Following the Mass, those in attendance will have the chance to venerate the relic. The Diocese of Brooklyn covers Brooklyn and Queens, home to a large part of New York’s Polish community.
Who was Father Jerzy Popiełuszko
Jerzy Popiełuszko was born on September 14, 1947, in the village of Okopy near Suchowola in northeastern Poland. He was ordained a priest in May 1972 by Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. In August 1980 he celebrated Mass for the striking workers of the Huta Warszawa steelworks and from then on served as their chaplain.
After martial law was imposed in Poland on December 13, 1981, Father Jerzy organized spiritual and material support for internees, political prisoners and their families. At St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Warsaw’s Żoliborz district he celebrated monthly Masses for the Homeland that drew thousands of people. His homilies were broadcast throughout Poland on Radio Free Europe, encouraging human dignity and non-violent resistance. His motto came from St. Paul: “Overcome evil with good.”
The communist authorities harassed him with interrogations and charges. On October 19, 1984, while returning from Bydgoszcz, he was abducted near Górsk by three officers of the Security Service. His body was recovered on October 30 from the Vistula reservoir near Włocławek. His funeral on November 3, 1984, at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Warsaw drew hundreds of thousands of people. The killers and their superior were sentenced to prison in the Toruń trial.
Martyr and Blessed
On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI approved the decree recognizing Father Popiełuszko’s martyrdom. He was beatified on June 6, 2010, at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw, in a ceremony led by Archbishop Angelo Amato on behalf of the Pope. His grave at the church in Żoliborz has become a place of pilgrimage, and his cause for canonization continues.
Tuesday’s Mass in Brooklyn comes just days before the 42nd anniversary of Father Jerzy’s abduction and martyrdom. New York’s Polish community marks this anniversary every year; read more in our article 40 Years of Sacrifice: Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko Remembered in Special Exhibition.
Practical information
- When: Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 7 p.m.
- Where: St. Frances de Chantal Roman Catholic Church, 1273 58th Street, Brooklyn, NY (Borough Park)
- Celebrant: Bishop Robert Brennan, Diocese of Brooklyn
- After Mass: veneration of the relic of Blessed Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko
Source: Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.
