Poland: the bishops on the outcome of the presidential elections”The outcome of the elections implies the stabilization of democracy”, said the ex Primate of Poland Msgr. Henryk Muszynski commenting on the victory of the presidential elections of Liberal-Democrat Bronislaw Komorowski on Sunday July 4. “I believe this choice can benefit the Country”, the prelate added, underlining that the new Head of State “is a man of dialogue, a man gifted with the talent to listen”. The fact that 47% voted for Jaroslaw Kaczynski, opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) candidate, twin brother of the previous head of State Lech Kaczynski, who died in the air crash in Smolensk past April 10, according to Msgr. Antoni Dydycz shows that “civil society gains increasingly greater understanding of democratic mechanisms” thus becoming “increasingly more mature”. Msgr. Tadeusz Pieronek, ex secretary of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, wishes a “peaceful presidency” to Komorowski, while Msgr. Slawoj Leszek Glodz voiced his concern for the monopoly of the Liberal-Conservative party Civic Platform (PO) supported by the current premier and by the new President of the Republic. The prelate underlined the need “to work for greater harmony amongst civil society” and expressed concern for the divisions in the Country, which became visible in the minimum difference of votes (6%) for Komorowski and Kaczynski. Msgr. Tadeusz Goclowski identifies in the electoral result an important opportunity for both parties “to seek joint solutions to bring together the Polish people”. The prelate indicates health reform, family policies and the problems of the youth as the primary tasks to be jointly undertaken by the party at the government (PO) and by the major opposition party (PiS). “In united Europe Poland must play an important role, that risks being curbed by internal divisions”, Msgr. Coclowski pointed out. On July 1° 2011 Poland will assume EU presidency for the first time. Belarus: the Budslaw shrine celebrationPast July 1sr in the national sanctuary of Budslaw, in the Minsk-Mahilyow region, some 2500 pilgrims arrived on foot from the dioceses of Belarus to worship the miraculous Mother of God icon and take part in the annual celebrations (July 1-2). Chaired by archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, metropolitan of Minsk-Mahilyow, the celebrations on “Mary, chosen daughter of the celestial Father”, opened the path of spiritual preparation for the 400th anniversary of the icon which falls in 2013. On July 2 the liturgical celebration was presided by the bishop of Warsaw-Prague Msgr. Henryk Hoser, along with five newly ordained priests from Belarus and Ukraine. “Come to the Mother to express through her, your gratitude to God for the gift of the priesthood”, the Polish priest told the priests consecrated past June and proposed to them Saint John Maria Vianney as “a model for all priests still today”. “God – he added – is my heritage and my destiny. It is patrimony that man receives in the family and in his parish”, which “is also the fruit of the commitment of generations whose encounter with the Lord continued across the centuries”. In underlining the “missionary task” of the priest, Msgr. Hoser wished the new priests “a ministry full of joy” inviting them “to remain faithful to their vocation in all circumstances and moments in life”. Civil authorities cooperated in the organization of the two-day celebrations. “The times when religion was separated from the State have ended – said the vice-chair of the regional executive Committee Viktar Shchetska -. Today we work with the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, we support each other mutually for the good of our population”.Ukraine: a plan for a new evangelization “Evangelization is the Church’s permanent condition. It’s her origin, development and raison d’être”, said the bishop of Taras Senkiv, head of the patriarchal Commission for the evangelization of Ukraine’s Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), inaugurating an academic conference focused on the new UGCC evangelization plan. The Plan, said the prelate, “is the result of the Commission’s one-year work”. It reposes on two pillars: “theology, which reproduces the action of the Trinity, and Slav Christianity, understood as the new identity of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic identity”. “The story of our Church – he added – is tragic. We must try to understand our identity: who we are, where we come from, where we’re going and what is our major task. Only in this way will our potential develop and we will respond to the Divine Call for the salvation of humanity”. “Evangelization promotes the rebirth of faith and helps people mature”. The third type of Christianity, which is neither Byzantine nor Latin but Slav, incorporates the work and the results obtained in the East and in the West by creating a universal form of Gospel proclamation”. This will be the basic theme of UGCC’s Synod evangelization document.
