This is a unique gesture — the bishop of the diocese covering Brooklyn and Queens comes to a Polish church to celebrate the most important holiday of the year with the Polish community.
Why it matters
The blessing of food on Holy Saturday — święconka — is a tradition that Poles brought to America over a hundred years ago and cultivate with the same care as in Krakow, Poznan, or Rzeszow. But the fact that the ordinary of the Diocese of Brooklyn — one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the United States — personally comes to a Polish parish to bless the baskets with the faithful is more than just liturgy. It is a signal that the Polish community in Greenpoint is seen, respected, and treated as an integral part of Catholic Brooklyn.
Bishop Brennan will join the parish priest, Father Wiesław Strzadała, who has led the Polish community on Metropolitan Avenue for years. Our Lady of Consolation Church is one of the oldest Polish churches in Greenpoint — a place that remembers generations of Polish-American families, from the first immigrants at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries to today’s young families who come to Polish mass every Sunday with children in strollers.
Event Details
What: Service and blessing of Easter baskets with Bishop Robert Brennan
When: Saturday, April 4, 2026, 12:00 PM noon
Where: Our Lady of Consolation Roman Catholic Church, 184 Metropolitan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Pastor: Fr. Wiesław Strzadała
The Diocese of Brooklyn invites the media — this is an official photo/video opportunity. Easter baskets, colorfully decorated, with traditional Polish foods — this is an image that speaks more than a thousand words about what Polish Easter in America is all about.
Bring your basket
If you don’t have a plan yet for the blessing of food on Holy Saturday — Our Lady of Consolation on Metropolitan Avenue is an excellent choice. Come early, because with the bishop in the church — the crowds will be larger than usual. Bring a basket with bread, eggs, sausage, horseradish, salt, butter, and a sugar lamb. A white napkin and a sprig of boxwood or pussy willows. And a good heart — because that’s what these holidays are most about.
Happy Easter, Greenpoint. Happy Easter, Polish Community.
Editorial Staff, Głos Polonii w USA (Voice of Polish Community in the USA)
Easter 2026: Sunday, April 5. Blessing of food with Bishop Brennan: Saturday, April 4, 12:00 PM, Our Lady of Consolation, 184 Metropolitan Ave, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Read our full Easter guide: Easter 2026 in America in Polish — święconka, traditions, and sour rye soup. Read more at poland.us.
