The Church of Divine Providence is the youngest parish in Parczew, located on the western outskirts of the town, on John Paul II Avenue. The church was consecrated in 2011, but its concept dates back to the late 18th century: the architect took as a model the project of the Divine Providence sanctuary in Warsaw, created in 1791 by Jan Christian Kamsetzer, which was never realized. In Parczew, the church became a votive offering for John Paul II’s visit to Siedlce in 1999.
Parish of 2000
Preparation for the new parish began in 1997 at the initiative of Siedlce Bishop Jan Viktor Nowa. The hardest part was finding land: only on January 14, 2000, did the town transfer a 2.588-hectare plot for the church through a land exchange, located on the then Kolejowa Street. The parish was established on April 2, 2000, and the very next day they began assembling a temporary chapel—a gift from the older parish of Saint John the Baptist. The altar and ambo were made by Parczew carpenter Andrzej Dąbrowski, the benches by Dominik Przystupa from Cichostów, and the Drohiczyn bishop Antoni Dydycz donated the Stations of the Cross. The chapel was consecrated on May 31, 2000, and for over ten years all services were held there.
Votive Offering for the Constitution and the Pope
The project for the permanent church was entrusted to Mykhailo Balash, who proposed two options. In 2001, they chose the one that followed Kamsetzer’s 1791 design—then the Sejm had decided to build a Divine Providence sanctuary in Warsaw as a votive offering for the May 3 Constitution, but after the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the plan remained on paper. The construction site was consecrated on August 26, 2001, by Bishop Henryk Tomasik; work began in September, with much done by the parishioners themselves.
The cornerstone was consecrated by John Paul II already on June 10, 1999, during a mass on the Siedlce meadows, and it was laid on June 9, 2002. Later, a parish house was built nearby. On October 22, 2011, Siedlce Bishop Zbigniew Kiernikowski consecrated the new church.
Interior
The decoration was designed by the art workshop of Marcin Szczepaniak from Rzeszów. The main focus of the presbytery is a bas-relief of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: from beneath the symbol of the Holy Spirit, a stream of light falls onto the tabernacle shaped like a globe. On October 26, 2014, relics of Saint John Paul II were installed in the side nave, consecrated by Siedlce Bishop Kazimierz Gurda. The parish, besides parts of Parczew and Cichostów, includes eleven surrounding villages.
How to Get There
Parczew lies about 60 km northeast of Lublin, connected to it by buses and rail. The church stands at 112 John Paul II Avenue, on the western edge of the town, near the exit to Semeni. It is worth combining a visit here with the neo-Gothic Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in the center, the church in Semeni, and the fish ponds in Semeni 9 km to the west, and south of the town—with the Obradowo Lake in the Parczew Forests. This is Poland: Ukrainian citizens need a passport for travel abroad.
