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(Photo: Krakow's Wawel Castle and Cathedral)

Christmas Tidings!

12/23/2020

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What’s been happening? We’ve expanded our leadership, found the new On-Site Directors, planned our summer study abroad and pilgrimages in Krakow, lined up all chaplains, professors, and seminar leaders, and are expanding in the USA. God’s been working! 

What about Spring Study Abroad? While we were hopeful to restart programs abroad, this February is just too soon. Polish borders and cities are still closed down. It seems that we just need to practice patience until we can return to Krakow, now gearing up for summer.

Starting Outdoor Retreats
February 2021 will be our first outdoor retreat in the USA! What did our patron Karol Wojtyla do in the winter when he needed a retreat? Head to the slopes for skiing and prayer.

If you’re local in Michigan (or craving community enough to travel here), join us for the same. Visit the page to register or learn more about these outdoor excursions all year round, designed to rejuvenate the body, mind and soul of young adults in the USA. For our February retreat in Caberfae Peaks, there’s a $20 early bird discount. Don’t delay!
Come & See Pilgrimage
Ask and you shall receive: a pilgrimage to Krakow for the young at heart who want to experience the JP2 Project from the inside.  Want to know what these students are experiencing? Interested in becoming a donor or partner? Want to understand what you are supporting? Come and See, on this exclusive pilgrimage. Save the dates: June 19-26. 

Help Us Reach the Peak
If you want to give a Christmas donation to the JP2 Project, please don’t procrastinate! We need to reach $12,000 by 2021 to pull through for next year. I thank each of you who helped us exceed our goal of start goal of $4,000 on #GivingJP2sday to kick off this end of the year campaign. EVERY gift counts towards making these transformative experiences a reality for the next generation. (Check out some video clips from our alumni. Thanks, guys, for sending those to us, even years after you did the program! You rock!)


Stay Tuned
I didn’t even get to tell you about the new people making the good work happen. In these upcoming days, you’ll start seeing them scattered across the different pages on our website. From Jason Evert on our Advisory Council to Ian & Annie Heisler, our new On-Site Directors in Krakow, we’ve been blessed with such an incredible team of souls on fire for the Lord, and grounded in Our Lady’s garden of grace.

This Christmas, I pray that we may all experience, ever more deeply and personally, the restorative power of God’s Incarnation. As John Paul II said one Christmas message 60 years ago, “In this Son, we have all been restored to ourselves once again.” 
Merry Christmas!

-Corinne MacDonald
Co-Founder | Executive Director

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BACK IN ACTION

9/28/2020

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Thank you to those who have supported us with their encouragement, donations, and prayers this summer! Thank you to those who have discerned with us how to move forward - here we go!
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Hannah (Summer 2018 Study Abroad) on a JP2 Project pilgrimage in North Italy.

Students may be able to begin studying abroad again with the JP2 Project in Krakow this Spring Semester! We are so excited at the chance to provide community and formation again for our young people! 

Thanks to our partner university (The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow), and the JP2 Project’s legal presence in Poland, we can obtain the necessary visas for our students, staff and volunteers. Let’s pray that if the Lord wants students to have this experience this Spring, He opens all the doors for them!

JP2 Homes

Want to see the JP2 Project in action stateside? Well, we’re starting “JP2 Homes”: residences for young adults to carry out their professional and personal pursuits, while deepening their relationship with Christ, growing in virtue, and giving of themselves in service. For our first one, we are partnering with St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brighton, MI: the parish that will provide us with a chaplain, opportunities for service, and will help us look for our first residence. There are a number of pieces to the puzzle that led to pursuing this next initiative, but I especially want to thank our various alumni who spent the time discerning with us and openly sharing their insights.

Current Opportunities

We bade farewell to the lovely Joshua and Megan Madden who spent this past year working with, and witnessing to, our students in Krakow. The uncertainties that came with CoVID-19 led to their resignation this summer. We are tremendously grateful for their time on mission and pray for the fruits of Joshua’s continued teaching career. 

This brings the exciting new opportunity to welcome a new couple to take over as on-site directors for our apostolate in Krakow. If you know of anyone who might be a great fit, please direct them HERE.

