A Home in Poland

October 1, 2026

A new shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney in Radom, Poland, gives the Knights of Columbus a spiritual ‘anchor’ in Central Europe

By Jarosław Herman

October 1, 2026

A portrait of Blessed Michael McGivney is displayed outside the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom, Poland. — A portrait of Blessed Michael McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, is displayed outside the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom, Poland, Sept. 6, the day it became the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)

For decades, Knights have made pilgrimages to St. Mary’s Church in New Haven, Connecticut — the birthplace of the Order and the resting place of Blessed Michael McGivney since 1982. Now, more than 4,000 miles away, a church in Radom, Poland, has become a European center of devotion to the Knights’ founder.

On Sept. 6, the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom became the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney. Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Radom read the decree establishing the shrine at a Mass presided over by Archbishop Wacław Depo of Częstochowa, Poland state chaplain. Father Wiesław Lenartowicz, the parish’s pastor and chaplain of Our Lady of Częstochowa, Queen of Poland Council 14004, became the shrine’s rector.

In a letter read during the celebration, Supreme Secretary John Marrella wrote: “I believe this shrine in Radom will become a new place of pilgrimage for Polish Knights and, indeed, will become the anchor of the Order in Central Europe.”

‘HE IS VERY CLOSE TO US’

The shrine formally recognizes a devotion that has grown in the parish for years. When Council 14004 was founded in March 2006, many members knew little about Father McGivney’s life. Supreme Warden Andrzej Anasiak, a member of the council, recalled how the biography Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism helped them discover the man behind the Order.

Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Radom, Poland, reads the decree establishing the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa. — Bishop Marek Solarczyk of Radom, Poland, reads the decree establishing the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa Sept. 6. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)

“I think we needed that time to get to know our founder,” Supreme Warden Anasiak said. “We can no longer pass by indifferently and say, ‘I don’t know this blessed man. He is far away in America, across the ocean.’ He is here. He is very close to us.”

As the council grew, Knights prayed for Father McGivney’s beatification and encouraged devotion to him through men’s rosaries, overnight pilgrimages and monthly parish celebrations.

“You have replicated here in Poland precisely what Father McGivney started in New Haven 144 years ago,” Marrella wrote. “A society that would form and sustain Catholic men and their families and parishes, helping everyone respond to the universal call to holiness.”

McGivney House, a resource center established by the parish, serves Ukrainian refugees, seniors, job seekers, people struggling with addiction and others facing difficult circumstances.

“If his followers are still doing such things, who was Father Michael McGivney?” Father Lenartowicz said. “That leads to the shrine — to his image, his relics, to prayer.”

Drawn to the Knights by their charitable work, Father Lenartowicz wanted to understand the spiritual foundation that sustained it. A pilgrimage to the United States with fellow Polish chaplains in April 2024 deepened that understanding.

Knights of Columbus, their families and hundreds of other worshippers attend Mass at the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom. — Knights of Columbus, their families and hundreds of other worshippers attend Mass Sept. 6 celebrating the establishment of the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom, Poland. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)

“I felt a truly deep bond when we made a pilgrimage with brother chaplains to the United States, following in Blessed Michael McGivney’s footsteps,” he recalled. “We discovered things we had known nothing about.”

Father McGivney’s parish ministry offered him a model for his own priesthood amid the challenges of contemporary life.

“For Father McGivney, there was no one he would not care for, no one to whom he would not proclaim Christ,” Father Lenartowicz said. “It was a constant apostolate in every circumstance, good and bad, in season and out of season.”

On the first Monday of each month, Knights and parishioners gather for a votive Mass seeking Blessed Michael McGivney’s intercession, bringing written petitions and expressions of thanksgiving.

This tradition helped inspire Bishop Solarczyk’s decision to establish the shrine.

“If there is a living source of God’s grace, a person needs only to avoid getting in the way and to help others benefit from it,” Bishop Solarczyk said.

The shrine also reflects a spiritual bond between Catholics in Poland and the United States.

