Sunday I attended an early mass at the Cathedral in town, the same church Copernicus was baptized at, and attended until he left for his travels & teaching around Europe. His father was a wheeler-dealer, owned a number of houses in town. In the church they still have the font Copernicus was baptized in. They had a display, too, of photographs from the last time JohnPaulII visited the Cathedral, in 1999. He already looked pretty frail.
Some of the students have, on their own initiative, volunteered to give us basic Polish lessons. They start this afternoon in about an hour. They continue to amaze me with their thoughtfulness, cheerfulness, politeness, intelligence, and knowledge.
We had a discussion, partly based on my book, yesterday about women's roles in Poland, and how they are changing. Clearly their society is going through rapid change, and they are somewhat rudderless; but except for the materialism and hypercapitalism, which the students recognize as a problem, I have lots of faith in their ability to come out of this okay.
They are very cynical about their government. There was a chance for them to believe in democracy, after Solidarity and the downfall of the communist government, but Lech Walesa was a disaster as president, and there's not been much good news in that corner since. So we talked about how they might motivate change, and they don't have faith the government will help. Like us, few young folks vote...we tried to convince them they should.
Just got back from a visit to a children's hospice. Charlene, our director, brought them a check from the Polish American Cultural Institute of Minnesota. The hospice, in a renovated factory building, is very impressive. It is the heart-and-soul project of an elderly retired couple. We "met" several of the children there. It was not an easy thing, emotionally.
More pictures coming, soon.
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