English message follows.

Wielki Post rozpoczal sie wczoraj. Jutro odbedzie sie spotkanie na temat Spowiedzi Swietej, ktora powinna byc czescia naszej religijnosci zawsze, ale szczegolnie podczas okresu wielkopostnego. Wyklad poprowadzi sam o. Wojciech. Zapraszamy na spotkanie! Byc moze niektorzy z Was skorzystaja ze spotkan piatkowych jako jednej z form przygotowania sie do Wielkanocy.

Chcialabym jeszcze przypomniec o wystawie relikwii juz w ten weekend i zachecic do wziecia w niej udzialu. Wystawa odbedzie sie w kosciele Saint Catherine of Siena przy 2340 Hurontario St (Hurontario St na polnoc od The Queensway) w sobote 25 lutego o godzinie 10:00 (o 9:30 jest nabozenstwo modlitewne) lub po mszy ktora jest o godzinie 18:00. Rowniez, w niedziele 26 lutego ta sama wystawa odbedzie sie o godzinie 18:00 w kosciele Chrystusa Krola w Etobicoke przy 3674 Lakeshore Rd (Lakeshore Rd i Brown’s Line).

Przytaczam tekst po angielsku:

Sacred Relics Of The Saints: Treasures Of The Church Father Carlos Martins of the Companions of the Cross will be here with his very special ministry to teach about these holy objects. He will bring with him over 150 rel-ics, some as old as 2000 years. Among the treasures will be relics of St. Maria Goretti, St. Therese of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”), St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Faustina Kowalska. In addition, there will also be present a portion of the veil of Our Lady, as well as one of the largest remaining pieces of the True Cross in the world. Those in attendance will be able to examine and venerate each relic. In the Church’s history many miracles and healings have been worked in the presence of relics, and many have been healed through this ministry. Please do not miss this opportunity. You are encouraged to bring your articles of devotion (such as rosaries, holy cards, etc.) and pictures of ill friends/family members which you will be able to touch to the reliquaries as a means of intercession.

Jako wprowadzenie krotka notatka o jednej ze swietych, ktorych relikwie beda wystawiane:
Sw. Maria Goretti, wloszka, urodzona w roku 1890, byla smiertelnie poraniona nozem w 1902 roku poprzez  mlodego chlopaka ktory chcial ja zgwalcic. Maria chciala zachowac czystosc cielesna. Zostala beatyfikowana w 1947 roku i kanonizowana w 1950 roku. Jej rodzice oraz zabojca, ktory wyrazil skruche za swoj czyn, byli swiadkami wystawienia jej na oltarze. Jest jedna z najmlodszych kanonizowanych oraz patronka nastoletnich dziewczat.

Ktoz jak Bog!

Yesterday was the start of Lent, and tomorrow we will have a meeting about the Sacrament of Confession, which should be part of our religiosity always but especially during the lenten season. Fr. Wojciech himself will lead the theme. We invite you to the meeting! Perhaps some of you will want to make coming to the Friday meetings a part of your preparation for Easter.

I would also like to remind you of the Sacred Relics Exposition, which will be taking place already this weekend, and to invite you to attend. The exposition will take polace at Saint Catherine of Siena Church at 2340 Hurontario St (Hurontario St north of The Queensway) on Saturday, February 25th at 10:00 am (after prayer vigil at 9:30 am)
and after the 6:00 pm mass. The exposition will also take place on Sunday, February 26th, at 6:00 pm at Christ the King Church in Etobicoke, at 3674 Lakeshore Blvd (Lakeshore Blvd and Brown’s Line).

Here is a note about the Sacred Relics Exposition:

Sacred Relics Of The Saints: Treasures Of The Church Father Carlos Martins of the Companions of the Cross will be here with his very special ministry to teach about these holy objects. He will bring with him over 150 relics, some as old as 2000 years. Among the treasures will be relics of St. Maria Goretti, St. Therese of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”), St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Faustina Kowalska. In addition, there will also be present a portion of the veil of Our Lady, as well as one of the largest remaining pieces of the True Cross in the world. Those in attendance will be able to examine and venerate each relic. In the Church’s history many miracles and healings have been worked in the presence of relics, and many have been healed through this ministry. Please do not miss this opportunity. You are encouraged to bring your articles of devotion (such as rosaries, holy cards, etc.) and pictures of ill friends/family members which you will be able to touch to the reliquaries as a means of intercession.

