The Whirlwind

 "My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us
and spare those who have families.
We are even praying for this intention."

The Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek

"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."
Hosea 8:7

It is coming.

Surely! Certainly!

Like a monstrous and all-destroying tornado still just far enough off that it cannot be seen, yet it can be heard as the air turns cold.

The “them-ing,” the “they-ing,” the “those people-ing” and “other-ing” of America and, in 2020, too many cases of “Christians” and “communities of faith” are falling prey to the all-infecting “those people” message. 

The story is awe provoking. 

In the early days of September 1929, two women arrived to a cold-shouldered welcome in the small town of Noworgrodek. Over time, despite the fact that their community had grown, because of the local hostility to their presence, the women – members of the Roman Catholic community of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth – pleaded with the local bishop for permission to withdraw. "Do not leave Nowogrodek; remain at your post. That is God's will and mine!" responded the bishop. The Superior General of the Sisters’ order, Mother Lauretta Lubowidzka, was adamant: "You must definitely remain at your post. You are not permitted to withdraw… We must do battle for the sake of the Kingdom [of God]. Fearlessly withstand all the difficulties because great things will take place there." 

The Sisters stayed – teaching French and needlework to the girls, guiding religious education classes, starting schools for the local children, caring for the Biala Fara (“White Church”) and integrating themselves into the life of the community – no longer “them” and “other” but part of the “we” and “us.” By 1942, their community had grown to twelve. 

In 1939, Nowogrowdek, located in West Belarus (Poland), was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. The Russians took control of the school; the Sisters were forced to abandon their habits and convent and live in the homes of parishioners – coming together only for Mass and prayer in the Fara. In 1941, the German Army occupied Nowogrodek as part of “Operation Barbarossa.” While, during the German occupation the sisters were allowed to resume their religious garb and return to their convent, in the midst of both Soviet and German occupations, liturgical prayer and the presence of the once “other” Sisters became a beacon of hope in the midst of occupation.

Nazi terror revealed itself in a series of “actions,” beginning in 1942 with “Operation Reinhard” – “brave counsel; strong decision; fox” – and the extermination of approximately 9,500 of Norowgrodek’s Jews, almost half of the town’s population; the remaining 550 Jews were sent to slave labor camps. For the Germans, the citizens of Nowogrodek were “them” and “other.” And, when the Jews had been exterminated or sent to labor camps, the new “other” became targets in a surge of Polish arrests and the slaughter of 60 people, including two priests. Having executed or sent to labor camps half of the village population, the Germans continued their “actions” between July17 and 19, 1943 with the arrest and sentencing to execution of 120 more townsfolk, including fathers and other members of the town’s families.

The response of the Sisters was to gather and pray and to determine to live their commitments – that if a sacrifice was needed that they be sacrificed and the fathers of Norowgrodek be returned to their families. “My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention,” Sister Maria Stella, C.S.F.N. reported the Sisters’ decision to the local pastor, Father Zienkiewicz.

On July 31, 1943 the community – eleven of the twelve Sisters, 26 years old to 54 years old - reported to the Gestapo commander and were held overnight in the local police station. The following day, the Sisters were driven beyond the town limits and, in an isolated spot in the woods, machine gunned to death and buried in a common grave. 

Before reporting to the Gestapo, Sister Stella asked Sister M. Malgorzata Banas, C.S.F.N, a nurse who did not wear a habit for her job in the local public hospital – she wore civilian clothes, to stay behind and care for the church and their pastor. Days later Sister M. Malgorzata and women from the town located the grave, which she quietly tended until her death in 1966 - throughout the war and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The remains of the eleven Sisters now rest in the Biala Fara. They were declared “blessed” – having died for others in the name of their Faith – by Pope John Paul II on March 5, 2000.

“Other-ing” is the sin that demands blindness to the humanity of “the other.” “Those people-ing” denies truth. “Them-ing” is the behavior of the fearful – “I am afraid of ‘them’ and I will deny their personhood, their dignity as children of God, their rights.” For “them-ing” to survive, one must lie – to himself and the world.

“An 'extremely credible source' has called my office
and told me that [his birth] certificate is a fraud…”

"I have people that have been studying [his birth certificate] and 
they cannot believe what they're finding....” 

“I would like to have him show his birth certificate, 
and can I be honest with you, I hope he can 
because if he can't, if he can't, 
if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility...”

The dark clouds and swirling, all-destroying winds of “them-ing” and “those people-ing” and “other-ing” are on the horizon. 

First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out –
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out -
because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – 
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the me –
and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

The Blessed Martyrs of Nowogrodek have lessons to teach an American People entering the second half of 2020 and moving toward political campaigns and elections: Othering will destroy. Other-ing is dehumanizing. Them-ing is a sin.

… lead us not into sin.