Renew has a Polish accent

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

As Renew 2000 gets underway at St. Casimir's Church in Albany, there's a push for a Polish-language group to form in order to respond to the needs of young and old who wish to share their language and culture.

During Masses last weekend, Mary Ann Bates spoke in both English and Polish about Renew 2000 for Polish-speaking parishioners.

There seem to be several distinct groups of Polish people in the parish, she said. Some parishioners have belonged to the parish for generations and speak Polish entirely. Others arrived during the upheaval in Poland during the 1980s and speak both Polish and English, while younger parishioners were born here and know some Polish.

Ms. Bates plans to offer a bilingual group that would appeal to parishioners who understand both languages. Renew 2000 materials are available in Polish, although Ms. Bates translated the English booklets into Polish, just to be safe.

Since older parishioners tend to speak Polish almost exclusively, and middle-aged and younger parishioners speak both languages to some extent, Ms. Bates thinks a bilingual group would help to accommodate everyone, no matter which language they speak.

She also hopes that such a Renew 2000 group would help Polish-speaking parishioners from different generations to meet and mingle.

Ms. Bates pointed out that older parishioners participate in liturgical activities at St. Casimir's, such as the Polish Mass at 8:30 a.m. on the second Sunday of each month, more than the younger parishioners, who are involved in the social gatherings, such as Christmas or Easter dinner.

Her goal is to encourage the younger parishioners to become more involved in religious events at the parish.

Having been involved in Renew during the 1980s at Christ the King Church in Westmere, Ms. Bates knew that she wanted to participate at St. Casimir's, where she has been a parishioner for eight years. (PQ)

(09-17-98) [[In-content Ad]]