Your Support Needed

We need your help- not only to keep this beautiful mission alive, but blazing to set the world on fire. If God is calling you to give generously: welcome to the team! 

Have you considered making the John Paul II Project part of your tithing?

GIVE HERE!

Let’s keep moving forward together on this mission.

St. John Paul II, pray for us!
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Corinne MacDonald
Co-Founder | Executive Director
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the black madonna

8/26/2020

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All our students and pilgrims visit her. She's Poland's queen. She's the Mother of God, and our Mother.

If you are unfamiliar with "Our Lady of Częstochowa", suffice it to say here that she is to Poland as "Our Lady of Guadalupe" is to Mexico. 

Here's what Pope John Paul II said to the young people at
Częstochowa gathered at World Youth Day 1991. His words ring powerfully true for our youth today.

Happy Feast Day!
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"Young friends!

Now is the moment to say goodbye. We part under the maternal gaze of the Black Madonna, the Virgin of Jasna Góra, whom we look at today with the eyes of faith in the glory of the Assumption.

In it, human nature has reached its peak. She is only surpassed by the perfection of the Son, the Incarnate Word. Mary appears to us today as a model of life growing towards full maturity.

"Maturity": this is the task of the young person. In the biological sphere, stagnation and lack of development are signs of the beginning of old age.

The same law applies to the spiritual life. There is only one difference: the spirit knows no biological limits to growth. This is why it may not be aging.

Dear girls and boys, this is the task that Our Lady leaves you: grow as persons, develop talents proper to the body and soul, grow as Christians in the pursuit of holiness ; grow as witnesses of Christ who is "the light of the world" ( Joel 8:12 ).

Mary also shows you the way of this development: the way that is Christ . It is a steep, narrow and difficult road. However, for those who wish to go further according to the indications of the Gospel, it is the path that leads to true joy.

Dear young friends, "You have received a spirit of adoption as sons" ( Rom . 8:15 ). Do not waste this wonderful heritage! Be demanding of the world around you, but most of all, be demanding of yourself. You are sons of God: be proud of it!

Do not fall into mediocrity, do not succumb to the dictates of changing fashions, which impose a lifestyle inconsistent with Christian ideals, do not let yourselves be deceived by the delusions of consumerism. Christ calls you to do great things. Don't disappoint Him, because that would be a disappointment for you.

With the power that Christ gives you, tell all people that God wants to make everyone his son . May your testimony be the leaven of the new world that every human being desires: a truly just, united and fraternal world.

On this path, may the Mother of God and people, Lady of Jasna Góra, accompany you."

- Pope Saint John Paul II's parting words to the young people, 
World Youth Day, 1991, Częstochowa, Poland.
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We called in Prayer Support

7/17/2020

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One project was crystal clear: it was time to call in prayer support. With the help of our summer communications intern and 2019 study abroad alum, Cameron, (and our kids), we sent over 100 letters to religious orders asking them to spiritually adopt the JP2 Project.
​That includes prayers for YOU!  
We had a little help :)
Some responses from prayer warriors
Encouraging responses have flowed in from Carmelites to Visitation Sisters pledging their prayers for us. 

“We will be very happy to be your prayer warriors – that’s what we are called to do as contemplative nuns. Your apostolate, as you know, is something very close to the heart of our Religious Family of the Incarnate Word – working to bring the truth of the Gospel and Love and Truth Himself to the world especially to our young people. What a beautiful thing for our future generation to know about love and truth – the only thing necessary”.
- From the Brooklyn contemplative branch of SSVM, an awesome community born under the pontificate of our patron.


From July 27-29th, Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Alabama said the entire community would offer up all their prayer and works completely for the JP2 Project Family. Perhaps there is a fine line between presumption and faith, but I’m certainly expecting big graces!

It is incredibly important to put in great human effort in order to make great progress with any endeavor. However, as Jean-Baptiste Chautard in his spiritual masterpiece The Soul of the Apostolate, makes abundantly clear, “God wills that the life-principle of our work be Christ Himself” and “the active life should be nothing but an overflow from the interior life.” And so in the apostolate that is the John Paul II Project, we need more than anything to depend on God's grace.

