Family life and the new evangelization were the themes for this year’s diocesan Polish Heritage Mass.

“We prepare our youth for their future careers, but what do we do to prepare our young ones for family life?” the Archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, Poland, asked the congregation made up of Polish representatives from parishes from throughout Brooklyn and Queens.

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Archbishop Henryk Hoser, S.A.C., was this year’s celebrant of the annual Polish Heritage Mass, which took place in St. Frances de Chantal, Borough Park. He also stressed the importance of the new evangelization among the laity of the Polonia community.

“The new evangelization won’t happen without you,” he said, reminding them that they must work with the diocese at large to help the Church in their new home. “Missionary cooperation is the future of the Church.”

At the end of Mass, after greeting the congregation with a traditional Polish “Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus,” which translates to “Praise be to Jesus Christ,” Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio echoed the archbishop’s words.

He told the congregation that the latest statistics reflect that there are 90,000 Polish-born people living in the diocese, but only an average of 19,000 people attend weekend Polish Mass in the diocese. The Mass attendance among Poles is strong, he said, but could be better.

He said coming to diocesan events such as the Polish Heritage Mass is a good way to bring witness to their faith and so is inviting friends to such events.

“Poland is always faithful – It has been faithful to the Church for over a thousand years,” Bishop DiMarzio said. “But you need courage to ask someone who is not practicing their faith to come back to the Church … You can be the evangelizers – and you are. God bless you.”

Archbishop Hoser praised the Polish-American community in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

“They pray ardently,” he said, and they care for one another.

The archbishop also said he was happy to accept the invitation to be the main celebrant at the Heritage Mass. He said it is important to remember one’s roots. Clergy and Church leaders visiting their flock abroad, he said, helps keep that connection.

The Grum family came to the Heritage Mass prepared to answer their spiritual leaders’ requests. Ursula, Artur and Michael Grum came dressed in traditional Krakow garb, a strong representation of St. Pope John Paul II’s heritage.

The mother of the family, Ursula, said they came to represent their parish, Our Lady of Czestochowa-St. Casimir, Sunset Park, and the Saturday Polish school associated with it. She said she hopes that participating in such festivities will help her son and all the children in the school come closer to their Polish-Catholic heritage.

The Grums also invited their son’s classmate from the Polish school, Natalia Jasinski, to don a Krakow outfit with them, to bring more representation to the Mass.

Ursula also said she was grateful to Bishop DiMarzio for celebrating Mass with the Polish community. She said his presence speaks to the bishop’s and the diocese’s interest and care for the Polish community. She also said it is the Polish community’s responsibility to respond to the bishop’s generosity in kind by coming together to participate in general diocesan events.

Father Witold Mroziewski, diocesan director of the Polish Apostolate, thanked those who attended the Mass, the laity and the priests who came to be with their people and to support each other in fraternity.

“In our diocese, we must provide witness,” he said. “Faith is what brought us here”

“If you believe in something, faith keeps on making you come,” said Canon Andrzej Kurowski, S.A.C. He said he was pleased to see so many of his fellow Polish countrymen and women show up for the celebration.

“We are from all over, but we are one Polish community,” he said, adding that he was thankful for Bishop DiMarzio’s presence. “It shows that he is for the Polish people.”