In countries where there was no God, homes were not opened up to refugees as they were in Poland; these other countries only built camps, said Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski in Kraków during a mass with the Polish episcopate in Zakopane, located in the Tatra Mountains.
As Krakow’s top Catholic clergyman, Jędraszewski used the occasion of a mass to highlight why he believes Poles were so open to receiving refugees from war-torn Ukraine.
“Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war arrived at our border and were received by Polish families. No one asked for how much or for how long. They had to be helped. We showed the world our Christian spirit, with people showing great heart,” he said.
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Jędraszewski contrasted this with attempts to remove Christianity from the public space, including schools. He also noted the teachings of Saint John Paul II in the same church 25 years ago on the importance of parents guarding their children’s future and making sure they were able to bestow upon them religious faith.
“The task of bringing up children was not left to institutions that often have little to do with Christ or the Gospel,” warned Jędraszewski.
The archbishop argued that many of the problems facing children are a result of the crisis of the family and the decline of faith.
“Many tragedies have come about as a result of parents deciding to separate, leaving the courts to determine how many days the child spends with either of them. It is children who suffer as a result of marriages falling apart,” he said.
