Heritage Talk: Eucharist: Comfort of Martyrs
January 20 @ 5:15 pm
Easter Sunday 2024 marked the centennial anniversary of the celebration of the first Public Mass held inside the National Shrine. The celebration of the inauguration of the liturgical life of this grand and noble votive church in honor of Mary, the Immaculate Conception, will be celebrated throughout 2024 and 2025.
Judith Kelly, a longtime social justice activist in the Washington, D.C. area, will offer a talk inspired by Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, the Martyr of Solidarity, entitled “Eucharist: Comfort of Martyrs.” We invite you to join us in the Crypt Church following the 5:15 p.m. Mass on Monday January 20, 2025.
Following the event, the presentation will be made available for viewing on the National Shrine’s Website and YouTube Channel.
More about the speaker and session:
A longtime member of Pax Christi USA, Judith Kelly is originally from the D.C. Metro area and has traveled to conflict zones on human rights delegations since the early 1990s. She was honored with the Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore “Peacemaker of the Year” award in 2014, and is the author of the best-selling biography, Just Call Me Jerzy (available in the National Shrine bookstore), which chronicles the witness of Solidarity Chaplain Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, the martyr of the Solidarity movement. In her research into the life of Fr. Jerzy, Judith learned that the young priest had twice visited the National Shrine and celebrated Mass in the chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Born in 1947, Fr. Jerzy was ordained in 1972 by (Bl.) Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński, Archbishop of Warsaw. Fr. Jerzy was a simple, shy, devout priest. In August 1980, the Gdansk ship workers went on strike and then the Warsaw steelworkers. The workers requested a priest to offer Mass: the chancery sent Fr. Jerzy. His life would never be the same – and neither would the Solidarity movement. The steel workers captured the heart of Fr. Jerzy, and he became their pastor, standing in “living solidarity” with the movement.
In December 1981, the Polish Communist government declared martial law and Solidarity was banned. A few months later, Fr. Jerzy offered a “Mass for the Nation,” which was attended to over-flowing. Fr. Jerzey was now the spiritual inspiration of the movement. Every month thereafter, a Mass for the Nation was offered, and his sermons were broadcast not only in Poland, but throughout Europe. The regime took notice, and efforts to silence him began in earnest. On October 19, 1984, while returning from an evening Mass at a remote church, security officers stopped Fr. Jerzy and his driver. Eleven days later, his tortured body was found. He was 37 years old. The driver had escaped and lived to tell of the events.
Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko was declared a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church and beatified on June 6, 2010.
