Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin: the Chief Rabbi of Poland and Bishop Cisło prayed on the grave of Father Grzegorz Pawlowski.

Photo credit: KUL Heschel Center

Father Grzegorz Pawlowski showed us that a person can look for his own way and at the same time remain in the community,” said Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich. Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Rev. Fr. Grzegorz Pawlowski – Yakub Hersh Griner. The event was organized by the Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL).

On the first anniversary of Rev. Pawlowski’s death, representatives of the Jewish community and the Catholic Church prayed together at the Jewish cemetery in Izbica. In accordance with his will, Rev. Pawlowski was buried there with his family.

The ceremony was attended, among others, by the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich. He mentioned that Fr. Pawlowski sought his own path with God, but did not forget his background. “He chose an unusual path in his spiritual life. I am full of respect for him, because he was an honest and thoughtful man. He had a unique life and was unique himself,” he stressed. Rabbi Schudrich also spoke of Fr. Pawlowski’s spiritual strength. “I cannot understand the fact that he saw the death of his mother and sister, and yet somehow found the strength to escape death,” he admitted.

Prof. Susannah Heschel stressed that the memory of Fr. Pawlowski, is also the memory of the Holocaust. “As I was told, Fr. Pawlowski often mentioned his pain, and cried when he talked about his family. I hope that by preserving his memory, we also remember his pain and the pain of his mother and sisters, Jews murdered by the Nazis here in Izbica,” she said.

#SusannahHeschel during the first anniversary of the death of Rev. Fr. Grzegorz Pawlowski: I hope that by preserving his memory, we also remember his pain and the pain of his mother and sisters, Jews murdered by the Nazis here in Izbica.

The prayer was organized by @HeschelKULpl pic.twitter.com/KIYR4YvEii

— Centrum Heschela KUL (@HeschelKULpl) October 21, 2022

Bishop Mieczyslaw Cisło, who was present at the ceremony, recalled that Fr. Pawlowski repeatedly said that Poland and Israel were his two homelands, and he was ready to give his life for each of them. “These were not just words since he had a full Jewish and Polish identity. He did not say a bad word against the Poles, because it was to them that he owed his life. We come to Izbica to thank him for the beautiful testimony he left us,” he said.

Today at 7 p.m. a Mass will be celebrated at the Lublin Archcathedral for the intention of Fr. Pawlowski. It will be presided over by Archbishop Stanislaw Budzik, and the homily will be delivered by Father Marek Szymanski, director of the Gaudium publishing house.

Father Grzegorz Pawlowski was a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust. He was born into a family of Zamosc Orthodox Jews as Jakub Hersz Griner. He lost his immediate family during World War II. He himself survived the Holocaust thanks to Poles who, in order to save him, gave him a new name. Raised in an atmosphere of Christian faith, he adopted it as his own.

After high school graduation, he entered the seminary in Lublin and was ordained a priest in 1958. For years he worked in parishes in the Lublin archdiocese. When he found his brother, who had survived the Holocaust, he left for Israel in 1970, where he became a pastor of the Polish community and the Hebrew-speaking Catholics. He died on October 21, 2021 in Jaffa, Israel.

The Abraham Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) is a new scientific and educational unit of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. It was established to deepen Catholic-Jewish relations on the scientific, educational and cultural levels. Prof. Susannah Heschel, came to Poland for the opening ceremony of the Center.