How does the Church in Poland help Ukraine? How we can help them
Since February 24, the day of the beginning of Russia's aggression, more than 2.1 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border, informs the Border Guard; they are mainly women and children. Over the past 24 hours, Poland has received 42.7 thousand refugees from Ukraine, the Border Guard announced on Saturday, March 19 in the morning. According to the data of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as of March 18, the number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine who remain in Poland is almost 2.1 million. According to the UN, over 3 million people have left Ukraine in total since February 24.
How does the Church in Poland help Ukraine?
Record-breaking financial and material collections, organizing transports to Ukraine, providing places of stay for refugees and surrounding them with care, providing aid from communities from other countries and - perhaps most importantly - working in Ukraine, serving those who decided or were forced to stay in a country torn by war - this is how the Church in Poland is helping the victims of the conflict beyond the eastern border.
Work in Ukraine
Polish clergy working in Ukraine stayed with their faithful. It is about 700 priests (including 170 religious priests and 3 bishops - religious). There are also 21 religious brothers and 332 sisters from Polish religious congregations working in Ukraine. They are committed to helping - both materially and spiritually - those most in need and directly affected by the effects of the war. They provide shelter to refugees heading west and provide support from Poland.
Reception of refugees
- There is no parish in Poland today that would not help refugees - says Bishop Krzysztof Zadarko, chairman of the Polish Conference of Bishop Council for Migration, Tourism and Pilgrimages. The Church receives war refugees in pilgrimage homes, monasteries of male and female orders, Caritas centers, centers belonging to movements and communities, in parishes, and through parishes - in houses of the faithful.
Ukrainian families found refuge in the homes of many bishops, incl. Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow. Hundreds of places in seminaries and other diocesan buildings have also been allocated to them. Objects such as the Pilgrim House and the so-called halls at Jasna Góra in Czestochowa (some of You stayed there), where more than 150 people live, including 50 children.
According to data from March 17, 156 male religious houses were involved in helping refugees from Ukraine, in which 3,630 people found shelter, including 1,483 children. 4 religious centers accepted 61 disabled people, 37 of whom were children.
According to data from March 14, accommodation was also organized in 498 houses of female religious congregations in Poland and 76 houses in Ukraine. So far, 3,060 children, 2,420 families and over 2,950 adults have received shelter. More than 600 places for orphans have been prepared in 64 facilities, and almost 3,000 places for mothers with children in 420 facilities.
Volunteers, ongoing assistance to refugees
Priests, seminarians, men and women religious, as well as representatives of movements, communities and lay faithful are also involved in a number of activities aimed at direct help to those in need. An example is the Order of the Knights of Malta, which prepares transports of food, medicines and cleaning products, has organized help and reception points at almost all border crossings points, and special Maltese refugee assistance centers have been established in the largest Polish cities. At the admission points at border crossings, there were also involved, Latin and Greek Catholic seminarians from Lublin.
Religious communities distributed thousands of meals a day (in male monasteries alone it is about 5,000 meals). Religious institutions organize educational and recreational activities for children from Ukraine, as well as classes of English Language. Children are admitted to monastic kindergartens and schools. Legal and psychological assistance as well as translation of documents necessary to start work are also provided in several places. Refugees use the transport provided by the congregation to not only get to their accommodation, but also to deal with current affairs. The Conference of Major Superiors of Male Orders in cooperation with ORANGE POLSKA SA (Telephone Company), coordinates and distributes PREPAID SIM phone cards for refugees from Ukraine.
Providing aid from the world
The involvement of the Church in Poland for Ukraine to provide aid is supported by communities from other countries. Jesuit Fathers raise funds from Jesuit provinces around the world. The Knights of Columbus from various countries raised about 4 million dollars to help Ukraine. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need sent a humanitarian aid package to Ukraine in the amount of one million euros, and then an additional 300,000 euro. Congregation, communities, movements and associations in Poland also find, through their contacts, places for refugees in families and communities in other European countries.
We at the Institute of Divine Mercy, also joined this call for help. We cooperate with Caritas Polska. Every day we receive donations that we will forward to Catholic Institutions. Thank you for your love offering. I am asking you to open your hearts. Little gesture, little donation, one meal at Mc Donald's, it can help a lot to people who have left their own homes and to people who have opened their own homes to the needy.
You can send your love offering to:
The Lay Institute of Divine Mercy, Inc
419 N. Larchmont Blvd. # 41
Los Angeles, CA 90004
In the memo please wright: Ukraine
"The help for the Ukrainians is like a new miracle of the multiplication of bread, we owe you a lifetime debt of gratitude" - said in an interview with Vatican Radio Fr Misha Romaniv, a Dominican from Fastiv, located nearby the capital of Ukraine. We too can participate in this miracle.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george