Leon Dehon – Pilgrim of love

The title of the symposium – as Fr. Dariusz Salamon SCJ, rector of the seminary, explained in his introduction – refers, on the one hand, to the slogan of the Jubilee Year of the universal Church: “Pilgrims of Hope,” and on the other hand, to the extremely dynamic personality of Father Leon Dehon. He was a pilgrim who was constantly on the road, driven by ever-new challenges: “starting with his travels to the East while still in his youth, through extensive social activities, congresses held, publishing, writing, educating, and finally by establishing a new Congregation centered on the idea of love and reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” the rector said. He was a pilgrim of love discovered in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which became the motive of his life and the message of preaching.

During the meeting one could listen to a series of inspiring lectures that addressed current problems of the Church and recalled the spiritual heritage of Father Dehon.

The first to speak was Fr. Prof. Przemyslaw Artemiuk of UKSW (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University) in Warsaw, who spoke about the challenges facing the contemporary Church. This was followed by Fr. Dr. Victor de Oliveira Barbosa SCJ from the Brazilian province of São Paolo and a lecturer in theology of spirituality at the Gregorian University in Rome, who spoke about the relevance, challenges and perspectives of the Heart’s charism in the modern world. The speeches by Fr. Dr. Victor de Oliveira Barbosa SCJ and another speaker, Fr. Dr. Stefan Tertünte SCJ, were delivered in Italian. Thanks to the presence of simultaneous translators, each participant could, using headphones, follow the content of the lectures in Polish.

The next speaker, Fr. Dr. Stefan Tertünte SCJ, Provincial superior of the German Province of The Congregation, focused on Father Dehon’s work with children and young people. He portrayed him as a guide and educator of young people who inspired them and gave them an authentic, committed and deeply lived example of faith, love and devotion. Fr. Tertünte’s speech was enriched by archival photos of Father Dehon’s activities at a care and education center for poor children from working-class families in Saint-Quentin, known as the Patronage of St. Joseph.

At the end, Fr. Prof. Piotr Roszak of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń introduced the figure of Father Dehon as a pastor dedicated to salvation. He also spoke about how to transmit the Dehonian charism in pastoral ministry today.

The symposium’s discussion panel was moderated by Fr. Dr. Stanislaw Mieszczak SCJ, lecturer in liturgy. He summarized all the speeches, asked the speakers to elaborate on some interesting topics, and then gave the floor to the symposium participants, who had the opportunity to ask questions and share their insights.

The first part of the meeting was crowned by a thanksgiving Mass celebrated in the seminary chapel. In accordance with the thought of Father Founder, it was the central moment of this festive day. The Mass was presided over by Fr. Provincial superior of the Polish Province, Slawomir Knopik SCJ, the sermon was delivered by Fr. Józef Gaweł SCJ.

Prefect of Studies Fr. Adam Pastorczyk SCJ, organizer of the event, summed up the day this way: “The atmosphere that accompanied us during these days was both solemn and festive, as well as very fraternal. Although we experienced the jubilee primarily on Saturday, some confreres, especially those from abroad, stayed in our community for several days longer. This, in turn, fostered the sharing of our spirituality in the various national and cultural contexts in which our confreres live. We are also pleased that during the symposium the content and quality of the speakers’ presentations were appreciated by many participants. What our confreres also paid attention to was the methodology of selecting lecturers, i.e. inviting to the jubilee people who, looking at Dehonian spirituality from the outside, as it were, will be able to cast their fresh eyes on it, and thus help us get to know and love the received charism even more deeply. On the other hand, the artistic part, which included both moving testimonies of the vocation of some confreres and the singing of songs in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, made us proud and joyful about the gift of being a Dehonian.”

The artistic part that crowned the provincial day of the jubilee was prepared and presented by Mr. Piotr Piecha, an actor from The Ludowy Theatre in Krakow, and the “Noro Lim” music group from Myślenice.