Features

The influx of workers from eastern Europe to Merseyside has seen a sharp rise in the number of people attending the weekly Polish Mass held at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral.

Polish worshippers have been attending a weekly Polish Mass at the Cathedral each Sunday for more than half a century. Until recently numbers attending the specialised mass had been dwindling as many of the original Polish community on Merseyside had either passed away or were too frail, but it’s becoming obvious to everyone that numbers are steadily increasing as the devoutly Catholic Polish settlers look for somewhere to worship in their own language.

The service helps people spiritually as well as serving as a meeting point for the Polish community, Father Solska travels from his other Parish in Northwich every Sunday to celebrate the Mass, he said: “We have the Mass here and I suppose for the Polish people there is only one place, they will come here not only to pray and for the Polish service, but also to meet each other, to exchange information, about work, about the houses, everything you know.”

A special Saturday school has even been started to try and help the Polish children feel at ease in their new surroundings and new culture, as well as helping families to hold on to their own identity. It’s run by Alexandra Mrozik who said: “When they go to English Schools, especially for the little ones at reception age, that they can see there are other children around them like them, who sometimes feel isolated in English school because they don’t speak the English language, so it’s very important for them to know there are other children like them around and they can exchange their experiences.”

The new life that has been injected into the Polish Mass at the Cathedral is reminiscent of the post war congregations, after the first Polish settlers moved to Liverpool, and brings back memories for those who have been taking part in the Mass for all these years.

Andre Olchowski’s father was Polish Fighter Pilot during the second world war, he remembers Sunday’s spent in the Cathedral as a child, he said: “The number of people in the congregation we have today in Liverpool is equivalent to the 1960’s numbers when there were veterans of the RAF fighter pilots, there was bomber command, there was fighter command and veterans of Monty Casino who I stood with as a child at the age of 5.”

Now a new group of Polish émigrés have taken their place among the pews at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Unlike their predecessors they were not forced out by war or politics but have chosen to come here in search of a better life, one in which the strong Catholic faith in which they were reared will not be abandoned.