Trip to Poland

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Trip to Poland


Jet-lagged in Warsaw

I arrived in Poland on Tuesday morning October 17, and was met at the airport by Fr. Lukasz Krause, a member of the Provincial Council, and homiletics professor at the scholasticate in Obra. Patient and generous, and always in good humour, Lukasz would be my guide and translator through the week ahead. Lukasz had also arrived in the city that morning from his Oblate home community in Gdansk, and so we made our way by taxi to the Oblate house in Warsaw, did some sight-seeing, and visited with the Oblate community after supper.


My guide and translator Fr. Lukasz.

The next morning, before taking the train to Poznan home to the Provincial Offices, I had the chance to meet with Fr. Paweł Zając, the Provincial of the Polish Province. About twenty years ago Fr. Pawel spent two years working in the arctic, and he’s familiar with the needs of the north, and is open to Polish Oblates being sent on mission, saying that even though the numbers of Oblates in formation in Poland declines yearly, we remain a missionary Province blessed with vocations. He encouraged me to share the story of the mission of OMI Lacombe Canada with the men in formation.


Poznan Parish

At the Provincial offices in Poznan we were given a tour of the massive renovation underway at the facility, which houses the offices of the new and excellent website, oblaci.pl, the mission magazine, Misyne Drogi, and MAMI. These ministries are staffed by a number of Oblates and lay professionals. The renovations, which are ongoing at a number of the houses in the country, and funded in part by the European Union, and will ensure the mission of the Oblates for many years to come.

After a late lunch we drove by car to the Oblate scholasticate in the small town of Obra. By the time we arrived, supper was finished, but we found soup and breads, and some beautiful kielbasa waiting in the kitchen. The next day I spent time with the scholastics (there are presently forty two: thirty six in Obra, with six away on regency this year) and shared with them about the mission in OMI Lacombe. Though familiar with Lacombe’s northern missions through Oblates working there today, they were curious about Lacombe’s long-term commitment to the north, questions of Oblate community life, the current and future state of vocations, and about the other ministries of our Province, particularly about our work with other indigenous peoples in Canada. A number of these young Oblates expressed real openness to Oblate mission beyond their own borders. As we spoke I was moved by the sacrifice the international Oblate missionary makes… to go from the place where everything is familiar to a new, largely unknown place, for the sake of the gospel, trusting in God to provide. It also occurred to me that the Oblate Province which receives missionaries has a serious obligation to welcome these new Oblates, to make space for their talents and gifts, as well as their culture, theology and ecclesiology. All of this has shaped them and their missionary vision, and will be part of an enriching dialogue with the existing missionary vision of OMI Lacombe.


In Obra at the Scholasticate

Our next stop was a quick visit to the Shrine of Częstochowa at the monastery of the Jasna Góra in southern Poland, the third-largest Catholic pilgrimage site in the world. Every year four to five million visitors from 80 countries come to fall at the feet of the Black Madonna. Our Lady of Częstochowa is the national shrine of Poland and the center of modern Polish Catholicism.


Our Lady of Szestochowa

We travelled next to the tiny village of Kokotek, home to a small but vibrant Oblate parish, Mary Queen of Poland. A ‘small’ Oblate community of four, Kokotek is also the base for Niniwa (Niniveh), the youth ministry of the Polish Province, which includes about 300 young people throughout Poland. The Province has recently purchased an old hotel, built during Communist times for party members, and are at work renovating it. With renovations ongoing it serves as a formation centre for the ministry.


Oblate House in Kokotek                                                            The new Oblate Youth Ministry

Just a few minutes drive from Kokotek is the city of Lubliniec, home to another Oblate parish, and to the elder care centre for the Province. There I was very happy to meet Fr. Lucjana Osiecki, brother to our own Fr. Bogdan. Fr Lucjana is the superior of the elder care house, and he introduced us to some of the elders of the Polish Province whose primary ministry today is prayer for the mission.


With Fr. Lucjana Osiecki, brother of Fr. Bogdan

Sacred Heart parish in Katowice is home to 6000 members, and is served by a creative team of Oblates. Fr. Lukasz presided at the 10:30AM Sunday mass, which was brimming with young families. On this Sunday the Oblates collaborated in a homily where each Oblate would enter and depart the sanctuary giving conflicting instructions on where the children should sit for the homily. The increasingly confused children were up and down and moving in and out of the sanctuary. In the end they had a ball, and were ready for the message that learning to listen for the right voice is a crucial part of the Christian journey.


Sacred Heart Parish in Katowice 

After lunch with the Oblates in Katowice, Lukasz and I began a rainy drive eastward to the Holy Cross Shrine and the Novitiate. Founded by Benedictines, the monastery dates back to the thirteenth century, and for hundreds of years was the centre of the Catholic faith for Poles. The Oblates were instrumental in the 20th century post-war restoration of the Shrine, and in time it would become the place of their novitiate. Today a complete restoration and modernization of the place is underway, and it houses two Oblate communities: the novitiate, and those who minister to pilgrims, visitors and worshippers.


At Holy Cross Shrine, with some very old Benedictines

Like the scholastics in Obra, the novices were keen to hear about the Oblate mission in OMI Lacombe. In the end, after questions and lots of good conversation, I simply encouraged them to remain open to the mission of the congregation as they make their way in these early days of their Oblate life.


                    With the Novices                          Jonas, a novice from Assumption Province        Fr. Lukasz translating Ken’s homily

On my last full day in Poland, Lukasz and I stopped into the home of the parents of our own Fr. Lukasz Zajac, who ministers in Gjoa Haven in Nunavut. What a blessing it was to spend time with the family of one of our missionaries, and to be able to share with them the difference their son (brother and uncle) is making in the lives of some of the poorest and isolated peoples we serve. I only wish I could have visited more of the families of the Oblates.


                                                 With the family of Fr. Lukasz Zajac

After a few hours with the Zajac family we made our way back to the beginning, the Oblate house in Warsaw. The following morning Fr. Lukasz and I parted company at the airport, he to Obra for a few days, and I back to Ottawa. As I waited at my gate I was aware of the many Oblates who’d made a similar journey over the years… from Warsaw or Krakow to Toronto or Edmonton, to work among the indigenous peoples in the Canadian west or arctic, or with Polish communities across Canada served by Assumption Province.

My thanks to the Provincial, Fr. Pawel Zajac, for freeing Fr. Lukasz up to accompany me, and making my visit possible, and to each of the Oblate communities that welcomed me during my visit, and generously shared something of their life and ministry with me.

By Ken Thorson, OMI