Florida Catholic | Kolbe Visits Namesake

Parish is honored by its namesake’s relative

St. Maximilian Kolbe’s grandniece visits the Broward parish that bears the martyr’s name.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 06.18.08

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC
Marina Kolbe, left, sings with her daughter, Samantha, center, during an evening of praise and worship at St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish. Marina Kolbe is the grandniece of the “Saint of Auschwitz,” St. Maximilian Kolbe.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC
A prayer team prays over one of the attendees during Eucharistic Adoration after Marina Kolbe’s talk.

PEMBROKE PINES | St. Maximilian Kolbe parishioners here received a visitor with an interesting relationship to them June 11 as part of their 25th anniversary celebration. She isn’t a fellow parishioner, nor is she a founder. Marina Kolbe is the grandniece of the World War II-era saint, Maximilian Kolbe.

“What an honor it is to have a relative with us tonight of the saint after whom this church is named,” said Father Jeffrey B. McCormick, pastor. In some way, not just in name, St. Maximilian was present in the main sanctuary of the parish. The former CNN anchor Marina Kolbe spoke of how that very presence influenced her life.

“Are things destiny? Or are they divine providence?” Marina Kolbe asked. Throughout her speech she paralleled her experiences with those of her great-uncle. For example, she became a journalist at 28 years old and believed it was her own wanting, until she found out that her great-uncle was also a journalist and patron saint of journalism.

“It was those kinds of ‘coincidences’ that made me wonder if it was fate or was I being driven by something else,” she continued. Another parallel she shared with Maximilian Kolbe was working in radio. “My great-uncle worked in radio. I began my career in radio. So, from the very beginning he was influencing me and I wasn’t always aware of it,” she said.

For her, these “coincidences” were too parallel for them to be dismissed as such. Marina Kolbe believes, as her great-uncle, St. Maximilian Kolbe, that divine providence is driving her. Even the reason why she entered journalism couldn’t be dismissed as coincidence. “I got into journalism to help mankind, to get people to talk to each other and understand one another so that racism and discrimination would end,” she said. St. Maximilian’s newspaper, The Little Daily, and his monthly journal, Rycerz Niepokalanej, served the similar purposes. St. Maximilian wanted love to be the main point of his publications, Marina Kolbe said.

Her speech about her life and her great-uncle was to demonstrate that divine providence does exist and how it has been acting in her life, “God has a plan for each of us. We just need to follow it and have faith in it. The so-called coincidences I’ve experienced have been examples of God acting in my life.”

Immediately after Marina Kolbe’s brief speech, there was adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. During the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, prayer teams prayed for those who were anointed with chrism oils on their head and hands. Nearly all were anointed and many were prayed over. Father McCormick wished for this evening to be not only a special experience with a saint’s relative, but one where the people can have the opportunity to experience God acting in their lives.

“Let us adore the one who heals us, the one who acts in our lives,” he said.

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Parish is honored by its namesake’s relative

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