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<h1 class="gmail-post_title">Polish Church unveils integration policy for migrant Catholics</h1><ul class="gmail-post_details gmail-clearfix"><li class="gmail-detail"><a class="gmail-author gmail-authorCHANGE" href="https://cruxnow.com/author/jonathan-luxmoore/" title="Jonathan Luxmoore">Jonathan Luxmoore</a> <div class="gmail-date">Apr 27, 2018</div><span class="gmail-bylinePost"> CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE</span></li></ul><a class="gmail-post_image gmail-prettyPhoto" href="https://cruxnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20170320T1205-8588-CNS-POPE-ANGELUS_800.jpg" title="Polish Church unveils integration policy for migrant Catholics"><img src="https://cruxnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/20170320T1205-8588-CNS-POPE-ANGELUS_800-690x450.jpg" class="gmail-attachment-small-slider-thumb gmail-size-small-slider-thumb gmail-wp-post-image" alt="Polish Church unveils integration policy for migrant Catholics" title="" style="display: block;" width="690" height="450"></a><p class="gmail-post_image_caption">A
girl holds a Polish flag as Pope Francis leads the Angelus March 19,
2017, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (Credit: Tony
Gentile/Reuters via CNS.)</p>
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<div class="gmail-post_content gmail-page_margin_top gmail-clearfix"><div class="gmail-content_box gmail-full_width"><div class="gmail-text"><p>WARSAW,
Poland - Poland’s Catholic bishops said they no longer have enough
clergy to minister to Poles living abroad and urged emigrant Catholics
to integrate more with the Church in other countries.</p>
<p>“Even with a very large group of Polish priests, it isn’t possible to
reach in a timely way every place where Poles are found,” said the
Warsaw-based bishops’ conference.</p>
<p>“Your witness of faith will positively influence believers from other
national groups, especially those belonging to local Church
communities. Bishops in other countries count on such help from Polish
Catholics.”</p>
<p>In a pastoral letter to be read at Polish Masses abroad April 29, the
bishops thank the 2,000 Polish priests and nuns currently ministering
to Poles worldwide, and laypeople assisting with liturgical,
educational, cultural and charitable work.</p>
<p>They thanked local bishops who had shown “openness and understanding”
by making places of worship available and ensuring conditions for
Polish-language pastoral work, but said Poles should now also attend
Mass in the language of their country of residence.</p>
<p>“A mature patriotism has nothing to do with nationalism or closing
off from other cultures and traditions - nor with today’s increasingly
fashionable internationalism, blurring the difference between particular
nations,” said the letter, marking the centenary of Poland’s 1918
independence.</p>
<p>“Recognizing the unity of faith and your responsibility for the
Church, you should now make efforts to maintain good, regular contacts
with Catholics of other nationalities. … Promote Polish culture, defend
Poland’s good name, and maintain personal and institutional contact with
the homeland. But also respect the country which has accepted you and
given you work.”</p>
<p>The Polish Church runs missions or pastoral networks in 25 countries,
by agreement with local bishops’ conferences, catering for the
religious needs of around 15 million Poles whose families left after
World War II, the early 1980s Solidarity movement and Poland’s 2004
accession to the European Union.</p>
<p>In France and Germany, where Polish missions have operated since the
1830s, 236 Polish priests currently minister to a combined Polish
population of 3 million, while in the U.S., Polish clergy work at over
300 parishes.</p>
<p>In a January 2007 pastoral letter, the Warsaw bishops’ conference
said Polish parishes and missions were often “the only centers for
Polish identity and culture” and urged Poles to seek out their own
priests when abroad.</p>
<p>However, in August 2016, Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno told <em>Catholic News Service</em>
Polish priests contracted to foreign dioceses often had trouble
understanding local conditions, while a current decline in vocations
would limit clergy available for mission work.</p>
<p>The Polish Church’s delegate for Catholics abroad, Auxiliary Bishop Wieslaw Lechowicz of Tarnow, told <em>CNS</em>
April 26 that the 2007 pastoral had reflected the needs of a “very
large number” of Poles who had left after their country’s EU accession.
He said many faced language and adaptation problems best tackled “in a
climate of faith and tradition brought from the homeland.”</p><div class="gmail-wpb_raw_code gmail-wpb_content_element gmail-wpb_raw_html gmail-lb_ad_element"><div class="gmail-wpb_wrapper"><div id="gmail-centerrectangle2888" style="padding-top:32px;padding-bottom:32px"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/4580722/CruxNow.com_CenterRectangle2_0__container__" style="border:0pt none"></div></div></div></div>
<p>However, he added that the situation had now improved, removing
“barriers impeding contact with local church representatives and
communities.”</p>
<p>“It’s important next-generation Polish emigrants not only know the
Gospel and Church teaching well, but also experience the faith not just
in Polish-language communities - they mustn’t associate the Church only
with Polish communities,” Lechowicz said.</p>
<p>The bishop said Polish Church leaders were aware Polish parishes came
under a diocesan bishop’s jurisdiction, adding that forms of contact
and cooperation were carefully defined.</p>
<p>New Polish Church guidelines are expected to outline priorities for
Polish clergy abroad, to prevent disputes over jurisdictional issues and
access to local churches, as well as over the separate practices of
some Polish communities.</p>
<p>However, the rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in England and Wales, Msgr. Stefan Wylezek, told <em>CNS</em> April 25 that many Poles found English-language Masses cold, compared to their own “expressive, devotional piety.”</p>
<p>He added that the Church’s canon law allowed Catholics to pray and
worship in their own language and said full integration would “take one
or two generations.”</p>
<p>“There are no foreigners in the Church - we are all one and, for me,
mixed parishes offer the best hope,” said Wylezek, whose London-based
mission has 217 parishes and pastoral centers, with 120 Polish priests.</p>
<p>“But we can’t order this by decree; we have to devote time and effort
to organizing and building our church communities, with all our
cultures and backgrounds, so people can grow in faith.”</p></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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