Plan obchodów

Sobota 18 kwietnia 2015

Polonijna konferencja społeczno-historyczna. Rozpoczęcie o godz. 9.00

W niedzielę 19 kwietnia 2015 roku

w Amerykańskiej Częstochowie odbędą się uroczystości z udziałem przedstawicieli rodzin katyńskich i smoleńskich, polskich parlamentarzystów, przedstawicieli polskiej ambasady, naukowców oraz amerykańskich polityków i przedstawicieli lokalnej administracji.

Program obchodów:

On Thurday, April 9, at 7:00 pm a Mass will be celebrated at St. Faustina Church in Warren (14025 E Twelve Mile Rd, Warren, MI 48088) to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Smolensk Polish Aircraft Victims. The Mass, organized by the Michigan Division of the Polish American Congress, will also pay tribute to Katyn Massacre victims. Fr. Bogdan Milosz, the pastor of St. Faustina Parish, will celebrate the Mass.
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on April 10, 2010, when aircraft crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people onboard. These included Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, former President Ryszard Kaczorowski and other officials and members of Polish clergy. The flight was conducted for the purpose of taking many high ranking Polish officials to ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre.
The Katyn massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940.

Anna Bańkowska was elected the President of the Polish American Congress Michigan Division (PAC-MI) at the annual membership meeting on Saturday, March 14, at the PNA Hall in Hamtramck.

Bańkowska was the only nominated candidate for the position of PAC-MI President. Mariusz Szajnert, who was the PAC-MI President for the last eight years decided not to run.

Bańkowska is following the footsteps of her father, Kazimierz Olejarczyk, who passed away last year. Mr. Olejarczyk devoted his entire adult life to Polish American Congress (for 16 years her served as the President of the organization).

The election of officers and board members was conducted by the Nominating Committee led by Hon. Judge John Chmura.

Barbara Lemecha was elected Executive Vice President, while Barbara Gronet and Christopher Adamczyk were elected as Vice President for American and Polish Affairs. Tomasz Wolski will again serve as the Treasurer.

Anna Huk-Glaeser was elected Recording Secretary (for Board Meeting) and Donna Bielecki will assume the position of the Recording Secretary (for Membership Meetings). Jolanta Bujny will serve as the Corresponding Secretary.

19 individuals were nominated for the position of State Directors. They all accepted the nomination. Barbara Gronet, while accepting the nomination for VP for American Affairs, withdrew her nomination for State Director position. And since the by-laws of PAC-MI states that the body of State Directors comprises of 18 individuals, there was no need for voting. The elected State Directors are: Władysław Bańkowski, Joan Baritche, John Baritche, Jerzy Czaja, Frank Dmuchowski, Anita Dul, Andrzej Jakobek, Stanisława Jakobek, Richard Lapham, Edward Nizienski, Francine Nizienski, Jerzy Różalski, Thomas Schemanski, Stella Szczęsny, Jane Tylenda, Mary Ellen Tyszka, Mirosław Wawrysz i Stefan Żmuda.

The Audit Committee (comprising of five people) received only two nomination (Anita Dul and Edward Maska) in the time permitted. The nominating committee asked for nominations from the floor. Richard Lapham, Jane Tylenda and Waldemar Raczkowski were nominated. They accepted the nominations, thus becoming the members of the Audit Committee.

The PAC-MI is allowed to have three National Directors (based on organizations that are members of PAC-MI). There were six nominations received. Through the voting process three with highest number of votes were: dr. Zdzisław Jurek, Jerzy Różalski and Thaddeus Radziłowski.

The newly elected Officers and members of the Board will officially take their positions on March 28 during the swearing-in ceremony at the PNA Hall in Hamtramck. The event, which starts at 1:00 pm, will also include a presentation of PAC Awards.

(courtesy of “Polish Times”)

The Polish American Congress Charitable Foundation invites all the students (members of the PAC) to apply for a scholarship from the Richard Gorecki Scholarship Fund of the PAC Charitable Foundation in Chicago. All the details can be found at PAC Charitable Foundation’s website:

http://paccf.org/Scholarship_1.htm

Friends of Polish Art (FPA) is inviting students to apply for scholarships through its two scholarship grants.  More information on FPA’s website:

Scholarships & Grant

Biuro michiganskiego wydzialu
Kongresu Polonii Amerykanskiej
bedzie nieczynne w dniach
24 grudnia – 1 stycznia.

Zyczymy wszystkim Radosnych Swiat
i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku!