So let us both, you and I, increase our interior life in Christ Jesus, our God, so we can receive His abundance of grace and do His work in building the “Civilization of Love and Truth”!

-Joe MacDonald
Co-Founder | Director of Operations and Development

PS Here are the two latest on the JP2 Project Team  :)
Joan Allen, June 17th
Charles MacDonald, July 2nd
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WHERE ARE YOU IN THE DARKNESS?

6/11/2020

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Pandemic. Fear. Racism. Riots. Violence. Suicide. Depression.
Life. Trust. Dignity. Peacemakers. Healing. Resurrection. Joy.

Some of us may be suffering greatly from the current circumstances or different painful trials that befall us. Some of us may be frustrated by the present, finding reason to cast blame and complain.

Christ tells us, “I will make all things new” (Rev 21: 5). The reality is that He invites us to transform this present world into a civilization of love and truth.
​God is entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, 
of working with Him in the building of the civilization of love.”
- Pope Saint John Paul II, World Youth Day, Toronto, 2002.
PictureLittle children venerating JP2's relic on our 2018 US Tour
How many of us are seeing a path to Christ? How many of us are actively spreading the light of Christ? 

John Paul II has spoken vastly on upholding and defending the dignity of the human person, condemning violence and calling Christians to become peacemakers. Chances are high that you’ll find these themes in any given homily, letter to young people, or address to government leaders.
​​


Though at the foundation and at the forefront of his teachings, you’ll hear John Paul II direct us to the Gospel message and exhort us to intimacy with Jesus. His words to little children, and his words to young people, in the following two addresses, strike me as most apt for us during these times.  
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​Corpus Christi Homily for Little Children receiving their First Holy Communion. June 14, 1979

 Message to Young People for the 17th World Youth Day in Toronto 2002.


Save to kindle, or download and print. Set aside some quiet time.
​
I highly recommend that in preparation for Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which we celebrate on Sunday, all- even our scholars and elders- meditate on that homily for children.
 
If you are finding yourself in constant discussion about the challenges and horrors of our present age, I recommend that message to young people.

We’ve been condemning and analyzing the darkness, with reason. Now, let us lift our gaze and be the light of Christ. Let us not undervalue, rather let us unleash, the power of the presence of Christ. Let us build the civilization of love and truth.

Please keep us in your prayers, as you are in ours. 
​

-Corinne MacDonald
Co-Founder | Executive Director

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Sisters Joan and Michaela at Eucharistic Vigil, World Youth Day, Krakow 2016
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Divine Mercy Sunday - 20 years Later

4/17/2020

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Picture(The ceremony of April 30, 2000)
Have you heard it too many times? Are you numb to God’s Mercy? 
What if you give Jesus a serious chance tomorrow, on Divine Mercy Sunday?

Saint John Paul II is widely known for his contribution to the fall of communism, the New Evangelization, his renown Theology of the Body. But the day he instituted "Divine Mercy Sunday" and canonized St. Faustina Kowalska 20 years ago, Pope John Paul II was widely reported as saying: 

​"This is the happiest day of my life!" 

Encountering Jesus' Mercy is a cornerstone of every JP2 Project program. Next to our residence in Krakow is the epicenter of Merciful Love:  the Divine Mercy Shrine, where Jesus appeared to Sister Faustina.

Marlena shares her powerful experience there from the Young Adult’s TOB Pilgrimage.

PictureMarlena (2nd from left) on the Tatra Mountain hike.
"Partaking in the JP2 Project’s “Young Adults TOB” pilgrimage was an incredible experience.  To have been able to walk in the footsteps of St. John Paul II, learn about Theology of the Body as well as learn of Poland’s history from Dr. Houde and Father Zack was so enriching and provided a full picture of an incredible man who truly emulated Christ.  


​On the pilgrimage, I experienced a deeper love and more intimate relationship with Jesus and our Mother Mary as well as peace and clarity. Before going to Poland, I knew Jesus was always with me, but envisioned Him like a lifeguard; watching over us all but from a little bit of a distance.  While at the Divine Mercy Shrine, that vision changed.

