April 2005

Polish people lose a national hero as well 

Column: John Paul II gave nation hope against communist oppression.

By MAGDA LISZEWSKA
The Orange County Register

As I sit down to write this story, breaking news announces Pope John Paul II's death and the sadness hits. So hard. So deep. So personal.

To say I'm not a frequent church-goer is an understatement, but it doesn't matter. I was born and raised Catholic in Poland, and John Paul II was my pope. Chosen the same year I was born, he's the only pope I, and my generation, have known. He's our claim to national fame and source of national pride.

When my brother accepted his first Communion in 1975, the pope was a distant church leader. An important figure, but a figure nevertheless.
Then John Paul II was elected one October day. He spoke our language, knew our history and understood our culture. On his first visit, he gave the nation hope that was stronger than the hopelessness of communist oppression.

"I don't think people are crying because the pope is dying,'' my brother, Wlodzimierz Liszewski, said from Warsaw. "They're crying because for Polish people, the pope was like a good father, who always offered advice when the nation needed direction.''

People followed the pontiff everywhere on each of his nine visits to Poland. Each stop was televised live, and thousands watched, regardless of religion.

During his last visit in 2002, John Paul II visited a bakery in his hometown, Wadowice, and bought a kremówka, his favorite eclair-like pastry. The bakery was flooded with orders from all over the country.

Poles in America have been feeling the pride too.

Aleksander Romanski, one of the founders of the John Paul II Polish Center in Yorba Linda, came to the United States in 1952. The former soldier was an educated legal immigrant, but said he felt discriminated against. That changed after October 1978.

"Life got better,'' he said. "And the stupid Polish jokes stopped.''

Costa Mesa resident Maria Jakubowska was a student in Poland in the early '80s when she went to Rome to see the pope. She said she'd never forget the overwhelming emotion of being in his presence.

John Paul II's death filled countless Polish hearts with grief, but also pride that we live in times when one of our countrymen was the pope.
At a Friday soccer game between Lech Poznan and Pogon Szczecin in Poland, the spectators demanded in the 39th minute that the match be stopped as the news of the pope's failing health trickled in. Players knelt and joined the crowd in a solemn rendition of the Polish anthem and a tearful prayer. Then they walked out of the stadium.

John Paul II became the world's pope. But in the hearts and minds of many Polish people, he was our pope, whom we shared with everybody else. To see him go hits so hard. So deep. So personal.

Magda Liszewska emigrated from Poland and has worked for the Register since 2002.
(949) 454-7377 or mliszewska@ocregister.com