The PAC office will be closed from
December 24 to January 1.

We wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

PAC-NL-1411

Resolution #1: The Security of the Republic of Poland

Whereas, the Russian aggression of Ukraine, annexation of Crimea and threats from Putin’s
Kremlin against the Republic of Poland demonstrate that the current policies of Russian
President Putin and the insurgent Russian imperialism become a real and imminent threat to
world peace, stability in Eastern and Central Europe and particularly to the existence of the
Republic of Poland as a free country, and
Whereas, the Republic of Poland is a member of the NATO alliance, and
Whereas, NATO alliance has no workable contingency plans to effectively aid Poland against
an aggression from the East, and
Whereas, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski appealed to the NATO members, particularly
Germany, to assist Poland in the extreme necessity of possible Russian military aggression, and
Whereas, Germany refused to participate in creating any NATO military bases on Polish
territory, and
Whereas, on September 30, 2014 the German press released information, according to which
the German Armed Forces are disorganized and lacking the necessary equipment for sustaining
efforts per President Komorowski’s request,
Therefore, the National Directors of the Polish American Congress assembled in Chicago on
October 17-18, 2014, express their deep concern about the security of Poland. In our opinion it
is necessary to establish United States Armed Forces bases on Polish territory. National
Directors of PAC appeal to United States Authorities to establish a strong bilateral treaty
between the USA and Poland, similar to the accords between the USA and some other
countries. We request U. S. President Barack Obama to act on this issue without delay.
Therefore, the Conference of National Directors resolved to authorize the President of the
Polish American congress to take immediate action to establish direct contacts with appropriate
US Authorities to that end.

Resolution #2: Congressional Hearings on the Smolensk Disaster

Whereas, on April 10th, 2010, the Polish Air Force One, carrying the President of Poland Lech
Kaczyński and 95 other distinguished high-ranking officials, including the entire Central
Command of the Polish Armed Forces, members of the Sejm and state administration, clergy
and families of the Katyń victims, crashed at the Severnyl Airfield in Smolensk, Russia, killing all
96 people on board, and
Whereas, the Polish Government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk acted to the detriment of
Poland’s vital national interest by allowing to conduct the investigation of the crash by the
authorities of the Russian Federation, under Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention, improperly
treating Polish Air Force One as a civilian aircraft, thereby depriving the Polish side of any
enforcement, oversight and appeal mechanisms, and
Whereas, the Russian investigation produced a report (“MAK Report”) that contains blatant
inconsistencies and misrepresentations while demonstrating disregard for
facts, data and laws of physics, from which it arrives at dubious conclusions, and
Whereas, the lack of professionalism and poor quality of the Russian investigation has been
proven by numerous mistakes in the identification of the victims’ bodies transferred to Poland
for burial, and
Whereas, the authorities of the Russian Federation endlessly delay, without good cause,
transferring to Poland the wreckage of the aircraft and all pertinent evidence, such as flight data
recorders and electronic equipment, while mishandling and even purposely destroying the direct
evidence, and
Whereas, the Polish authorities accepted the MAK Report without due care, and followed up
with their own report (Miller Commission Report) which rubberstamps the MAK Report, and
Whereas, the Polish Government continues to ignore scientific evidence produced by the
Parliamentary Committee for the investigation of the Smolensk Crash led by Minister Antoni
Macierewicz in cooperation with independent experts from all over the world and investigative
journalists, while harassing and even defaming them instead,
Therefore, the Polish American Congress Council of National Directors, assembled in Chicago,
Illinois on October 17-18, 2014, resolved that:

1. After four years of investigations and implausible explanations of the causes of the
crash, it becomes unlikely that the Governments of the Russian Federation and of the
Republic of Poland will ever conduct a professional investigation based on
contemporary international standards of aircraft crash investigation that would
produce trustworthy and verifiable results;
2. We are hereby requesting that the Congress of the United States of America convene
an inquiry and Congressional Hearings to find the truth about the Smolensk Disaster;
3. We are calling on all of North American Polonia to let their Congressional and
Parliamentary Representatives in Washington and Ottawa know that their Polish
constituents want them to find the truth about the Smolensk Disaster, and persuade
them to convene Inquiry and Congressional Hearings in the Smolensk Disaster case;
4. We hereby direct the PAC President to take the lead in this effort by writing to
Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, to initiate the hearings.
Resolutions Committee:
Frances X. Gates, Chairman
Theresa Bunk
Camille Kopielski