MERRILLVILLE – Polish American families in Northwest Indiana yearning for a taste of home need go no further than the Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine, where the catering team of Zosia and Stasia Podczerwinski serves golabki (stuffed cabbage) and potato dumplings.
The two women, who emigrated from Poland at age 13 and age 24, respectively, and married brothers, are currently preparing a full Easter dinner menu for families who can order 10 or more meals for pickup on the holiday at Millennium Hall. Orders are being taken until April 1, unless they reach 170 meals before then.
“We can only handle 150-170 dinners, since there are just two of us cooking,” Stasia Podczerwinski, who joined her sister-in-law to cook for the priests at the Shrine and opened the catering business about six years ago. The duo caters events booked at Millennium Hall, prepares family carryout dinners on Christmas and Easter, and serves lunch to the public – as many as 400 – on Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., as long as the hall is not rented out.
One specialty at 5755 Pennsylvania St. is breaded pork cutlets, said Zosia Podczerwinski, while Father Bem touted the homemade tripe soup.
“We have Sunday Masses in Polish at 10:30 a.m. and noon, and many families like to come by after Mass for coffee or lunch,” said Father Irek Bem, superior at the Shrine since July 2025. “All of the Polish traditions here were a surprise to me after serving parishes in Canada for 34 years,” added Father Bem. “It was great to see the Polish hospitality, families eating together after Mass. I think it is all wonderful.
“We don’t feed only souls, we must feed the body, too,” he said.
Zosia Podczerwinski, who lives in Valparaiso, said she has always loved cooking, but had to recruit her sister-in-law to join her in the catering business. “I finished high school (in Poland) for cooking, but I hated it,” admitted Stasia Podczerwinski, of Crown Point, who has since grown to enjoy working with her partner. “We’ve been close for 20 years, and now our daughters help us by serving on Sundays,” said the native of a small village, Bukowina Tatrzan’ska, located at the foot of the Tatra Mountains.
Zosia said she began her career by cooking in a retirement home, and now she and her partner do all the shopping, prepping and cooking for all meals at the Shrine, benefitting from a walk-in freezer at Millennium Hall. They will spend three days cooking the Easter meals, she estimates.
Zosia Podczerwinski grew up about 30 minutes away in Maruszyna and returned for the first time in 30 years in 2025 with Stasia to attend a family wedding.
The Easter dinner menu is filled with Polish favorites that includes breaded chicken cutlets, barbecue ribs and tenderized beef with mushroom sauce, along with mashed potatoes, both sweet and sour sauerkraut, and potato dumplings as hot sides and cucumber salad and red cabbage cole slaw. The women expect to peel and cook two, 50-lb. bags of potatoes and prepare 50-60 pounds of ribs.
Easter Sunday will also feature a free buffet breakfast hosted by the Shrine priests after a 7 a.m. Resurrection Mass outdoors at the Shrine. One of the priests will come to bless the breakfast food, which will include sour rice soup, sandwiches and desserts, said Zosia Podczerwinski, who is planning for 300 diners.
Just a week after Easter, on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 12, the Shrine caterers will be busy serving at a reception for Father Stanley Pieczara, a retired U.S. Navy chaplain who will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination at the noon Mass. There will be special entertainment and guests can purchase food from a menu featuring Father Pieczara’s favorite foods. The public is welcome to the Mass and reception, where an anniversary cake will complete the luncheon.
The sisters-in-law got some tips on catering from their mother-in-law, who ran a Polish catering business in Chicago until six years ago. “When we started here, there were no Polish stores in the area to even buy ingredients,” said Zosia Podczerwinski, who is proud that the Shrine catering offers “a touch of home” to Northwest Indiana’s Polish community.
To place an order for Easter dinners, call Zosia Podczerwinski at (708) 267-5603 or Stasia Podczerwinski at (708) 205-8324 by April 1.
Caption: Zosia Podczerwinski (left) and her sister-in-law Stasia Podczerwinski start preparations for the catered Easter Sunday meals under the watchful eye of Father Irek Bem in the kitchen at the Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine in Merrillville. Orders for the meals, 10 and up, must be made by April 1. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
