I've never understood the idea of, so to say, 'national' churches. I mean, a Polish/Spanish, Korean parish in the middle of another country.
I can understand a general idea of having mass in English, since everyone speaks it and and I guess this is the way to make a liturgy more understandable and so on. But having a national parish? No, no, no.
I've gone to a mass in a Polish church here, and it was through and through Polish.
Don't get me wrong, I love Poland. But this was so exclusive.Why do we need a church for Polish speakers only? They do live in an English-speaking country. They do speak English, communicate in this language on a daily basis. Why on earth, then, do they need a Polish parish church?
I don't buy into this thing about cultivating the Polish culture, staying close to your national traditions and not losing you identity. There are so many different ways to do that. And the Church should be universal, not segregated into different nationalities.
And so I went out of the church with a feeling of confusion. I've spent an hour in a room filled down to top with Polish people. Strange and discomforting. Outside the door waited London, where it didn't matter what country you come from. Re-entering into a real world from this little Polish island was truly a relief.
It seems like I cannot handle such a concentration of Polishness in one place. I think I moved from 'Look at me! I'm Polish!' to 'I have this whole baggage of being Polish with me, take what you will'.
No more Polish masses for me then. At least I've tried.
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