The Polish American Congress Council of National Directors Meeting, which took place in Chicago, in November 2019, was the venue for an important speech by Very Reverend Canon Miroslaw Krol, whoi is the Chancellor of the Orchard Lake Schools. Father Król called on the Polish American Congress to lead the project to commemorate this year’s two important anniversaries. Our fellow Americans need to see that the birth centennial of Saint John Paul II and the centennial of the Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw on 15 August 1920 show why America and Poland are partners in freedom.
These two centennial anniversaries are linked by the struggle of Americans and Poles against communism and for freedom.
Colonel Cedric Fauntleroy of Chicago, commanded the Kościuszko Squadron of American gentlemen combat aviators, Meriian C. Cooper, the Hollywood producer and director, best known for his film King Kong, is the most famous, who stopped the advance of the Red Cavalry, General Budenny’s Kon Armia, and helped Poland to win the Polish Bolshevik War of 1919-1920. The turning point of this war was the Polish victory at the battle of Warsaw on 15 August 1920, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Polish victory prevented the Red Army from carrying communism into western Europe.
President Ronald Reagan, who established United States Diplomatic Relations with the Holy See, and Pope John Paul II did much to encourage the peoples of the Captive Nations to challenge their communist rulers in thename of freedom.
Father Krol chose to make this announcement at the Polish American Congress Council of National Directors Meeting because he sees the Polish American Congress as the organization that must lead the broad based collaborative effort to pivot Poland’s image from the “land of Auschwitz” to “the land of Freedom”. We must not disappoint the Chancellor of the Orchard Lake Schools.
The Chinese Flu pandemic has delayed the Polish American Congress in the scheduling of events in Washington, DC to commemorate these two centennial anniversaries which show that America and Poland are partners in freedom.