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 A sister of the Our Lady of Mercy congregation retold a story from St. Faustina’s diary. At the end, she mentioned we were standing where Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in order to experience for Himself all the greatness she was accomplishing.  It really struck a chord in me as I had recently read that excerpt before going to Kraków and had been deeply touched. As we walked out of the building, the wind picked up and I felt a surge of peace like I was being enveloped in a big hug. Though my feet were firmly planted on the ground, I felt for a moment that I was not on Earth but somewhere else with Jesus. When the moment passed, I thought maybe I was just really excited and had imagined the moment because Jesus can’t come that close with so many to take care of and love.  

Shortly after, each of us chose (at random) a slip of paper containing different excerpts from St. Faustina’s diary.  Sister told us the message we chose would be either for us or someone we knew. I turned over my chosen slip and it said,

“I am with you” -Jesus (Diary, 36). 

It was in that moment that I realized what I had experienced earlier was, in fact, Jesus. He is not distantly watching like a lifeguard but walking with and next to me.  This was the first, of three times, He specifically made His Presence known to me during the pilgrimage which changed my life and relationship with Him. 
​

​I am more fully committed now to living a life of “being not afraid and opening the doors wide for Christ” as St. John Paul II said as well as trusting in the constant intercession of our Mother Mary. "
​

- Marlena, 30 years old, Youth Minister from Colorado Springs


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Coronavirus impact update

4/7/2020

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Dear JP2 Project Family,

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support during this time. When the Global Level 4 warning was raised on March 19, the Embassy in Warsaw, Poland told all US citizens temporarily abroad to make arrangements to return home immediately. After finishing their time in Krakow on retreat mode, with extra time for private prayer in the JP2 Sanctuary, on the same campus as the residence, some "family bonding time", intensifying their theology course with our on-site co-director, Dr. Madden, and of course, struggles with impact of the pandemic on life plans, the last students returned home safely on March 29th. 

Personally, I was deeply touched with how everyone worked together during this time. Even with the struggle, the students stayed strong and demonstrated more grace than they realize. It was also very encouraging (and a relief) to have the support of their parents, and working through this together. Then our staff: thank you, Lord.  Witnessing how the Madden family took care of our students during this time was expected but nevertheless impressive. Then the last two students flew back together into Chicago, where our Director of Outreach, Mary Kathryn, was able to give them a warm welcome. Seeing how the spirit of hospitality, so important to our charism in the Project, was extended beyond the Project's "home" in Krakow, was a truly a confirmation of how the Spirit is working. (By the way, this brings me back to all the hospitality our family received from you all when we toured the US with the relic of John Paul II).

Where are we now? While the our young people were still eager to come journey in JP2's footsteps this year, the circumstances make it impossible. We had more people than ever signed up for our summer study abroad that we were considering if we needed to buy more beds in April to furnish the rooms before they arrived. As you know, most all universities now have cancelled study abroad for the summer- and some for the year- including those schools from where our students were coming.

Students: I know you are crushed, but keep your trust in Jesus and his plan for you. We are looking forward to having many of you in Poland next year!

We can't run programs in Poland this year. What are we doing? Well, for the most part, a lot of the same behind-the-scenes work as always. This is the time when those of us not in Krakow should be doing all the planning and preparations for the next year. We're hoping that this quiet time will give us the opportunity to spring forward for the future. We have a few little surprises this year as well, but you'll have to stay tuned to hear about them. :)

Please continue to support this mission during this time. If we are going to continue with these transformative programs after the pandemic settles, we need your support now! We cannot stop building the civilization of love and truth, in a culture plagued with isolation, despair, vice, darkness, confusion on the dignity of the human person, and rejecting God who brings freedom and life!

This comes with prayers for you, our JP2 Project family!