As an introduction, here is a note about one of the saints whose relics will be shown:
St. Maria Goretti, an Italian, was born in 1890. In 1902 she was fatally stabbed numerous times by a young boy who wanted to rape her. Maria wanted to keep her virginity. She was beatified in 1947 and canonized in 1950. Her parents and her killer, who expressed remorse, witnessed perhaps even both of these events! She is one of the youngest canonized persons and is a patron of teenage girls.

Quis ut Deus!

Monika Kulacz

English message follows.

Dziekujemy o. Bosco za zapoznanie nas z posluga ksiezy oblatow w Indii. O. Bosco jest bardzo dumny ze swojego kraju i z pracy oblatow w Indii. Podkresla, ze systemy rzadowy, szkolny i inne w Indii byly zbudowane z wielka pomoca nauki Kosciola. Mamy nadzieje, ze o. Bosco zawita do nas ponownie, szczegolnie podczas nieobecnosci o. Wojtka na poczatku marca.

Przed dokonczeniem prezentacji o. Bosco ogladnelismy pozostala czesc filmu o sw. Joannie d’Arc. Sytuacja polityczna we Francji za czasow publicznej dzialalnosci Joanny w latach 1429-1431 byla moim zdaniem dosyc skomplikowana, co zostalo odzwierciedlone w filmie. Biedna Joanna byla skazana jako heretyczka i spalona na stosie z rak anglikow, ale rowniez w obecnosci sedziow koscielnych biskupa Pierre Cauchon i inkwizytora Jean le Maistre i bardziej za przyczyna francuskich teologow z uniwersytetu paryskiego. Blisko 25 lat pozniej zostal rozpoczety za pontyfikatu papieza Kaliksta III proces “uniewinniajacy”, ktory skonczyl sie wydaniem orzeczenia a niewaznosci wyroku skazujacego. Joanna zostala kanonizowana blisko 500 lat po swojej smierci przez papieza Benedykta XV w 1920 roku. (Zrodlo: Magazym “Michael”, Edycja Polska nr 64, pazdziernik-listopad-grudzien 2011).

Ktoz jak Bog!

We would like to thank Fr. Bosco for acquainting us with the service of the Oblate Fathers in India. Fr. Bosco is very proud of his country and of the work of Oblates in India. He stresses, that the government, school and other systems in India were built with a great help from the teachings of the Catholic Church. We hope that Fr. Bosco will visit us again, especially during the absence of Fr. Wojtek at the beginning of March.

Before the culminating presentation by Fr. Bosco, we watched the remaining part of the movie “Joan of Arc”. The political situation in France was in my opinion very complicated during the time of public life and action of Joan in the years 1429-1431, which was reflected in the movie. Poor Joan was sentenced as a heretic and burned at the stake from the hands of the English, but also in the presence of church judges bishop Pierre Cauchon and inquisitor Jean le Maistre and more so because of French theologians from the parisian university. Almost 25 years later, during the pontificate of pope Callixtus III, the “pardoning”process was started, which ended in the declaration of the invalidity of the sentence. Joan was canonized almost 500 years after her death by pope Benedict XV in 1920. (Source: “Michael” magazine, Polish Edition nr. 64, October-November_December 2011).

Quis ut Deus!

Monika Kulacz

Catholic Youth

English message follows.

