EUROPE/POLAND - Animation activities linked to the anniversaries of the Pontifical Mission Societies

Warsaw (Agenzia Fides) - Hundreds of people collaborate in missionary animation in the 42 dioceses of Poland, all involved in the many initiatives planned for the anniversaries of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS). "We have just left behind the symposium organized with the Association of Professors of Missiology in Poland, in the year of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the National Director of the Polish PMS Father Maciej Będziński told Fides. The most recurring question that arose in the round tables was: do we need a new definition of mission? What we are certain of and which will not change is the person of Jesus, in whom we must be personally rooted in order to be able to announce him". Many themes emerged from the academic point of view - explained the National Director - and above all it was an opportunity to present the events linked to the Jubilee Year. "They must inspire and awaken the missionary spirit. As the Secretary General of the OPPF, Tadeusz Nowak OMI, our guest last September, pointed out, we must return to the founding charism, conceived by the Servant of God Pauline Jaricot. We want to reach the baptized directly through publications, social media and television. The key people for the success of this project are our closest animators, the diocesan directors and first and foremost ourselves in the national leadership. We hope that all the events that await us will be strongly marked by the pontifical dimension". The activities in 2022 are mainly targeted on the spiritual, scientific and media dimension. They begin on May 13 with the novena in preparation for the beatification of the Servant of God Pauline Jaricot. Together with the "Living Rosary" prayer groups, a special book will be published, which will be used for community and personal prayer during the nine days of preparation, grateful for the gift of the new Blessed to the Church.
On the occasion of the beatification, there will also be a national competition for young people and children who are invited to draw, write poems and song lyrics on the theme of the future blessed. On June 3 and 4, there will be a National Congress of Living Rosary Prayer Groups with a pilgrimage to the Jasna Góra National Shrine. The event, which will bring together thousands of people, will be an opportunity to give thanks for the beatification of Pauline Jaricot and also to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the POPF and its contribution to the development of the missionary Church. In this context, a special stamp with the effigy of Pauline Jaricot will also be presented, in collaboration with the Polish Post Office. Among the planned activities there will also be an outdoor photo exhibition with images and excerpts from the letters of the missionaries, an opportunity for people who walk around the city center to see beautiful images related to the missions and to read what they bring to the human being because, specifies the director, "after all, evangelization is the promotion of the human person". On September 17, the Synod of Missionary Children will take place, a meeting of representatives of missionary centers from all over Poland. Father Maciej Będziński adds: "It is very important to listen to the children by following the indications of the Holy Father. The objective is that after the Synod they return to their dioceses and become witnesses of the universality of Church and love for the Pope. The meeting will be accompanied by the slogan: "With the Holy Father, we awaken to the mission". In November, as every year, a national formation meeting and a night vigil will be organized with PMU, recalling this year the 150th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Paolo Manna.
The Director comments: "This will be an opportunity to renew this great gift that is the Missionary Union. The number of seminarians joining the PMU is increasing year by year. However, we must continually reach out to all religious seminaries and convents. In collaboration with the San Paolo Edition, we have written liturgical-biblical meditations for the whole year 2022 in the booklet which is distributed in many parishes of the country, always including a short missionary catechesis". Thanks to the efforts of the direction, meditations for the month of May have been published so that short texts on PMS can be read in the parishes. Father Będziński concludes: "In the country, there is a growing desire to listen to the testimonies of the missionaries, to support them with prayer. We are learning more and more to be a universal Church and not just a Central European Church. An important contribution to the missio ad gentes is provided by more than 2.5 million people in Living Rosary prayer groups who support spiritual and material evangelism. Our joy is given by the approximately 1,800 Polish missionaries dispersed in 99 countries of the world on 5 continents, by the thousands of children of local missionary groups. Before the pandemic, more than 15,000 of them were engaged in Christmas celebrations, bringing good news and raising funds for their peers. This year we donated $1.2 million for missionary project". (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 26/3/2022)

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