Polish Catholics enrich the Catholic Church in England and Wales and are welcome in parishes, a senior bishop has said.
Bishop Paul McAleenan, lead bishop for migrants and refugees for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, recently returned from a two-day meeting in Warsaw with the Polish Bishops’ Conference to discuss the on-going pastoral care of Poles in the UK.
Bishop McAleenan, an auxiliary in Westminster, emphasised the importance of the Polish Catholic Mission. “Such pastoral care is extremely important because people pray best in their mother tongue – the language of their childhood,” said Bishop McAleenan. “Poles are welcome in our parishes and they enrich our Church.” He praised the Polish Catholic communities for their respect for the Blessed Sacrament during Mass and Adoration. “This piety translates into the society in which they function on a daily basis,” he said. “Living among the English and Welsh, they share their values and beliefs – this is extremely valuable.”
There are around 700,000 Polish-born residents in England and Wales. Many Polish people settled in the UK after the Second World War, with further waves of migration after the fall of Communism in 1989 and after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. The Polish Catholic Mission coordinates the pastoral care for Poles living in England and Wales. Today, it covers nearly 70 parishes where Mass is celebrated in the Polish language on a regular basis.
Fr Bogdan Kolodziej, Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission, attended the meeting alongside the mission’s chancellor, Fr Artur Strzepka and Canon Christopher Thomas, general secretary of the bishops’ conference. Bishop Piotr Turzynski, auxiliary of Radom, represented the Polish Episcopal Conference, being responsible for the pastoral care of the Polish community outside Poland. The Warsaw meeting was the latest in a series of on-going meetings that take place alternately in Poland and England to ensure a high level of pastoral concern for Poles living in England and Wales.
In Lent, the relics of the Blessed Ulma family will visit Polish parishes in England and Wales. The Polish family were martyred by Nazi soldiers for harbouring Jews during World War II.
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