Early morning, on August 17th, the Icon of Czestochowa arrived at the church of St. Luke the Evangelist (being newly constructed) in Fordon, after the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass had been celebrated by the Reverend Dr. Lech Bilicki and the pastor and custodian of the Shrine of Our Lady of Beautiful Love, Father Stanislaw Kotowski.
The Reverend, Pastor Miroslaw Pstragowski, welcomed the Blessed Virgin Mary at the threshold of his church, and leading her through the main entrance of the church remarked that Our Blessed Mother crosses the threshold as the first visitor. The new church is a sign of new life which is born and being developed.
The young parish received and welcomed Our Blessed Mother with great enthusiasm. Outside, in front of the entrance to the church, was a pro-life gallery set up for all to view. The feretory was brought inside the church by the men from the Society of St. Wojciech. A large group of younger and older altar servers made quite a sight. Many families had arrived with small children in strollers.
Even though the Eucharist is already being celebrated inside the church, and the pastoral work is being carried out, the building is still under construction and many of the interior walls are still in their raw stages. The building of a new church, so much needed here in this area, is being done with a great effort today for this parish. In this case, the construction is ongoing for the past 8 years already, and even though progress is being made, it is very slow.
Fordon is a district of Bydgoszcz, where today the dominating architecture consists of high rises made of concrete, which are occupied by many young couples with children. It is also a place sanctified by the blood shed by 1400 innocent civilians who resided in this city - Poles and Jews – and were murdered by the Nazis during mass executions in the, so called, Valley of Death in the first days of WWII. In this place of execution, there currently stands the Shrine of Our Lady, Queen of the Martyrs, and the Way of the Cross - the Calvary at Golgotha of the XX century, erected after the visit of [the late Holy Father] Blessed John Paul II in Bydgoszcz in 1999.