He was ordained just months before the outbreak of World War II and was assigned to a parish church as a vicar on 1 September 1939 just as the Nazi forces invaded Poland in an attack that sparked the conflict.

[1] Macha aided student and scout activities and set about providing material assistance to families who lost sons and husbands to the war.

Macha received his ordination from Bishop Stanisław Adamski in Katowice on 25 June 1939 and from 1 September 1939 onwards (the time that the Nazi forces invaded Poland) served as a joint vicar for the Saint Josef parish in Ruda Śląska.

Macha sent his first letter to his relatives on 18 September 1941 and in late June 1942 was moved to a prison on Mikołowska Street in Katowice; he was soon sentenced to death on 17 July 1942.

The news of this sentence spread quick among his parishioners and relatives so much so that his mother travelled to Berlin in August 1942 failing to secure a pardon for her son.

[1] His relatives asked for his remains for a proper burial but the Nazis refused this and the S.S. - upon learning of an impending funeral service - restricted certain elements of the ceremonial.