W zeszly piatek odbyla sie druga czesc prezentacji o. Gali John Bosco, OMI z Indii. Tym razem o. Bosco mowil o oblatach w Indiach, szczegolnie o formacji oblackiej.
Pierszym czlowiekiem ktory sie zajal misja chrzescjanska w Indiach byl sw. Tomasz Apostol. Osobiscie nie wiedzialam ze jeden z dwunastu apostolowow Pana Jezusa tak daleko podrozowal, i w tym czasie! Jezeli chodzi o misje oblackie, swiety Eugeniusz de Mazenod wyslal dwoch ze swoich pierwszych braci zakonnych na misje na Cejlon (Sri Lanka). Bylo to okolo 150 lat temu. Stamtad w latach 60tych dwudziestego wieku przybyli oblaci do Indii.
Formacja oblacka w Indiach trwa dosyc dlugo. Na poczatku seminarium chlopcy i mlodzi mezczyzni (od 16 roku zycia) ucza sie jezyka angielskiego. Wynoszac ze soba z domu swoj wlasny ojczysty jezyk lub dialekt, ucza sie jezyka wspolnego ktorym pozniej sie posluguja podczas calego okresu w seminarium.
W seminarium w nastepnych latach przychodzi nauka filozofii i teologii. Kazda z nich trwa okolo jeden rok. Pozniej sa studia innego konkretnego przedmiotu, w stylu studiow ‘bachelor’. Trwa to trzy lata. Po tym nastepuje takzwany rok “regency”, w ktorym mezczyzni maja sobie znalesz prace (albo dostaja w tym pomoc) i pracowac w swieckim srodowisku. Sa wolni aby zostac w tej pracy, wyjechac, zareczyc i ozeniec sie. Jest to okres proby, czy wybor seminarium jest naprawde podjety w wolnosci.
Jezeli mlody czlowiek wtedy wroci do seminarium, zaczyna sie okres diakonatu. Po tym okresie jest juz sie blisko do tego, aby przyjac sluby wieczyste i zostac bratem lub kaplanbem oblatem.
Mam nadzieje, ze to sprawozdanie zgadza sie z rzeczywistoscia. O. Bosco bardzo duzo mowil, a ja pisze z pamieci. Zapraszam do skorygowania lub uzupelnienia tej notatki.

O. Bosco jeszcze nie dokonczyl swojej prezentacji, ciag dalszy odbedzie sie w ten piatek. Po prezentacji o. Bosco planujemy dokonczyc ogladac film o sw. Joannied’Arc, ktorego pierwsza czesc obejrzelismy w dokladnie 600. rocznice jej urodzin, 6 stycznia.

Zycze wszystkim slodkich walentynek w to swieto sw. Cyryla i Metodego, patronow Europy, i wspomnienie sw. Walentego.

Ktoz jak Bog!

Last Friday the second part of the presentation by Fr. Gali John Bosco, OMI from India took place. This time Fr. Bosco was talking about oblates from India, especially about the formation of oblates.
The first person who took on missionary work in India was St. Thomas the Apostle. Personally I did not know that one of the twelve apostles of Lord Jesus travelled so far, and during that time! As to oblate missions, Saint Eugene de Mazenod sent two of his first religious brothers on a mission to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). That was about 150 years ago. From there in the sixties of the last century oblates came to India.
The oblate formation in India lasts for a rather long time. At the beginning of the seminary years the boys and young men (of ages 16 and up) study the English language. Having brought with them their own mother tongues and dialects, by studying English they learn a common language which they later use to communicate with one another throughout their time in the seminary.
Next in the seminary comes the study of philosophy and theology. Each of these studies lasts about on year. Then comes time to study another specific subject, in the style of a baccalaureate studies. That lasts for three years. Next comes the regency year, in which the men are asked to find (or receive help in finding) a job in the secular world. They are free to stay in that work, to move away, to become engaged and get married. This is a time of testing if the decision to stay in the seminary is really made in freedom.
If a young man then returns to the seminary, the deaconship period begins. From then on the men are very close to making perpetual vows and to becoming oblate brothers or priests.
I hope that this report is in line with reality. Fr. Bosco was telling us a lot, and I am writing from my memory. I invite anyone to correct this note or make it more complete.

