Double blessing for Polish Religious

A DOUBLE blessing for Perth’s Polish Salvatorians was 14 January as the Vatican approved a step towards their founder’s canonisation and declared that their beloved countryman Pope John Paul II would be beatified on 1 May.

 

Fr Francis Jordan

In a letter to over 1,120 Salvatorians in 38 countries, the Salvatorians’ Superior General Fr Andrew Urbanski SDS called it a “wonderful coincidence”, and urged his confreres to “intensify your prayers for the beatification of our Founder, which is so much desired by all of you”.

Fr Andrew said that the heroicity of virtues being officially acknowledged by the Church is not only “great news for all of us” but it is also “a great challenge to follow Him in the way of holiness”.

Fr Francis Jordan, a German, founded the Salvatorians in 1881 in Rome and the Order was brought to Australia in the Archdiocese of Perth from its British province by Fr Paul Keyte SDS in 1961.

The first community was established in Perth at Bellvue, now Greenmount parish, where some Polish gather.

This year marks the 50th year of the Salvatorians in Perth. A special Mass will be offered on 27 June at Greenmount to celebrate.

There is also a Polish community run by Franciscan Friars Minor in Maylands.
 

Fr Karol Kulczycki, Regional Superior of Salvatorians in Australia, who grew up in Communist Poland, said that for many Polish people it was merely a matter of time before the late Pontiff was beatified and canonised.
 

Fr Karol, 44, arrived in Perth in 1997 having been ordained near Trzebinia, just west of Krakow, where John Paul II lived for four decades. 

Fr Karol, based at Salvatorians’ Australian headquarters in Currambine, said John Paul II is still very much revered in his home country due to the changes he brought about through people who were inspired by him.

 

Pope John Paul II

Priests in Fr Karol’s time in Poland were under constant scrutiny, he said, though he was “not worried about it” as the Polish culture has a unique strength due to its Catholicity. This was strengthened considerably during the late Pope’s many return visits to his homeland.

“In Poland, there’s great respect for him in our whole society. I was checking the news on the Internet back in Poland and (it’s clear) it will be a very big event there,” Fr Karol said.

“Because of him, so many things changed in Poland - in the Church and in society. Following his visits to the country, lots of people did great things under his inspiration, and so they hold him in great respect.

“The influence of John Paul II in Poland was also very great for many vocations.”

Fr Karol added that many different countries wanted John Paul II to be beatified, as “he visited many places and influenced many nations around the world”.

“Polish people were proud of someone from their own country … he’s the most famous Polish person around the world,” Fr Karol said. 

SIC: TRC/AUS