Today all the media are focused on one thing – the Pope has been elected! Thousands of journalists have come to Rome just for this one purpose: to report the few days of the conclave, which have become the major interest also for those who were never interested in the issues related to the Church.

Who is that man, or that Office, all the media want to write about?

We know that we mean a man who stands out from the rest through his love to our Lord Jesus, who is ready to walk on the water, who will lay his life for Him.

And that is how we receive him, with the greatest joy that he is among us again – God’s chosen one to represent Him on earth, the man who’ll lead the Church.

We hear his name – Francis. And in it we see the simplicity, poverty, being oridinary – but we also hear Lord Jesus’s words to St Francis: “Rebuild My Church.” The Church never stops renewing to be closer to man.

And from today on, the whole world will pray for him in the Eucharistic Prayer – for our Pope Francis.

So good you are with us!

Fr Jay

Fr Jay did a lot to give a vivid description of the Foundation’s mobile team to the UK, so I’d only like to add some of our impressions of the English catholicism.

The adult people we meet here, often quite mature, measure their lives from the date of their conversion (often from anglicanism), as if their story was divided into “before” and “after” that moment. We could say a lot about the depth of their personal prayer life, about their knowldedge of the documents of the Church, about the magnanimous spirit of  service and love visible in details, when the toast lands on your plate just in time – even though both our Hosts, as well as we were quite tired and missing so many hours of sleep because of organizing events. So it’s not obvious, that you’d be doing those small things so eagerly.

The Wind blows wherever it passes. Fr Jonathan told us his story: when he was in Provance, managing the project of the opening of a large hotel, he heard in his heart God calling him to become a “catholic priest” – and he wasn’t even a catholic at that time!

When you look at their devotion to the Lord, it’s no wonder that so unusual things become possible – like the conference on “sex education”, or I+YOU=WE in a small village, where we’re invited by the Diocese. And you feel really and deeply moved once you see that both Fr Jay’s speech and Louise Kirk’s book on human sexuality say about exactly the same values – even though they originated in different time, different places, penned by by different people.

We are part of the Catholic Church. The closer we get to the Source of Life, listening to His Word and falling in love with Him – the closer we are to each other, even though miles apart.

Thank you for being close to us in your prayers – we needed that a lot.

Margaret

home is the most beautiful place. Here we can feel in our place completely, even if we easily feel at ease everywhere.  . Some people are like that. But nothing is really like home. It’s so good to return to the rhythm of everyday duties, activities, meetings and rituals.

We can say that trips away do us good because when we have a break and are way from our daily routine, and later we come back with newer energy and enthusiasm.

Unfortunately during this trip I had to stop doing sport. It’s a pity about those “lost” days but now I am coming back to systematic training all the more joyously.

And if i managed to take to those place far away, now we can return to our rituals with zeal.

I always remember you fondly,

back with you,

Father Jaroslaw,

As always, what’s most important is the joy that in spite of all the difficulties, obstacles and severe time constraints we have managed to carry out te Programme. A big thank you to the people who took care of the children. It was certainly helpful that they had experienced a change in their relationship and now they know how important it is to have time for themselves only during the Programme.

It seems that the children also know it somehow because they spend bravely thee time without their parents, only the youngest ones want to spend some time with them once in a while.

This time, although the Programme takes place in Brussels, only Karolina and Tadeusz can go out to explore the city at night and only for a short time. There’s no time. So we just keep on promising ourselves that perhaps next time it will be a bit longer and perhaps we’ll  see something more. For the time being we must be happy with the promises.
Winter has come back to Brussels. It’s good because the participants need some long winter evenings to finish their reading and finish off their marriage hours. For it’s a bit worse because we don’t know what to expect on our way to the airport, which is – as is usually the case with cheap flights – some distance from the city.

Thank you very much, our friends, graduates and people waiting for the Programmes, for your kind comments and prayers. You have also earned our success.

See you on the way to a better version of ourselves so that others are happier with us. It’s worth believing Love.

Always yours

Fr. Jay (slowly coming back to the Polish Father Jaroslaw)

Our friends from Brussels, Agnieszka and Rafal, ardent supporters of Programme 1, have organised again Programme 1 for Poles working in Belgium – this time it was for 7 couples. As migrant families can only count on themselves and there are no grandparents, family members or neighbours that could take care of children), the parents came with the kids. People who took part in last year’s Programme 1 have organised activities for children and the parents have time for themselves.

This time we meet in Brussels, in the house of the Good Shepherd Community. Several different houses, all rather poor, clean but it’s clear that the days of their glory are long gone. They welcome different groups, unfortunately mostly elderly people. So in the dining room a big group of elderly persons meet with our group full of children, where the youngest one is only 7 months old, and the majority is around 5 years old. The elderly look with joy at our kids. Their grandchildren must be grown-up, they may even have great-grandchildren. A look at children is always a look into the future. The more children there are ,the more joyous this future is.

I remember here a conversation from Scotland. A Scotsman expressed his discontentment with the fact that his Polish colleague from work had so many children who were a burden for the state budget. He heard the answer that those children would be in the future the source of income for the country. He was then silent.

The future of the Church and of the world depends on the family, in the words of blessed John Paul II. It’s so good that our families are so open to life. Perhaps in the future we’ll need to change the words of our national anthem – “Poland, Europe has not perished until we are alive”.

