«It is important that young Poles living in different parts of the world have the opportunity to get to know each other and to form a Christian formation,» said Bishop Wiesław Lechowicz, KEP Delegate for Polish Emigration, in greetings to the participants of the Third Polish Youth Congress, which took place on August 1 online.
The III Congress of Polish Youth was held under the slogan: «Called to holiness». The program of the meeting included integration, listening to religious music, common prayer, and sharing thoughts.
In connection with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pope John Paul II this year, the participants listened to a conference delivered by Bp. Lechowicz entitled «The call to holiness in the teaching of Pope Francis and in the life of St. John Paul II «. “Pope Francis says that holiness is nothing but love. Holiness means following God in His love. Holiness is realized in everyday life, in following the Lord Jesus, in very small details, ‘said Bishop Lechowicz.
Bishop Lechowicz also presented how holiness was expressed in the life of John Paul II. “He was close to the Lord Jesus, he learned to live from him. But also, being close to the Lord Jesus, he was close to other people, because love for God is also realized in relations to other people ”- he emphasized.
The 3rd Congress of Polish Youth was the first online Congress and started a series of virtual meetings that will take place every two months. Bishop Lechowicz expressed his hope that next year it would be possible to organize a Congress in Krakow, and that virtual meetings would be a preparation for it.
This year’s Congress was attended by 200 people from Germany, Great Britain, France, the United States, Australia, Brazil, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Paraguay, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, and Romania.
The August congress was the beginning of the series of meetings «Polish Youth Congress – LIVE Meeting», which are a permanent form of contact and pastoral care for young people from Polish communities around the world. The main organizer of the meeting is the Delegate of the Polish Episcopate for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigration, Bishop Wiesław Lechowicz, and the co-organizers of the youth «Grupa Orły» from Germany.
