A letter from Regnum Christi members in Poland who are mobilizing to meet the needs of people in Ukraine, and refugees who have fled to Poland
Thy Kingdom Come!
Dearest Regnum Christi family,
We are really moved by the voices coming from all the parts of the World, from various Regnum Christi communities, about your willingness to provide help and support to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
Rest assured that in Polish society, there is full mobilization to address all kinds of needs of people fighting for their freedom in Ukraine and of refugees, mainly women, and children, fleeing from their fatherland in the face of the military invasion. At the moment of writing this message, after five days of war, Poland has received over 400 hundred thousand refugees providing them with shelter, homes, food, clothing, etc. It feels like every single community, private or public organization, or company is involved in the collection of goods and money, transportation, and provision of volunteers. To the extent that occasionally the organizers need to ask people to stop bringing more goods as there’s not enough space to store them. Polish humanitarian aid is well-coordinated and effective.
We are extremely grateful for all the questions coming from you about the ways to provide help to our Ukrainian neighbors. Given the above, and also thinking about the sustainability of the support – let’s not make a mistake of assuming that those needs would disappear soon – we think that there are two most effective ways of providing support from the distance:
- Fasting and prayer for peace – looking at the example of our archdiocese in which all the movements organize themselves to make sure that each day there is at least a hundred people fasting and praying in the intention of peace in Ukraine, we would like to ask you to join that spiritual effort and beg our Good Lord, the Prince of Peace to grant peace and freedom to the Ukrainian nation and Europe.
- Money collection – working locally, we have a good overview of various organizations providing help in various fields. We have good working cooperation with Polish Caritas and other humanitarian and charity organizations. If you decide to collect and send funds for that cause, we will transfer them fully to those organizations depending on the current situation and most burning needs. You can find the link to make a donation through Catholic World Mission here.
Thank you for all your prayers and support.
On behalf of the Polish Regnum Christi community,
In Christ,
Fr. Mariusz Kiełbasa, LC, and Grzegorz Cempla