The 25th anniversary of the John Paul II Foundation Home in Lublin began with the holy Mass celebrated by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, who had a longstanding governing authority over the Foundation. Archbishop of Lublin, Stanisław Budzik; Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk – Primate Senior; Bishop Artur Miziński – Secretary General of KEP; Ryszard Karpiński – Auxiliary Bishop of Lublin Diocese; Józef Staniewski – Auxiliary Bishop Diocese of Grodno; Fr. Prof. Andrzej Kiciński – Vice-Rector of KUL; Fr. Prof. Stanisław Wilk-Former Rector of KUL; Fr. Wiesław Święch – Provincial Superior of the Sacred Heart Priests; Fr. Prof. Marian Radwan – Sacred Heart Priest; founder of the Foundation scholarship program; Fr. Krzysztof Wieliczko-Administrator of the John Paul II Foundation in Rome; Prelate Stefan Wylężęk – Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales; Fr. Jan Strzałka – Director of the Foundation Home along with other priests also celebrated the Mass. Many students and gests participated in the Mass as well. In the jubilee celebrations participated also: Prof. Agnieszka Lekka Kowalik – Director of the John Paul II Institute, KUL; Ewa Bednarkiewicz – President of the Warsaw Chapter of the Foundation, Henryk Sala – Member of the Administrative council of the Foundation; nuns, architects and builders of the Foundation’s Home, former and current employees, alumni and current scholarship recipients. In his homily Cardinal Dziwisz empathized that John Paul II took over to Rome from Cracow and Lublin the experience of friendship with young people. “The Pope impressed young people with his authenticity of life and service, with setting up his expectation toward young people very high as he even had greater demands from himself.” Then, in the homily, the Cardinal gave his personal testimony: “John Paul II was grateful to the God’s for the great changes that occurred in our countries and in front of our eyes in the late 1980s and 1990s of the last century. At the same time, he was thinking about the future. He knew that after gaining freedom and sovereignty, our countries would need talented and competent young Christians who, after completing their education, will engage in religious, professional, social and political life in their homelands. From this vision-he continued – in 1990, the scholarship program for young people was created. Prof. Fr. Marian Radwan contributed a lot in that case. Earlier, he learned about the situation of the Church in the East, saw the problem and the opportunities of educating young people and signaled that to the Holy Father. And, the Holy Father was very generous as he was deeply convinced of the validity and the saving fruits of this initiative. I give this testimony as I also participated in some part in this good work. For the realization of this initiative, there was an idea of building the John Paul II Foundation Home in Lublin. After the holy Mass, the Cardinal presented to the Foundation’s Home a beautiful painting with the image of Mother of God. Then, participants of the jubilee celebrations went to the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński’s hall at KUL, where the occasional academy took place. The academy started the choir of the stipend recipients of the JPII Foundation. Welcome words were delivered by with the Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) Prof. Dr Hab. Antoni Dębiński, who also presented medals minted on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of KUL to Prof. Fr. Marian Radwan and Ewa Bednarkiewicz, President of the Chapter. Prof Fr. M. Radwan expressed their gratitude for the medals that they received and described how the Foundation’s scholarship program started. Then, the following people delivered speeches: Fr. Jan Strzałka, Mrs. Ewa Bednarkiewicz, Fr. Wiesław Święch, Fr. Krzysztof Wieliczko, Fr. Stefan Wylężęk. On behalf of former scholarship recipients, spoke: Bishop Józef Staniewski from Belarus, Fr. Andrij Delisandru from Ukraine and Prof. Bronisław Kluska from Slovakia. Final speech delivered, Archbishop of Lublin, Stanisław Budzik, Great Chancellor of KUL. He expressed gratitude for the great work of the John Paul II Foundation and made wishes of God’s blessing and intercession of St. John Paul II to God for the continuous success of the Foundation. The academy was enriched with a with a beautiful singing of the Foundation’s scholarships recipients and alumni: Alesia Aleksandrowicz, Tatsiana Ivashkevich, Anna Prosieková, Dzymitr Harelau, Maxim Bevskyi. The jubilee celebrations ended with a concert at the Lublin Cathedral, which featured: the choir and the ensemble of brass instruments of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and the Chamber Orchestra “Sinfonia Concertante” from Warsaw.
Fr. Jan Strzałka
