Hero photograph
Church of Nowa Hut
 
Photo by Tuirirangi Jason Renau

Building a Sacred Space

Daniel Cote Davis —

The struggle to build the Nowa Huta church was one of the great clashes between the Catholic Church and Communists in post-world war II Poland. St John Paul II, our school’s patron, showed deep faith and determination to have a sacred space for God to be worshipped, in a culture that forbade freedom of religion.

Nowa Huta was a brand new town built by the Communists in the early 50's outside of Krakow, it was designed to be a city with “no God.” The town was in St John Paul II’s diocese. It was meant to be a socialist workers' paradise, built on Communist principles and without a sacred space, with no Catholic Church. This would be unique in Poland’s long and Catholic history.

In dramatic scenes, St John Paul II would unite with town workers on Christmas Day to worship God in an open field, as they were not allowed to have a public Church. Thousands gathered. The actual workers singing old Polish hymns that started with the words, "We want God."

Meanwhile, Bishop Wojtyla and other priests gave sermons in the open field, through all the seasons and come rain or sun, or frost and hail and snow. Year after year and with deep hope, Bishop Wojtyla (St John Paul II) celebrated Christmas Mass at the site where the church was supposed to be built. Thousands would line up for communion in the open air, but the tension was building each time they did this “illegal” activity.

In May 1977, a year before St John Paul II became Pope, almost twenty years after the first request for a permit, Karol Wojtyla consecrated the church at Nowa Huta which was permitted. The Church stands to this day as a symbol of hope that Faith can triumph in places where God is “not allowed” and where freedoms are extinguished.

In our increasingly secular world, Bishop Paul has asked that every school in Christchurch diocese be granted a chapel so that God can be worshipped by pupils publically and that prayer to “Christ the Key” can be at the absolute heart of Catholic education. Let us ask the intercession of St John Paul II, St Marcellin Champagnat and Venerable Catherine McCauley for the good success of the chapel to be built at the heart of John Paul II High School in Greymouth. Let us pray with deep faith for this holy intention.

In the words of St John Paul II’s papal motto; <<Totus tuus>>, which was routinely used to sign off letters (written in Latin), meaning "all yours", often abbreviated as "t.t."…

Mary Mother of God, pray for us, pray for our school and pray for our future chapel which is <<all yours!>>