Fr. Bosco has not finished his presentation yet, he will continue this Friday. After his presentation we plan to finish watching the movie about St. Joan of Arc, which we have started watching on January 6th, exactly the 600th anniversary of her birth.

I wish everyone a sweet Valentine’s Day on this feast of Sts. Cyryl and Methodius, patrons of Europe, and St. Valentine’s Day.

Quis ut Deus!

Monika Kulacz

English message follows.

W zeszly piatek odbylo sie spotkanie z o. Bosco, kaplanem z Indii, ktory od okolo dwoch miesiecy posluguje w naszej parafii. O. Bosco bardzo sie ucieszyl z zaproszenia go na spotkanie i entuzjastycznie dzielil sie z nami tematem swojej ojczyzny. Podkreslal, ze w Indiach sa setki roznych ludow, i setki jezykow ktore nie sa dla siebie nawzajem znajome a nawet zblizone. Jest wiec to kraj zlozony z obcych dla siebie rodow i ludow. Oficjalnymi jezykami sa angielski i hindi.
Jednym z najtrudniejszych rejonow Indii do pracy misyjnej jest rejon w polnocno-wschodniej czesci kraju, ktory jest podany wplywom sasiednich panstw, Chin i Burmy.
O. Bosco mowil, ze katolicy w Indiach sa w rzeczywistosci nie tyle przesladowani co szanowani. Mowil, ze muzulmanie indyjscy naleza do bardzo pokojowych czlonkow tego wyznania. Wedlug o. Bosco, jezeli ma byc zamach, katolicy zostaja o tym zawczas poinformowani. Dominujacym wyznaniem w Indiach jest w przekonujacej mierze hinduizm.
O. Bosco jest rowniez zaproszony, aby prowadzic nastepne spotkanie, w ten piatek. Zapraszamy wszystkich, szczegolnie tych nieobecnych w zeszly piatek, aby dowiedziec sie o Indiach od czlowieka z Indii.

Ktoz jak Bog!

Last Friday we had a meeting with Fr. Bosco, a priest from India who since about two months ago is serving in our parish. Fr. Bosco was very happy to have been invited to the meeting, and he was enthusiastically sharing with us the topic of his native land. He stressed that in India there are hundreds of different ethnic groups and hundreds of languages that are not known or even close to one another. Therefore India is a nation made up of peoples and tribes that are not related to each other. English and Hindi are official languages in India.
One of the most difficult regions in India for missionaries to work is a region in the north-east part of the nation, which can be potentially influenced by movements and politics of the neighbouring countries, China and aBurma.
Fr. Bosco said that Catholics in India are not as much persecuted as they are respected. He said that Indian Muslims are peaceful members of that religion. According to Fr. Bosco, if there is to be an attack, Catholics are made aware of that ahead of time. The dominant religion in India is without question Hinduism.
Fr. Bosco is also invited to lead the next meeting, this Friday. We invite everyobe, especially those who were absent last Friday, to learn about India from … a man from India.

Quis Ut Deus!

Monika Kulacz

English message follows.

W ten piatek i w nastepny bedzie goscil na spotkaniu piatkowym o. Gali John Bosco z Indii, ktory posluguje teraz u nas w parafii. Na pewno wielu z nas widzialo go w kosciele. Pozwole sobie przekazac jeszcze raz notatke od o. Bosco, ktora przeslal niedawno Bogdan (ponizej). Pisze rowniez do kilku innych osob, ktore zachecam do przybycia na spotkanie i przekazania wiadomosci dalej! Zapraszamy na Grupe Piatkowa osoby od lat 18 wzwyz (nasza srednia wieku to okolo 35 lat).
Spotkania z ksiezmi-goscmi z innych krajow okazuja sie byc bardzo ciekawe. Mielismy juz ksiedza z Kamerunu, z Chin, z Ukrainy, a teraz chyba bezprecedensowo z Indii.

http://www.katolik.pl/

Ktoz jak Bog!

