The golden jubilee of the priesthood of the President of the Polish Bishops' Conference in Poznań
Today's celebration is “praise and glorification of God's name” for all the blessings coming to the Church of Poznan, the Church in Poland, and the universal Church from the manifold, truly dedicated ministry of Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki faithfully and tirelessly giving himself to God's people Opere et Veritate – In deed and in truth - said Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski, Metropolitan of Krakow and Deputy President of the Polish Bishops' Conference, in his homily during the Eucharist celebrated in Poznań Cathedral on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of the President of the Polish Episcopate, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki.
At the beginning of the Mass, Bishop Zdzislaw Fortuniak, auxiliary bishop emeritus of the Poznań Archdiocese, read the wishes sent to Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki by Pope Francis. “We congratulate with sincere hearts on this joyful event and his pastoral ministry exercised zealously and wisely for the spiritual good of the Gniezno and Poznań fold, as well as on his activity in the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, and especially in the Polish Bishops’ Conference, over which he presides with solicitude, as well as on his conscientious activity in the various Dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” the congratulatory letter reads.
Archbishop Jędraszewski emphasized in his homily that today, “the honorable and distinguished Jubilarian, and we together with him, give thanks for the priestly ordination he received 50 years ago, on the eve of Pentecost, at the hands of Cardinal Wyszyński. We thank God for the Archbishop's 50 years of celebrating the Most Holy Eucharist”.
The Vice President of the Polish Episcopate noted that the mystery of vocation is the mystery of God who calls, and the mystery of the one who responds. “One must bow one's head before this mystery in the greatest reverence,” he noted.
At the end of the Eucharist, Bishop Artur G. Mizinski, Secretary General of the Polish Bishops' Conference, offered his wishes to Archbishop Gądecki. “Without the charism of +deed and truth+ there would not have been the courageous letters to the Polish authorities in defense of conceived life, to the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, on the eve of and after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the letter of fraternal concern for the purity of faith to the President of the German Bishops' Conference, nor the filial visit to the Holy Father Francis, where you shared insights on the so-called Eastern policy of the Secretariat of State,” Bishop Mizinski stressed.
Press Office of the Polish Bishops' Conference
Translated by Sr. Amata Nowaszewska / Office for Foreign Communication of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
