Thursday, February 25, 2021
Around the Diocese
Southern Cross, Page 3
all adults confessed and received
communion. I thanked God for
this success.
After some months, when I vis
ited the orphans, they always
talked about our trip and the
catechism classes and the fun
we had. One week without their
phones made them realize that
life goes on. And allows for form
ing relationships with people and
not necessarily when spending
hours a day in cyber reality. After
two days, they forgot they ever
owned phones and it was beauti
ful to watch.
I give thanks to God for this
great opportunity to be able to be
there with those kids, to be able
to minister to them, to have such
friends in the U.S.A. who trusted
me with their money and to work
with such a great group of people
at the orphanage.
Father Dawid Kwiatkowski a Priest of
the Diocese of Savannah
IS ON LOAN TO
the Diocese of Kielce, Poland.
Above: The group enjoys the view of The Tatry Mountains, Morskie Oko (the Eye of the Sea). One of the most
beautiful parts of the Tatry Mountains. Right: Father Kwiatkowski took a selfie while taking a rest as the
group climbed Nosal Mountain (3,956 feet) located near the town of Zakopane in the Carpathian Mountains.
Photographs by Father Dawid Kwiatkowski.
The principal agreed to all con
ditions, and I offered the money I
had received from Augusta, GA.
After receiving permission from
my pastor, we chose a place, got
some more money to cover some
other possible expenses, and
left for the Tatry Mountains in
August of 2020.
I also managed to take two of
my nephews with me because I
wanted them to see how other
kids have it, especially when liv
ing in the orphanage. I thought
it would be a good life lesson for
them, and it was.
I personally wanted this trip to
be successful, and success for me
meant that all of the participants
would go to confession by the end
of the trip/retreat.
On the first day, I celebrated
Mass in our refectory, and only
two people came to communion;
they were my two nephews. That
evening one little girl from the
orphanage came up to me outside
when we were playing ball and
asked if she could go to confession,
after her eight more followed. By
the end of the week at our last
Mass of the retreat, all kids and
By Father Dawid Kwiatkowski
In August of 2020 I took 35
orphans and 4 adult employees
of an orphanage, including the
principal, on a retreat in Poland’s
Tatry mountains.
It all started when after work
ing as a chaplain for the orphan
age, I realized that I wanted the
children to experience more of
our Catholic religion, develop a
deeper relationship with their
priest and have a trip to a beau
tiful place.
At the same time, when I was
thinking of that one family from
the Diocese of Savannah who
donated $3,500 to me, asking to
use them on the orphans. I imme
diately knew what I wanted to do.
I approached the orphanage’s
principal and proposed we would
organize a week-long trip to the
mountains that would include
a daily Mass and studying
Catechism in the evenings. The
rest of the time would be used to
hang out, climb the mountains,
go to the river, ride bikes, play
games and have fun together. I
also asked that cell phones would
be taken away from the kids and
given to them only 15 minutes a
day. k
This is “Daily Mass with the group at the house were we stayed,”
said Father Kwiatkowski.