This Friday and the next we will be hosting Fr. Gali John Bosco at the Friday meeting. Fr. Bosco is from India, he is now serving at St. Maximilian Kolbe parish. For sure some of us have seen him at the church. I will take the liberty to have sent again the short autobiography of Fr. Bosco that Bogdan recently provided (please see below). I am also writing to some other people, whom I encourage to come to the meeting and to pass on this message! We invite to Grupa Piatkowa people of ages of 18 and up (our average age is about 35).
Meetings with guest priests from other countries are very interesting. We already hosted a priests from Cameroon, China, the Ukraine, and now probably for the first time from India.
Fr. Bosco hears confessions in English, so I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity, if you feel more comfortable going to confession in English.

Monika Kulacz

English summary follows.

Tak jak juz Bogdan wczesniej poinformowal, SW. MICHAL ARCHANIOL ZOSTAL PATRONEM GRUPY PIATKOWEJ.
Dziekujemy wszystkim osobom, ktore byly zainteresowane wyborem patrona dla Grupy Piatkowej, i ktore wziely udzial w glosowaniu.

Rowniez, w zeszly piatek, rzeczywiscie po dlugich deliberacjach i od niektorych osob mianowania prawie wszystkich po kolei obecnych na spotkaniu, zostal wybrany zarzad Grupy Piatkowej na kadencje 2012-2013. Ponownie podajemy nowy zarzad:

prezes: Lukasz Tetwejer

animatorzy duchowi: Basia Sygut
Monika Kulacz

sekretarz/kronikarz: Monika Kulacz

asystent ds. strony internetowej: Bogdan Kowalczyk

skarbnik: Izabela Beben

animatorzy socjalni: Lukasz Tetwejer
Slawek Kowal

Uwaga! Rola kronikarza nie obejmuje produkcji kroniki, szukamy chetnych ktorzy podejma to zadanie.

Dziekujemy wszystkim ktorzy poprzez swoja kandydature oraz rozwazanie i wsparcie wzieli udzial w wyborze nowego zarzadu dla Grupy Piatkowej.

Ktoz jak Bog!

Like Bogdan already informed before, ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL BECAME THE PATRON SAINT OF GRUPA PIATKOWA. We would like to thank all those who were interested in the endeavour to select a patron for Grupa Piatkowa, and who took part in the selection and voting process.
Also, during the past Friday meeting the the council for Grupa Piatkowa for the 2012-2013 term was selected. We are listing the council members again:

president: Lukasz Tetwejer

spiritual animators: Basia Sygut
Monika Kulacz

secretary/writer: Monika Kulacz

web site assistant: Bogdan Kowalczyk

treasurer: Izabela Beben

social animators: Lukasz Tetwejer
Slawek Kowal

Attention: The role of the writer does not encompass creating the yearbook, we are looking for one or more persons who would like to take on this task.

We would like to thank all who through their candidacy and debate and support took part in the election of the new council for Grupa Piatkowa.

Monika Kulacz

English message follows.

Mam nadzieje, ze przeczytacie uwaznie te wiadomosc, poniewaz jutro odbedzie sie na spotkaniu piatkowym historyczne wydarzenie.
PO PONAD DWUDZIESTU LATACH ISTNIENIA GRUPY PIATKOWEJ WYBIERZEMY JEJ PATRONA.
Kandydatami na patrona Grupy Piatkowej sa:
sluga bozy Antoni Kowalczyk
swiety Michal Archaniol
blogoslawiony Jerzy Popieluszko

I Ty mozesz miec udzial w tym wyborze, nawet jezeli przychodzenie na spotkania piatkowe sa juz za Toba. Swoj glos mozna oddac e-mailowo, od tej pory piszac do Bogdana. (Glosy dotad podane mi odeslalam do Bogdana.) Glosy mozna podac do godziny 20:00 jutro, 27 stycznia. Prosze sie upewnic ze Bogdan dostal wiadomosc. Glos moze sie nie liczyc jezeli nie przeslesz go do Bogdana.