God bless you,
Corinne MacDonald
​Co-Founder and Executive Director



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coronavirus effects & response

3/16/2020

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Dear JP2 Project Family,

You may be wondering how the coronavirus is affecting our students or programs this year. The situation has shed light on the peace that comes from trusting in the Lord, and the ways in which God blesses this mission. We see:

  1. The  advantage  that our small program has over a large one to ensure safety of our students and staff.
  2. Another reason Poland is awesome.  They have one of the lowest numbers of reported cases of the countries within the EU. 
  3. What a blessing it is to receive professional risk management consulting [pro-bono].
  4. What a blessing it is to belong to the Forum of Education Abroad, especially for handling a situation of this caliber with regards to higher education.
  5. How excited our students and pilgrims are to participate this year and how they are not moved by fear!
  6. Most institutions are calling shots as events unfold, and so are we. Like our peer institutions, we are hopeful for programming in 2020, and time will tell.
  7. How important it is to use facts and reason, over fear and naivety in situations like this.

Below is a more detailed description of how exactly we are handling the situation, current status of our programs this year, and the resources we have in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

1. Safety taken seriously. We are fortunate to receive professional risk management consulting from the inception of the Project's creation, from a global specialist (who is Catholic and supports the Project with this pro-bono service).  We've had protocols in place - and continue to adapt them - to ensure the safety of our current staff and students abroad. Our professional support is a great help in assessing the developing situation and to carry forward  with clarity.

2. We don’t fly solo. Our membership within the FORUM of Education Abroad has proven to be critical when it comes to developing and operating our study abroad programs according to standards of best practice in the field. The FORUM has provided us with excellent resources and insights into directives and peer decisions regarding implications of events surrounding coronavirus. It’s been extremely helpful to plug into their exclusive webinars and connect with expert peers in the field.

We recommend reading the letter the Forum issued to the CDC regarding study abroad recommendations and operating to serve students’ actual best interests.


3. Our current cohort is safe. The safety of our current students and staff abroad is our top concern, followed by their academic progress. Poland fortunately is one of the safest places to be in Europe right now. The on-site directors, Josh and Megan Madden, who live with their four children (ages 0-7), feel very safe not only in Poland, but also in our private residence hall. The “family” approach to community life is as important as ever, as the students have followed the emotionally packed media coverage. The university in Krakow has closed the buildings for 2 weeks as a preventative measure. Students are able to continue studies and look forward to resuming classes next to the Royal Castle soon!

4. Our small and private advantage: We are fortunate to have a small program that heavily focuses on clear and open communication, as in a healthy family. On a practical level, the size and nature of our program puts us at an advantage to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students. One example is that we are able to manage the independent travel of students quite easily because of our policy of formally submitting requests for weekend trips for approval. Same for guests coming to the dorm. When the coronavirus outbreak happened, there was no need to freak out, nor did we need to implement a new system. It was simply a matter of specifying criteria based on current data for approving travel or visitors (i.e. no trips or visitors from Italy this semester).

5. Student Feedback for Upcoming Programs. Before making any rash decisions about cancelling or keeping our upcoming programs for 2020, in the spirit of our patron, we consulted with those whom it affects. On March 12th, we submitted a survey to all of our program applicants to gauge their feedback. The overwhelming response has been that students and pilgrims very much still hope to and plan on attending their program this year. Regarding study abroad, we’ve also begun reaching out to specific universities to ask whether or not they plan on running or cancelling their Summer or Fall programs. While few have already suspended all programming, the majority of schools are currently hoping to move forward with future programs in 2020. 

6. Year of John Paul II. If the situation clears up soon, will run our programs for 2020. There will need to be no European travel bans at the time of our program dates, and be safe and advisable to travel. As everyone in the field has said, we have no crystal ball to tell the future. This is why we are very flexible for our deposits and payment deadlines this year, and ensuring that the travel insurances work in students’ favor. If the circumstances prohibit programming, then we certainly look forward to having these students and pilgrims in Poland next year, and offering some way for everyone to celebrate the Year of John Paul II in 2020.

7. Jesus, We Trust in You. The Lord has made it loud and clear that He wants this mission to continue. We are dedicated to forming young people as the builders of a civilization of love and truth, in the teachings and example of John Paul II-  wherever and however God calls! We are not perturbed by this, rather we trust that even in the worst circumstances, God's great love can be made manifest. Sometimes bad things turn into great happenings, as we see in salvation history: from the crucifixion to resurrection!

