English
„The Polish Family in the face of the current pandemic situation” – this is the topic of the next International Congress of Polish Families, which will be held online from the 20th to 21st November 2021. As His Excellency, Bishop Wiesław Lechowicz has informed us, during the Congress, the issues related to marital and family relations, as well as the upbringing and education of youth and children in this difficult time of the pandemic will be discussed.
“The subject of the Congress will be a bit different from the one we are used to, that is, we will not look at the family and marriage from the pastoral point of view, but we will look at it through the eyes of psychologists, educators, people who deal with families and marriage in difficult situations. Undoubtedly, we have lived through such a difficult situation, and we are still going through it”said Bishop WiesławLechowicz, a delegate of the Polish Episcopal Conference for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigration. He warmly invites you to the 4th Congress of Polish Families, which will be held once againonline.
The meeting for Polish families will start on Saturday the 20th November. In the morning session, participants will deal with the topics of marital and family relations during the pandemic. They will listen to a lecture on the impact of the pandemic on the condition of the family and a lecture about treating this difficult time as an opportunity. After the break, there will be lectures on health and educational tasks during the pandemic and lockdown, such as: „Health education and health promotion during a pandemic”, „Spiritual support for families during a pandemic”, „Smartphone childhood as a challenge for families in a pandemic” or „Methods of supporting the family used by schools in the process of home education”.
A practical part of the Congress is planned for Sunday, consisting of workshops and discussions in thematic groups on counteracting the adverse consequences of the pandemic. The topics will include „Psychological help for children with specific difficulties in home education” or „How to deal with anxiety during a pandemic?”.
As Bishop Lechowicz emphasized, there will also be time for testimonies of marriages and families, conversations, a question and answers session as well as communalprayr. „If we do not trust God with all the matters that matter to us, there is a risk that we will not be able to deal with our problems by ourselves” – said the Delegate of the Polish Episcopate for the Pastoral Care of Polish Emigration. „I cordially invite you, I hope to see you and to have a good and fruitful time together,” he encouraged. He also expressed his hope that Polish families would meet in person next year.
The 1st Congress of Polish Families was held from the 26th to the 27th October 2019 in La Ferte-sous-Jouarre near Paris. Due to the pandemic, subsequent Congresses were organized online. The first of them took place on the 21stNovember 2020 under the motto: „Marriage as the centre of pastoral care in the Expat Church”. Another meeting on the subject of „Go and rebuild my home…church” took place on the 16thJanuary 2021.
More information about the Congress, a detailed program of this year’s meeting and information about registration can be found on the website www.emigracja.episkopat.pl.
www.emigracja.episkopat.pl/ BP KEP
Translation: AZ. Warchoł / Office for Foreign Communication of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
