We were lucky to know Him

Fr Ireneusz Skubis

Many environments refer to the teaching of John Paul II. These include the circles that feel deep need to do that and they know that John Paul II left enormous legacy. There are over 50 volumes of official papal speeches in various languages delivered in all parts of the earth since the Holy Father reached the whole world. The material is huge and we will use the works of the great Pole for a long time.
Apart from his official statements there are works of personal character. John Paul II spoke about various problems concerning human life, priesthood as well as ordinary things. Through his works he became Father and Brother of the world. That's why people constantly seek their direct reference to John Paul II.
Speaking about the legacy of the Holy Father one should see certain commercial dimension as well. Many environments want, speaking colloquially, to earn on the Pope. Sometimes we are sad to see that some organisations and newspapers do not show any inner love for the matters that John Paul II loved. However, they try to use various means to use his legacy and they also publish articles written by certain Catholic journalists, commenting on the words of the Holy Father and thus increasing their profits.
'Niedziela' wants to refer to the deepest contents that John Paul II brought to the Church and to man. And its creators and readers have the right to be called the generation of John Paul II, considering that only those who are internally connected with our Pope and his whole teaching can claim the right to belong to his generation. I think that this is the key to the theme.
In our eight-page monthly edition entitled 'Generation' we are going to try to present themes that are important to contemporary people, problems that are behind the covers of newspapers, for example, the great immigration of Poles, moral sexuality, the so-called free partnerships, faithfulness in marriage, divorces that destroy contemporary couples, attitude towards material values, comfort-loving nature, patriotism, vision of Europe that, unfortunately, is becoming pagan and one should fight for the Christian roots of the Old Continent. All these issues will be presented in the light of John Paul II's teaching. Unfortunately, many politicians, including Christian democrats, betray the Good News, do not take the stand of John Paul II into account, use his great name for propaganda, and as far as the core of the problem is concerned, e.g. the attitude towards life, which was the priority of our Pope, they seem to assume enigmatic attitudes.
Therefore, our choice of the title 'Generation' can embrace many issues. This is a title in which all people can look at themselves as in the mirror. In order to keep in touch with our readers we will use some continuum on our web page. We are looking forward to your opinions and proposals through internet chat. We want to have a living organism, pulsing with the teaching of John Paul II. Thanks to that especially young Poles, whom John Paul II convinced - one can read the inscriptions in the Book of Condolences - will be able to use our reflections on the work of John Paul II.
We will base our articles on interviews and councils of those people who were very close to our Holy Father. It will help us to discern his thought. The generation of John Paul II can neither vanish nor die. We are in the extremely lucky situation: we are people who knew John Paul II personally, who listened to his speeches. The world of values John Paul II presented is the world included in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the work of new evangelisation.

"Pokolenie" 1/2007

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl