union from the east. Our allies, France and England, abandoned us in the fight. During the German occupation, in the Second World War my father and grandfather joined the Resistance fighters, only to be forsaken by the so-called Big Powers that they had defended, and our country was given over to Soviet domination.
The Soviets established a repressive, Godless system, which lasted almost 50 years, ending in 1989. During this period many Polish patriots were killed or arrested. The Church was persecuted. The press, radio, TV, and publications were all censored. The word "God" was removed from school textbooks and public life. The regime wanted "to put God in the closet," but no matter how they tried, the Communists could not take Him out of our lives and our souls. They knew this and they were afraid to close all of the churches in Poland until they "converted us" to their atheistic ideology. They wanted to "own us," but we were not for sale!
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