This summer, young adults from around the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will be attending a pilgrimage to Poland led by Pauline Father Timothy Tarnacki, director of the Office for Ministry with Young Adults (OMYA).
The pilgrimage is titled “We Want God,” which is a popular Polish song that was sung after Pope John Paul II gave a homily during his first trip back to Poland in 1979 after his election as pope.
Singing lyrics that included, “We want God in our Polish books. We want God in our Polish schools,” the Polish people sang of their desire to end Communism and for God to be integrated into all aspects of their lives.
“Throughout history, (Poland has been) between Germany and Russia … it was always in the middle, and yet the Polish faith has always been strong,” said Father Tarnacki. “The country has changed so much and the country has endured so much and I think that there is a spiritual lesson in that as well. So I think that a desire to want God and this integration of faith in every young adult who goes on this trip, I hope that will be one of the fruits of this trip.”
He is hoping that the young adults on the pilgrimage will also want to have God integrated into all aspects of their lives.
The Polish people’s response to Pope John Paul’s words points to “a beautiful desire, especially in many young adults, that they desire a closer connection with God,” Father Tarnacki said. “This pilgrimage is about looking at the different hardships that the Polish people went through … and then seeing how John Paul II was this prophetic voice that allowed them to respond to God’s word.”
The pilgrimage will proceed at a quick pace since it is geared for young adults ages 18-39.
“Given my experience of working with young adults, I tailored the itinerary to a lot of things that might be of interest to young adults,” Father Tarnacki said. “The pace is a little bit intense, but … I wouldn’t aim to do as much if it wasn’t with young adults.”
Over the course of nine nights, the pilgrims will travel to four cities including Gdansk, Warsaw, Czestochowa, and Krakow, where they will follow in the footsteps of great saints including St. John Paul II, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. Faustina Kowalska.
More saints will be discussed, even if the pilgrims cannot physically visit their locations, to allow the young adults to be inspired by these saints that lived their lives with heroic virtue.
“This pilgrimage will be like a retreat in a spiritual sense as well,” said Father Tarnacki.
The pilgrims will also visit the Shrine of the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa, which is special for Father Tarnacki since the shrine is the motherhouse of the Pauline Fathers’ community and he will have the opportunity to celebrate Mass twice by the image of Our Lady.
He is most excited, he said, “to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa. There is something about that shrine and about the icon of Our Lady that is so captivating and so transformative.”
Father Tarnacki has had this trip on his mind for a few years now, feeling “inspired and called by the Lord” to travel to Poland. “I just had this conviction that because of my experiences and because of my background that I can facilitate a spiritually fruitful trip, he said.
The priest hopes that many young adults end the pilgrimage with deeper friendships and a deeper spirituality.
“There is an amazing way that God works on a pilgrimage,” Father Tarnacki said. “It is not a trip, it is something deeper. It is really about encountering God on the way, as we have so many examples in the Gospels. The people that encountered Jesus on the way, many times they were transformed and that is the idea of being on a pilgrimage.”
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Registration for this pilgrimage is closed. If you are still interested in attending, you may join the waitlist in the event that a registered participant is no longer able to attend. To be added to the waitlist, please email Fr. Timothy at fr.ttarnacki@archphila.org or for more information on the pilgrimage visit here.
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