“Council 14004 is a perfect example of what Father McGivney hoped to create: a society of laymen, fortified by the sacraments, who are committed to performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy,” Supreme Secretary Marrella said. “I hope and pray … that Father McGivney will become as beloved a saint in Poland as Pope St. John Paul II and St. Faustina are in the United States.”

A Knight proclaims a reading during Mass Sept. 6 at the newly established Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom, Poland. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)

AN HONOR AND AN OBLIGATION

Council 14004 has combined prayer with practical service since its founding. The Knights have organized summer activities for parish youth, collected food and other supplies for Ukraine, and supported priests serving Ukrainians — work that began long before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

For World Youth Day in Poland in 2016, the council helped bring 50 young people from eastern Ukraine and paid for their lodging. The following year, young Ukrainians returned to spend part of their summer with youth from Our Lady of Częstochowa Parish in Radom. These efforts earned the council the Order’s international Youth Activities award in both 2017 and 2018.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Knights assisted vulnerable people unable to leave home. The parish also began all-day Eucharistic adoration, which Supreme Warden Anasiak described as a source of spiritual strength that helped prepare the community to respond to the war in 2022.

“Without spiritual support, without the help of our founder, we would not have been able to carry out many of these initiatives,” Supreme Warden Anasiak said.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion, local Knights sent care packages to Ukraine and helped families fleeing the war. As the relief effort grew, part of the parish rectory was converted into McGivney House, which opened in December 2022 to serve refugees and others in need.

The center offered Ukrainian families Polish language lessons, childcare, art workshops and psychological support. It also provided catechesis for Ukrainian Greek Catholic children.

In March 2026, the parish and McGivney House welcomed 45 Ukrainian widows and orphans of fallen soldiers during a Pilgrimage of Hope organized by Polish and Ukrainian Knights.

As rector, Father Lenartowicz hopes to extend the shrine’s spiritual outreach.

Fourth Degree Knights take part in a procession Sept. 6 during the celebration establishing the Diocesan Shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney at the Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Radom, Poland. (Photo by Sebastian Nycz)

“Promoting devotion to Father McGivney as widely as possible will require planned activity, days of recollection and retreats,” he said. He envisions the shrine serving families, men and priests.

“He founded the Knights of Columbus above all out of concern for the family,” he said, calling Blessed Michael “a patron and guide for priests in difficult times.”

Grand Knight Jacek Grzegorzewski of Council 14004 sees the shrine as a call for local Knights to deepen their commitment to service.

“It is a great honor for us, but at the same time an obligation to become even more involved in the works our council carries out,” Grzegorzewski said.

Supreme Warden Anasiak hopes the shrine’s influence will reach far beyond Radom.

“I would like the shrine of Blessed Michael McGivney to be an anchor that unites, sustains and safeguards the Knights of Columbus in Poland and throughout Europe,” he said. “A place where Knights come joyfully because they know they are meeting someone very important.”

*****

JAROSŁAW HERMAN is a member of Blessed Michael Sopoćko Council 17667 in Kraków, Poland.

A detail of the Holy Family is seen on the Portal of Charity of the Sagrada Família’s east-facing Nativity façade.

A Home in Poland

‘HE IS VERY CLOSE TO US’

AN HONOR AND AN OBLIGATION

Related Articles

Blessed Michael McGivney

Builders of Communion

Builders of Communion

Blessed Michael McGivney

A Natural Born Director

A Natural Born Director

Blessed Michael McGivney

Fathers McGivney

Fathers McGivney

Blessed Michael McGivney

America’s Parish Priest in America’s Parish Church

America’s Parish Priest in America’s Parish Church

Blessed Michael McGivney

In the Founder’s Footsteps

In the Founder’s Footsteps

Blessed Michael McGivney

An Encounter with Father McGivney

An Encounter with Father McGivney

Blessed Michael McGivney

If You Need a Miracle

If You Need a Miracle

Blessed Michael McGivney

Sculpting Our Founder

Sculpting Our Founder