After a three-year stint teaching French at Omaha’s Creighton Prep, the Rev. Damian Czerniak is tackling a new mission in his homeland of Poland: organizing support for families fleeing war in neighboring Ukraine.
Czerniak, who also coached soccer and cross country while in Omaha from 2018 to 2021, recalled the day Russian missiles first struck. He was in the port city of Gdynia on the Baltic coast of Poland, where he had returned to continue his ministry. Gdynia is on the northern edge of Poland. The border with Ukraine is in southern Poland.
“I was devastated and didn’t know how to help. I prayed: ‘What could I do? What could I possibly do?’ ”
The next day, he received a call from his superior, who asked if he would coordinate a Jesuit Refugee Service Poland team to help those fleeing the deadly blasts. Czerniak said he was surprised, yet honored, and felt “God had responded to my prayer.”
From that point on, he said, his days have blurred together. The Jesuit priest — who just a year earlier had been saying Mass in secure suburban Omaha schools and parishes — was ministering to women, children and families torn apart by the Russian invasion of their country.
‘The stories…just terrifying.’
He said one family of five staying in his community had escaped with a sick child from Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv. The 3-year-old boy is now getting assistance at a cancer hospital near Czerniak, and Czerniak’s team is helping the boy’s 5-year-old sister get into school and assisting the family with shelter and other necessities.
Mornings begin with answering emails and calls as his team matches incoming donations with Ukrainians needing shelter, food, supplies, child care, psychological and medical support.
The fathers stayed behind to defend the country while the mothers and children fled with their dog. Said Czerniak: “They showed me pictures. I can’t imagine how the women feel when they see pictures of their husbands getting ready to fight.”
“These are regular people whose lives completely changed in a few days,” Czerniak, 33, said. “The stories of their escape, the tanks, the bombs, are just terrifying. It’s hard to believe that things like that happen in Europe in the 21st century.”
Czerniak calls himself a “link in a chain” of volunteers organizing assistance. He describes his current assignment as the most unplanned and most important he’s ever had.
I was devastated and didn’t know how to help. I prayed: ‘What could I do? What could I possibly do?’ – The Rev. Damian Czerniak, formerly of Creighton Prep
Czerniak said about 1.5 million people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland. Many will transition to other countries, he said. “Plenty of them stayed” and have taken refuge in homes, schools and other facilities.
The Jesuit Refugee Service Poland also helps Ukrainians who are inside the war zone. Two Jesuit houses, for example, provide shelter for those on their way out of Ukraine.
Communicating this weekend with the Nebraska Examiner via Whatsapp, Czerniak had just finished talking to a group of two moms and four kids. He said a 16-year-old shared her memory of tanks and soldiers circling her home. The family laid down on the floor, and her dad put his hand over the teen’s mouth to hush any sound.
Nebraskans are concerned
In addition to reaching out and responding to donors, Czerniak answers media queries. In a video now circulating among Omahans, Czerniak is wearing his Creighton Prep shirt, speaking to local families he once served. Also known for saying many Masses at St. John parish on Creighton University campus, Czerniak says he knows that many Nebraskans are concerned about what’s happening in Ukraine.
He said 100% of proceeds to the JRSP, the international Catholic organization that for 40 years has advocated for forcibly displaced persons, goes to supporting the refugees.
“We do what we can,” he said of his team. “No donation is too small.”
Czerniak said coordinating services for the refugees has been life-changing work, and he also has seen the best in people wanting to help.
“I feel I have an impact on human life. It’s amazing,” Czerniak said. “People are generous and want to help our mission. I am grateful.”
Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
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