Good is stronger
Piotr Chmielinski
– Fears about the future of the Church are vain. She cannot be destroyed in her deepest sacramental reality’, said Archbishop Henryk Hoser, SAC, during his ingress to the office in the Warsaw-Praga cathedral on 28 June.
Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk and the Metropolitan of Gdansk Archbishop Slawoj Leszek Glodz gave the newly appointed hierarch the sign of bishop’s authority, i.e. crosier. Then Archbishop Hoser received the ‘homagium’, a sign of honour and obedience, paid by representatives of clergy, orders, families and the world of labour in the diocese as well as the members of the local authorities and MPs that participated in the ingress. The liturgy of the Eucharist was that of the feast of the Most Blessed Virgin Victorious, the patroness of the Diocese of Warsaw-Praga. It was presided over by Archbishop Hoser and there were several dozen bishops and over 300 priests, including the Primate of Poland Cardinal Jozef Glemp and Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw. In his homily Archbishop stressed that in spite of the young age the Church in the Diocese of Warsaw-Praga was the heir of several hundred year-old history and of achievements of many generations. ‘For ages Praga has been the earthwork and bastion that defended the capital from the east. We are aware of these people and events of the past; we are aware of the obligations to them’, he said. He also added that although there were various threats they could not make us think that evil was stronger than good. ‘Fears about the future of the Church are vain. Kingdoms fell, empires disappeared, ideologies, systems and regimes passed away and the Church has not only existed in her deep identity but also in her institutional form’, said Archbishop Hoser. At the end of the liturgy he referred to his bishop’s motto ‘Maior est Deus’ (God is bigger). ‘So with courage and confidence let us go towards the future since God comes from the future and the Church is not arriere-garde of humankind’, ended the new Metropolitan of Warsaw-Praga.
"Niedziela" 27/2008