Additional Resources
In addition to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and John’s Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, here are some links to other pertinent resources:
  1. Our risk management consultant
  2. FORUM on Education Abroad
  3. Great Visual Graphic on Actual Coronavirus Impact
  4. NAFSA: Association of International Educators- Coronavirus Resources
  5. Next Sunday’s Mass Readings, which call us to take faith in the Lord who calls us to be children of light.

Thank you for your prayers and dedication to this beautiful mission!

God bless you,
Joe & Corinne MacDonald
Co-Founders of the John Paul II Project

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It’s Not Enough to Know: Testimony

3/6/2020

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In the JP2 Project, students don’t just hear about the truth, about holiness, about how life is meant to be lived. They are immersed in a deeply transformative environment, where they can actually live out their call to greatness! To become builders of a civilization of love and truth today, it’s not enough to know. The tide is much too forceful in the opposite direction. These young people have got to taste greatness, experience it over time and with others, know what it is like from within.

Only with the power of the Holy Spirit and
your collaboration, is this possible. 
​

Hear from Bernadette, the journalism student responsible for why our Instagram posts were so good last Fall:
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" I had a weird feeling for a long time, what some would call "a calling" but I would call "a tugging",  that I had to go back to Poland to finish college. The feeling came when I visited the Divine Mercy shrine during my spring break trip in March and looked out at the JP2 Center from the tower and the second time the day after Easter. I was never as scared in my life as I was in that moment when I knew that God wanted something from me, something I couldn’t explain until I came here.

I’ve been to Poland plenty of times before, as my parents were both born in this country and most of my immediate family still lives here. But this time was different. It wasn’t just a trip to visit family. This was an opportunity of a lifetime to discover and further from the roots that have been with me all my life. Poland has such a deep cultural history.

The Polish people have suffered greatly, something anyone can relate to. The art, architecture, culinary practices, the church, poetry, philosophy and theology reflect this tension and release from suffering. Out of the rough waves of history, a pearl was forming. Here, I learned so much about what makes man human. I studied John Paul’s Theology of the Body and met people from all over the world. I had late night conversations about what the good life means and I spent time with some of the most incredible people.
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At the JP2 Project, I always felt at home. Our program directors are great examples and mentors to us: Dr. Madden brings his broad intellect and humor to dinner discussions, Megan would care for her newborn while telling us something fascinating about what she learned that day, and together they show us what good spouses and parents are. Their kids sometimes would run around in the common area and bring life to the space, reminding us of what it meant to be a kid again. The other students were amazing and each of us brought our unique personalities (and our quirks too!) and built a community together that truly cared for each other and aimed toward everyone wanting the best experience here in Poland for each other. We were also obsessed with playing Monopoly and I can’t believe I finally found a group of people who were willing to FINISH A GAME not once, but many many times.

During my time here, I felt as if I was cut wide open and renewed from within. I fell in love with reading again. I fell in love with photography again. I fell in love with so many things over and over again that had become numb and mundane over the course of time. There’s so much life and beauty in Krakow. It washed over me and gave me new eyes into knowing more about who I am and who I was meant to be. I still don’t know why I felt tugged to come here but I do know that it was good, and if it’s good then that means there’s no way God wouldn’t have wanted it.

I don’t know the effects that will come from being here; but I know that I prayed more during my time here, I loved others more, I trusted more, and I’m a
 
better person now than I was four months ago. There is something absolutely beautiful about Poland and it’s not just a place for the Polish people — it’s a place that has so much to give to people from all over the world. "

— Bernadette Berdychowski, Kings College, NYC

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To warsaw & back again: a pilgrim's tale

12/6/2019

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Student Leadership in Poland's Capital

Just recently, we took a weekend pilgrimage to Warsaw. We invited another group of American students studying in Rome to join us. With growth in leadership being a theme of the John Paul II Project study abroad programs, we had the students lead parts of the pilgrimage and teach the group about different sites we were touring. 

