Diocesan initiatives
Guest homes, soup kitchens for the poor; healthcare centres for old people; the creativity of charity is being implemented throughout this Central Eastern Country, where dioceses, Caritas centres and parish communities have launched a set of initiatives, while more still are in the process of being implemented. Special care centres for children, cancer patients or those affected by rare diseases. From Brzegi to Elk, from Kalisz to Swinoujscie: permanent signs of the Holy Year.
The shelter home Campus Misericoridiae, in Brzegi, Poland, set up by Caritas Poland and blessed by Pope Francis on the occasion of the WYD2016, has opened its doors to the needy. On December 1st, The Archbishop of Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, in his opening speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the structure, mentioning the youth meeting, underlined that “the gathering attended by representatives of over 200 world countries rose awareness about the fact that the mission of the Church, owing to her Catholic nature, is to serve all men and women, all peoples, social brackets and people of all ages, and that in the Church’s great universal community everyone should have enough to share with others, and nobody should have so much as to need no help or support.” In Brzegi, in addition to the Campus Misericordiae home to some dozen elderly people in need of special care, and to whoever needs to be socially included, the diocesan Caritas has built a special 800 sq.mt. building to store foodstuffs for over 40 thousand poor people in the region of Malopolska. The buildings’ construction was financed with funds allocated by the government and by Wieliczka’s town council, while Caritas provided furnishings.
Special care for the elderly. In the Year of Mercy dedicated healthcare centres for old people and for the sick were set up throughout Poland. In Elk, in the North of the Country, the House of Mercy can accommodate 44 permanent guests. Many more people can avail themselves of the day care centre opened past May, which offers medical treatment and physical therapy along with group therapy sessions. Another analogous centre is being completed in Kalisz, in central Poland, on the initiative of Bishop Edward Janiak who already in 2003 promoted the erection of a similar structure in his hometown of Malczyce. A care home for priests emeritus will soon be inaugurated in the dioceses of Bielsko and Zywiec, in the south of the Country, which can accommodate some twenty elderly prelates with serious health problems.
Caring for the elderly. In Leszno, in the diocese of Poznan, in the Jubilee Year of Mercy the building (purchased with the funds of the archdiocese of Poznan on the initiative of Monsignor Stanislaw Gadecki) was renovated to host a new orphanage and a centre for children affected by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (a rare disease affecting 1% of the newborn in Poland.) The fundraising activity to cover the structure’s expenses is promoted by the diocesan Caritas, with the important contribution of private donors. The archdiocese of Wroclaw (in the south-western area of Poland) devotes major efforts to the establishment of a specialized outpatient clinic run by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromwo, who installed a “baby hatch” (where the newborn can be left anonymously) as well as an Infertility Treatment Ward. The Sisters are planning to open a neonatology and gynaecology clinic, along with a Medical school, in the coming years. In the opposite part of Poland, in the far northeast region, for the Holy Year the archdiocese of Szczecin, has promoted the opening of a specialised centre for cancer patients in one of the parishes of Swinoujscie. The idea of setting up palliative treatment centres in parishes was followed also by other dioceses, such as Tarnow (in south-east Poland).
Feeding the hungry… “Jesus is present amidst the needy and the hungry”, said the archbishop of Czestochowa, Mons. Stanislaw Nowak, in the inaugurating speech of the new soup kitchen of St. Anthony, that serves meals to 50 people every day. In Lipnik, near Bielsko, in the south of Poland, a special restaurant was inaugurated in mid-November: the revenues of the sale of meals (at the modest price of 10 zloty, approximately 2.5 euro) will be given to a foundation run by the local Caritas. The restaurant also offers meal delivery services to disabled persons, but it is renowned especially for its organization of special events. “At the moment we closed our reservation system for the coming month of May, when First Communions will be celebrated”, the manager of the structure, Rafal Chrzan, said with a hint of pride. Concrete help to the needy is offered also through radio networks. For example, the diocesan radio of Tranow promotes the distribution of vouchers that can be spent in a dedicated Caritas shop in exchange for a set of essential commodities.