Rowniez, jutro wybieramy nastepny zarzad Grupy Piatkowej! Wszystkich chetnych prosimy o podanie swojej kandydatury jutro na spotkaniu a nawet rowniez wczesniej na e-mailu! Zachecamy do startowania oczywiscie tez te osoby, ktore byc moze czuja ze nie poradza sobie w tej roli, ze nie maja wystarczajaco czasu, checi, zdolnosci czy tam co jeszcze. Zarzad ma byc wspierany poprzez cala grupe!

Po obydwu wyborach mam nadzieje ze wreszcie bedzie okazja na to, aby dokonczyc ogladac dlugi ale pouczajacy film o sw. Joannie d’Arc.

NIECH DUCH SWIETY OBDARZY NAS SWYMI DARAMI MADROSCI, RADY I UMIEJETNOSCI W WYBORZE PATRONA GRUPY PIATKOWEJ I W INNYCH WYBORACH, WYDARZENIACH I SPRAWACH KTORE OSTATNIO, TERAZ, I WKROTCE BEDA SIE DZIAC WSROD NAS.

Bardzo dziekuje za szanse bycia pisarzem Grupy Piatkowej podczas minionej kadencji, i mam nadzieje ze bedzie mi to dane rowniez na dalszy czas.

Monika Kulacz

AFTER OVER TWENTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE OF GRUPA PIATKOWA, WE WILL CHOOSE HER PATRON.
The candidates for the patron of Grupa Piatkowa are:
Servant of God Anthony Kowalczyk
Blessed Jerzy (George) Popieluszko
Saint Michael the Archangel

You too can have your input in this selection, even if coming to the Friday meetings is a thing of the past for you.
NOW PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:
You can cast your vote by e-mail from now on by writing to Bogdan. (Votes sent to me until now I have forwarded to Bogdan.) You can cast your vote until 8:00 pm tomorrow, January 27th. This is a new vote and votes previously cast for the top three candidates do not count for this selection. Please make sure that you send your vote to Bogdan. Your vote might not count if you do not send it to Bogdan.

Also, tomorrow we are selecting the next council of Grupa Piatkowa! We are inviting all who would like to be part of the council to present your candidacy tomorrow at the meetiong and even before then on this e-mail list. We would like to encourage especially the people who might feel that they will not be good at being in the council, that they do not have sufficient time, will, abilities to be a part of it. The council is to be supported by the whole group!

After both elections tomorrow I hope that we will have the chance to finish watching the long but informative movie about St. Joan of Arc.

MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT POUR OVER US HIS GIFTS OF WISDOM, COUNSEL AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE SELECTION OF THE PATRON OF GRUPA PIATKOWA, IN THE COUNCIL ELECTIONS AND IN OTHER EVENTS AND MATTERS WHICH HAVE IN THE RECENT PAST, ARE NOW AND WILL IN THE FUTURE BE HAPPENING AMONG US.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be the writer and translator of Grupa Piatkowa, hoping to have the chance to continue doing so.

Monika Kulacz

Tym razem szybko napisze, ze Wieczor Talentow byl bardzo fajny i ze na nastepny raz zapraszam wiecej uczestnikow!
Jezeli chcesz glosowac na patrona Grupy Piatkowej e-mailowo, masz szanse do 8:00 wieczorem w piatek. Prosze popatrzec na wiadomoswc od Bogdana i naqpisac do niego.
Kandydatami na patrona Grupy Piatkowej sa:
sluga bozy Antoni Kowalczyk
blogoslawiony Jerzy Popieluszko
swiety Michal Archaniol

This time I am only shortly writing that the Talent Show was very enjoyable and that for next time we are encouraging more participants to show their talents.
If you want to vote for the patron of Grupa Piatkowa by e-mail, you can do so until 8:00 pm on Friday. Please write to Bogdan to cast your vote.
The candidates for the patron of Grupa Piatkowa are:
servant of God Anthony Kowalczyk
Blessed Jerzy (George) Popieluszko
Saint Michael the Archangel

Monika Kulacz