At the Christmas Eve gathering, alongside His Eminence Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, were: Dean Andrzej Jarosiewicz, parish priest in Gromadka Father Ryszard Kukulski, parish priest of the Greek Catholic parish in Modła Father Bogdan Harasim, and parish priest in Osła Father Andrzej Tomaszewski. Among the distinguished lay guests were General Paweł Lamla, Lieutenant Colonels Andrzej Lorenc and Zbigniew Borysewicz, head of the Tax Office in Bolesławiec Andrzej Calów, EnergiPro director Jerzy Czubak, and vice-president of KGHM Ecoren Bohdan Pecuszok.
The gathering had a traditional Christmas Eve setting. After sharing the Christmas wafer and prosphora and exchanging holiday wishes, the guests listened to carols from various parts of Europe, performed by the secondary-school students of the School Complex in Gromadka. The stage also welcomed young people from the Ukrainian-language 4th General Secondary School in Legnica, who performed a carol-singers’ procession (vertep). There were also carols sung together with the folk ensembles Ale Babki and Niezapominajki.
Thanking them for the gifts—the bread and the chalice—Cardinal Gulbinowicz referred to the symbolism of Christmas as a time of love and special care for one’s neighbour in need of spiritual comfort or material assistance. By His Eminence’s decision, the chalice he received is to be handed over to newly forming Catholic parishes in Russia. Moved by the warm welcome, Cardinal Gulbinowicz awarded Dariusz Pawliszczy, head of Gromadka Municipality, the Millennium Ring. His Eminence was full of humour and charmed everyone with his joviality. The participants in the Nations’ Christmas Eve bade farewell to the cardinal with a choral rendition of “Sto lat” sung in Polish, Ukrainian and Latin.
The tradition of a Christmas Eve gathering in an ecumenical spirit, bringing together the Greek Catholic minority and the predominant Roman Catholic denomination, is a new custom in Gromadka Municipality. Judging by the opinions of the guests attending the Christmas Eve gathering, it can be assumed that there is a demand for conversation, singing carols together, and sharing the customs and traditions cultivated by the religious communities living side by side.
(information Tomasz Matyjewicz/GA)