Fr. Łukasz Bankowski – Vatican City
Two years before graduation
Stanisław Rutkowski began learning Polish before he even knew if he would go abroad to study. There were two years left until his high school graduation. He heard about the scholarship program from the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his parish in Belarus and decided to prepare.
His parents received his plans with disbelief. “Where are you going? What foreign country?” he recalls their reaction. The priests helped him go through the formalities, supported him spiritually, and gave him courage. He himself learned the language so that he could feel more confident at the university.
Swietłana Krupenchyk, a Kresy native from Vileyka, found the Foundation on the internet. She was looking for a program that would allow her to develop intellectually and spiritually. Before making a decision, she talked to scholarship holders and alumni. “I saw that this place is for me,” she says.
“I will have a community”
Amalia Karalkova was convinced to make the trip by the thought that she would not be starting everything on her own. In Lublin, she was going to meet friends and enter a community that she herself would be able to co-create.
This is important, especially at the beginning. Tatiana Ivashkievich, a scholarship holder from 2016 to 2022, remembers well how much effort it takes to find oneself in another country. Thanks to the Foundation, she completed her master’s and doctoral studies. However, when talking about the education she gained, she also returns to the atmosphere of home and the support she received there.
Maria Bulakh talks about this community through one image: an Advent morning, darkness outside the window, candles, and Rorate Masses at 6:30 AM. You have to get up, even though it’s not always easy. Then breakfast together, sandwiches, conversation before classes. Everyone has their own schedule and duties, but for a moment everyone is together.
“We can talk before classes and have support in the face of each day’s challenges,” she explains.
Playing in Rome
Katarzyna Danko from Maladzyechna chose musicology at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. She is in her fifth year. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she qualified as an organist and church musician, and she directs the choir at the Foundation House. She prepares singing for inaugurations, Christmas wafer meetings (opłatek), and liturgies.
“The Foundation provides not only the opportunity to study, but also to fulfill one’s passions,” she emphasizes.
During the jubilee, the talents of the scholarship holders were also heard in Rome. Roman Marian Vovk from Lviv sat at the organ during the Eucharistic celebrations presided over by cardinals. Serving in Roman churches was one of the strongest experiences of this trip for him.
“It was something amazing,” he says. He came as a participant in the celebrations and was able to contribute what he had learned.
Seeing who is behind it
Until now, benefactors were people known to many young people mostly from stories. In Rome, it was possible to sit next to them, talk, and learn their stories.
Roman was moved by the dedication with which they support young people whom they often do not know personally. Behind the scholarship, he saw concrete faces and attachment to the work of John Paul II.
Jura Velts from Ukraine discovered yet another common point: some of the benefactors also live outside their homeland. Therefore, they understand the experience of leaving, learning a foreign language, and building a life in a new place.
Sofiia Markevych, a student of international relations, draws attention to meetings with witnesses to the Pope’s life. The memories of Card. Stanisław Dziwisz allowed her to hear what John Paul II was like in personal contact. People who remembered his words, gestures, and shared moments spoke about him.
Opening more doors
Maria does not have one ready-made answer to the question of why she decided to leave. When she looks at this decision in retrospect, she perceives the action of the Holy Spirit in it.
“This program opened many doors,” she says. She lists education, the people she met, travels, and discovering the life of John Paul II, who – as she adds – “continues to watch over me and guide me.”
Maksym Hvozditskyi, a computer science student, when asked about what he associates most with the Pope, answers briefly: “His love for youth.”
In conversation with the scholarship holders, this answer takes on a concrete meaning. It takes the form of the language that Stanisław began to learn before graduation, the choir led by Kasia, and Tatiana’s completed doctorate. And the shared table where, after the morning Rorate Masses, one can find someone to listen.
“The Foundation is not just the walls of a building. It is truly a big family,” the young people from Ukraine emphasize. A family in which they study, pray, and mature together.
Kasia recalls the words of John Paul II: “There is no peace without justice and there is no justice without forgiveness.” In the Lublin house, learning the papal teachings intertwines with the everyday life of young people from various countries – their friendships, decisions, and plans for the future.
