The person who reported the matter wrote to us about a priest from the Parish of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bolesławiec:

For some time now, our children have been having a problem with the assistant priest. The priest has imposed an obligation to take part in a pilgrimage or another youth meeting [...]. If someone does not attend such an event, they will not be admitted to confirmation. This is an extremely—speaking bluntly—senseless rule, because our children are over 16 and most of them earn extra money in various places. Since they are employed under civil-law contracts and so on, they cannot take part in some pilgrimage.

Moreover, in our opinion, people take part in pilgrimages when they are spiritually ready to do so; no one can be forced to attend such an event, just as faith cannot be imposed on anyone.

Unfortunately, the assistant priest repeatedly violates this, while simultaneously driving our children away from the Church. Most of the young people have withdrawn from receiving this sacrament because they do not like the priest’s rules.

The person added:

It is often the case that during the school year, meetings take place late, for example at 7:00 p.m., and frequently last until 9:00 p.m. There would be nothing strange about this if they actually concerned the sacrament of confirmation. Unfortunately, these meetings rarely serve as preparation for the sacrament.

In late autumn—the person reporting the matter does not remember exactly which month—a meeting allegedly took place that ended at 9:00 p.m. because the children spent... 1.5 hours cleaning the parish common room: “They checked whether all the jigsaw pieces were in the box and whether the games had all their counters. The young people from Dobra, since—as we know—there are no buses, had to walk home late at night in freezing weather.

Our informant claims that the parish priest was notified about the situation involving the assistant priest. And nothing changed.

We contacted the parish priest, Fr. Józef Hupa. The clergyman replied that he did not remember such a conversation. He added:

I will certainly speak with Fr. Dawid, and we will clarify any doubts that have arisen in the information above.

What do you think? We invite you to join the discussion.