One of our students this semester, Bernadette, is an aspiring journalist and works as our social media intern. She is Polish-American with family in Warsaw and couldn’t wait to go on this pilgrimage and share her favorite city with us. She lead the main part of our tour, giving detailed historical information mixed in with some fun personal facts like what church her grandparents were married in! 
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Jacob, Peter, and Anna, our other American students who were less familiar with the city, had presented on specific sites they had researched.

Mixed in with the history, we had silence and reflections on homilies JP2 gave in various places. The most powerful was in Victory Square where JP2 called down the Holy Spirit on Poland. The people who actually witnessed this event say they truly could feel the Holy Spirit coming. When we read that homily out loud, standing in that very same square, we were all left in awe and silence as we felt the power of his words even to this day. From what I hear, the other JP2 Project alumni reading this must be reminiscing, “yes, I remember that happened to us too.''

POLISH PEOPLE AND CULTURE

The day of our long tour was ice cold and I found myself having to focus most on keeping my new baby warm, but I didn’t have to worry about the students: they had it covered and they loved leading, presenting, and receiving what Warsaw has to offer. In the evening we all dispersed among Polish host families who warmly welcomed us with traditional food, music, song, and stories of the old times in Poland. It was enlightening and refreshing to immerse ourselves more fully into the culture and learn more of the trials Poland has faced in the past on a more personal level.

IN OUR LADY’S HEART: FROM KOLBE TO CZĘSTOCHOWA ​

On Sunday, the last day of our pilgrimage, we went to where St. Maximillian Kolbe settled and worked. There is a special adoration chapel that we were all quite eager to visit. The chapel has a monstrance shaped like Our Lady, with the Host on her heart. It is considered one of the “Crowns of Mary” scattered throughout the world in places of suffering by a particular artist. Story has it that after this monstrance was made they found writings by St. Maximillian Kolbe about having a place like this, declaring it a chapel for people to come, kneel down, leave all their worries and petitions there and let Mary “take care of their business.” We couldn’t wait to spend time there in prayer, and to offer all our petitions to Mary. I felt this emphasis very fitting, knowing that just a semester ago the founders had consecrated The John Paul II Project to Our Lady in this very place. Just as John Paul was close to Mary’s Heart, so have we given her this project, along with our students. 
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We concluded the trip by visiting Jasna Gora, the place of the shrine of Our Lady of Czestechowa. Our time there felt so rapid, where hours felt like minutes. All felt drawn to participate in the pilgrim tradition of circling the altar of the Miraculous Image on one’s knees.Even my seven year old daughter, Felicity, felt compelled to share in this experience, insisting she wanted to do it with me. It was the perfect conclusion to our trip.

Back at the Sanctuary, just a few days later, I finished a 54 day rosary novena I had been praying for the Project and our student’s intentions, which had been written out and placed in an envelope before an icon of Our Lady in my living room. I think it’s safe to say Our Lady is close.
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-Megan Madden
Krakow Program Director
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    Past POSTS

    26. Back in Action
    25. The Black Madonna
    24. We called in Prayer Support
    23. Where are you in the darkness?
    22. Divine Mercy Sunday- 20 Years Later
    21. Coronavirus Impact Update
    ​20. Coronavirus Effects & Response
    19. It's Not Enough to Know- Testimony
    18. To Warsaw & Back Again- A Pilgrim's Tale
    17. New Family on Board- Launching Fall 2019
    ​16. Atheist Testimony
    15. Summer Success
    14. My Time Abroad, by Justin Read
    13. Officially Consecrated, in Mary's City
    12. Top 10 Semester Highlights of Spring 2019
    11. Looking Forward in May
    10. Institutions & Individuals, and You?
    9. We Need Your Help to Get Some Wheels
    8. Merry Christmas with a Testimony
    7. Not Because of the Turkey, but seriously
    6. Mercy Made Real on the US Tour
    5. "This is Awesome. Can I do Something?"
    4. Carrying the Torch Back to the USA
    3. First Program: Mission Accomplished!
    2. Springtime is beginning to dawn
    1. Build for the Builders

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