CARDINAL DZIWISZ BAPTISED THE SIXTEENTH CHILD OF THE NELCÓW FAMILY
Catholic News Agency
Zuzanna Maria – the sixteenth child in the Nelców family from Przeciszów was baptized on 17 March this year by cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz. In the church of Birth of St. John the Baptist in Przeciszów, there were parents and family of the baptized girl, as well as the Polish president Andrzej Duda and the vice-prime minister Beata Szydło.
In the homily cardinal Dziwisz emphasized that the presence of the state head at the ceremony of the Nelców family, bringing up sixteen children, is ‘a significant gesture which can be understood as a sign of care about the family’. – Particular circumstances of today’s baptism are encouragement for reflection on our common responsibility for the fate and good of Polish family – said cardinal Dziwisz. As he evaluated, a lot had already been done in the recent time when thinking about families. He called the program ‘Family 500+’ ‘A real blessing’, especially for families with many children and for all families bringing up children and struggling with everyday difficulties. He reminded that the society had accepted the program with great approval. According to him, the Program 500+ is a particular expression of solidarity of the whole society for whom children are and should be the greatest treasure and hope. – We should support efforts of those who are responsible for the good common for the nation and country, aiming at the good of the family, education of children and the youth, care for the ill, the disabled and the elderly – the senior metropolitan of Cracow said encouragingly. – This is the best investment as this is investment into the man – he emphasized.
At the end cardinal Dziwisz entrusted God the Nelców family and all families, ‘so that they would be communities of life and love, communities of forgiveness, unity and peace’. He was praying for it through intercession of St. John Paul II – the Pope of Families.
Grażyna and Sławomir Nelcowie are parents of sixteen children. In 2017 the Nelców family met with the Presidential couple on the occasion of the International Day of Child. Their visit in Przeciszów was realization of an invitation to the Presidential Palace which the family had received from the Polish president Andrzej Duda during the ceremonies of Harvest Festival at Jasna Góra in 2016.
Translated by Aneta Amrozik
Niedziela 12/2018 (25 III 2018)