Between the busy time in England, Scotland and Brussels – today I have time for sightiseeing. Thanks to the kindness of a Polish family who has lived here for 6 years I was able to set off to visit Edinbourgh and St. Andrews.

Unusual cities and extraordinary architecture. Especially St Andrews – university town with so many students. I walk along the narrow streets, passing by plenty of young people. Despite the strong wind and the bitter chill, the whole town gives the impression of warmth.

I walk to the sea shore. On the other side of the water – Denmark and Norway. From the bay you can see the North Sea. But if I strained my eyes, I could probably also see as far as the Wolin Island*.

Tomorrow I’ll be travelling to Brussels via London. I needed that quiet day.

With the memory of you in my heart,

Your – still Scottish – correspondent

Fr. Jay

Before I go on to write a few words about the Conference, I have to mention Fr. John. It’s a most unusual priest. He’s been the chaplain to students for 14 years, and at the same time – a parish priest of one of the parishes. He gave up his room in Chaplaincy for the students, and moved to a tiny room in the basement. From dawn to dusk he is there in the Chaplaincy for the students. When I was leaving at 10 p.m., he was still talking to somebody. He is the soul of that house. It was his idea to hold this mini-conference:

Students, adults, priests, from different countries. The first speaker was Fr. James Pereiro, who “stole” the beginning of my talk, because he apologized for his accent. It seems to be not only my problem then. 🙂 After a short break we started our journey along “Love and Responsinility” by Blessed John Paul II.

It was nice to see people interested in the subject and reacting to the content – both by being very focuesd or laughing. At the end there was a discussion which showed that the subject was practical and important.

Now, once it’s over – I feel a great relief in my heart. And I feel I need some well-deserved rest. Until Friday, because on Friday I should be in Brussels getting ready for the I+YOU=WE couple retreat.

Thank you for your loyal assistance in prayer for a priest from Poland, cast here and there to do his service. Please, continue to remember me in your prayers. 🙂

With heartfelt prayer,

Your Scottish correspondent,

Fr. Jay

After a wonderful visit at Maryvale Institute and the Birmingham Oratory with Louise and David – I’m sitting in the train to Glasgow. Tomorrow evening I am to take part in a conference about Reason and Faith. It will be very interesting, it seems. It will also be my first visit to Scotland.

For now, the calm English scenery is passing me by. I’m taking my time to say “thank you” for all that happened. I was looking for some symbol, some image, that I could associate with that trip to England. And what came to mind at once was the crocodile/aligator waiting for me in my room when I arrived at the place destined to be my shelter in Cheshire for those several days. It’s as English as anything could be. At least for me. I enclse a photograph.

Inside, as some of you may suppose, is the “hot water bottle” which makes it possible to survive the English distance towards everything – also towards the chill. Our winter coats greatly impressed English people, who wore either T-shirts or only jackets.

Thank you for that unusually warm and homely reception which I (and we) were offered. It will stay in our memory forever.

From the center of England, on the way to Scotland,

Your correspondent,

Fr. Jay

Dear Louise with her two friends has taken us today to visit St. Joseph.

Peak District, hills covered with heather, so very English that you can’t get any more English than that. There’s a bee-house-shaped chapel there, dedicated to St. Joseph.

A small shelf that can act as an altar and a kneeling bench, all covered with small papers with requests to St. Joseph and gifts, candles.

We asked him for help and we gave Him all our problems. We know that He was with us and changed our hearts, that He wonderfully took care of everything.

And later a true picnic. It didn’t matter that it was the beginning of March. There’s no trip without a picnic. We had blankets, flasks with coffee, sandwiches, salads, plates, cups, napkins.  Not even the smallest detail failed. Even the sun was shining and some snow around did not bother us at all.  It really fit in.

Today is a break, the day to say farewell to the team members: Margaret and Andrew. They helped so much, it’s so good they were here. They gave such a good testimony. The next weekend Karolina and Tadeusz will be asked to do the same in Brussels. Perhaps somewhat easier, because in Polish, but it’s always an effort and big responsibility.

Tomorrow, on our way to Glasgow, we shall visit the blessed cardinal Newman. It’s good to visit him first because in Glasgow we’ll have a conference from Newman to John Paul II.  🙂

Please pray for me and for Margaret and Andrew’s return trip, and for my further itinerary. You get always so many of intentions for prayer from us – but we remember you, too.

Your traveller

Fr. Jay

First some facts. Our host is Fr Jonathan Mitchell, and he recieves us at his parish house. 5 couples take part in the Program. The eldest couple has been together for 43 years, and the others have been married for 34, 26, 25 and 13 years, respectively.  As you can see, our participants, in majority, are mature and experienced, and working with them is a pure pleasure. They are very responsive and have a great sense of humour, so in the end we have no idea what the famous proverbial “English sense of humour” is all about.

But the most outstanding hero of the Program is our Host – Fr. Johnatan. Not only does he take part in the retreat, but also cooks delicious meals for all of us, washes up, prepares excellent coffee and pampers us in all ways… A former hotel manager and a rugby player, a would-be chef, and a convert. He wears his cassock all the time, even when he goes shopping (before noon he fetched some additional items, the bags full of which he then brought with himself into the kitchen). Being the only relatively “free” person in the team, I do what I can to help, which gives us the opportunity to talk and share our experience of being a priest.

Today we had so many intense hours of work, in a very warm and homely atmosphere  which reminds me of the Program in Springfield. The retreat finishes tomorrow.

Let us not stop praying,

Fr Jay