Początki Polskiej Misji Katolickiej w Belgii w okresie międzywojennym

Abstract

It was an ambassador of the Polish Republic in Belgium who in 1923 pointed at the need to organise pastoral care among Poles. Officially, Cardinal Mercier turned to Warszawa Archbishop Cardinal Kakowski with a request to organise it in Belgium. Cardinal made it clear that the idea was initiated by the Polish ambassador in Brussels, Count Sobański. The Primate decided to organise the Polish Catholic Mission in Brussels in June 1926. Cardinal E. Dalbor entrusted its organisation to Rev. T. Kotowski, a former Polish dean in South-East France. The Mission sought to maintain permanent relations with the Belgian church and learned circles, the press and Catholic society; provide religious-moral care for Poles-Catholics in Belgium. The Mission encompassed the territory of all Belgium. Rectors and priests were nominated by the Primate of Poland in collaboration with the Belgian episcopate. The Mission organised commuting for priests “to larger worker’s centres, laying particular stress on the preservation of the Polish character of services, the holy sacraments and the teaching of the Catechism in Polish in churches and schools.” Permanent pastoral care for Poles in Belgium was organised in 1927 in the following parishes: Liège, Cheratte, Montegné, Micheroux, Winterslag, Waterschei, Peronnes and Boussu-Bois. There were three permanent priests engaged in its organisation and pastoral work (Rector Rev. T. Kotowski, Rev. Szwabiński, and Rev. Romer – a person of Dutch descent who could speak Polish). Moreover, students priests helped them if they could. The Rector sought to inform other members about the problems of pastoral care in Belgium: “administration, the press, social and civil authorities” in the country. Nevertheless he thought that because of the helplessness of his efforts in satisfying spiritual needs of the Polish emigration the maintenance of the Polish Mission in Brussels was not only fruitless but even harmful. The reason for this was e.g. the introduction of German pastoral care for Poles in the Liège diocese. Having taken the function of Rector, Rev. W. Kudlacik evaluated the situation of pastoral care in Belgium and remarked that pastoral ministry was supposed to be provided for “15 larger colonies (500-1200 souls), 20 smaller ones and one priests manage it all, although the distance from Brussels was from 60 to 240 km in all directions”.