Pobyt Ojca Świętego Jana Pawła II W Naszej Parafii
The Visit of Pope John Paul II to Our Parish
The events of June 9, 1987, became a permanent part of the history of Lublin and the parish of the Holy Family.
On this day, the Holy Father visited our city. The program of his stay was very rich. At the site of the Majdanek extermination camp, John Paul II prayed for its victims. The next stage was a visit to the Lublin Cathedral, from which the papal procession went to the Catholic University of Lublin. In its auditorium, there was a meeting with representatives of higher education institutions from all over the country. Immediately afterwards, the Holy Father went to the courtyard of the KUL, where the liturgy of the word for the student community and university staff began.
From the Catholic University of Lublin, John Paul II went towards our parish, to Czuby city district.
The decision to grant the honor of hosting the Holy Father to the parish of the Holy Family was made in March 1987 after analyzing seven proposals. This candidacy was favored due to the size of the land (56 hectares) and its convenient location in terms of transportation. However, the land required significant adaptation efforts. The various sections of the Organizing Committee began working on the project.
The square was divided into 146 sectors, each capable of holding 6-8 thousand people. This created an area able to accommodate approximately 1.5 million people. The wooden fences were about 20 km long.
Almost 1400 m of makeshift roads were paved between the sectors, allowing for quick access to individual sectors if necessary.
14 sanitary teams and 17 water collection points were established. 2 km of makeshift water supply network was laid. Next to the church under construction, a podium and an altar were erected, covering an area of 1250 m2 and reaching a height of 3.5 to 5.5 m.
Residents of Czuby enthusiastically assisted in these works, which were coordinated by our parish priest, priest Ryszard Jurak, and the Organizing Committee.
The day 9.VI.1987 become. It was tuesday.
From early morning, pilgrims from our and neighboring dioceses made their way to the main celebration site in Czuby. The time of waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father was filled with prayer and presentations of their repertoire by orchestras and choirs.
And finally, the moment everyone was waiting for. At 4:00 PM, the papal motorcade entered the grounds of the Holy Family Church. The faithful greeted the Holy Father with applause and shouts of Long live the Pope!
Before the beginning of the liturgy, John Paul II blessed the parish bells and the cornerstones for the newly built churches in the diocese.
Then He went to the podium of the field altar. This sight was impressive. The official welcome was given by the Bishop of Lublin, Bolesław Pylak.
The solemn concelebrated Mass was celebrated
with the Holy Father by the cardinals: Józef Glemp, Franciszek Macharski, Henryk Gulbinowicz, Agostino Casaroli (Secretary of State); bishops: Bolesław Pylak of Lublin, Jan Mazur of Podlasie, and Edward Materski of Sandomierz-Radom.
After the Liturgy of the Word
50 deacons were presented to the assembled faithful. After the presentation, the Pope delivered a homily on the priesthood and ordained the deacons representing all the dioceses.
Photographs from the Pope’s visit taken by Arturo Mari, Our Parishioners.