Kontakty polonijnego duszpasterza ks. Wawrzyńca Wnuka z Polską

Abstract

The present article is an attempt at illustrating the relations of the emigration priest with his home country in the span of over 60 years. Rev. Warzyniec Wnuk, a non-compromising priest and indeed a heroic organizer of Polish emigration circles, when he was freed from a concentration camp he first worked in Germany, and then in the USA and Canada. After establishing his legal ecclesiastic status, in order to revive the social life of the Polish emigrants, brought Ursuline Sisters of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus to Windsor (Ontario, Canada). Along with them he organized yearly trips to Poland, where he met several friendly bishops, supporting financially their investment projects; he also supported Polish cultural-academic institutions (including the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, the Mikołaj Kopernik University of Toruń and specialist clinics) and he established funds and stipends for Polish students and scholars; and after marshal law was imposed on Poland he established a special Fund for Aid to Poland. He also organized two official visits by Canadian bishops in Poland – Bishop Emmett Carter, the Chairman of the Episcopate of Canada in 1977, and Bishop John M. Sherlock, the Ordinary of the London Diocese in 1998. Rev. W. Wnuk spent most of his life in Canada, but still he was interested in Poland all the time; he felt Poland, thought and acted like a Pole and did it for Poland.