Religious sisters serving victims of the war in Ukraine get a helping hand from the Knights
By Mateusz Parkasiewicz
9/26/2024
Source
Christ told his disciples, “Unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3). This call to practice trust and maintain an open heart can be a challenge for people suffering in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — who is less trusting of the world than victims of an unjust war?
Religious sisters understand that, in order to help these people regain faith in mankind, they must be like children themselves, fully trusting in God’s help. Supported by the Knights of Columbus Ukraine Solidarity Fund, numerous congregations of sisters in Poland and Ukraine have set out to serve victims of the war with childlike hearts.
Among them are the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Financial assistance from the Knights allowed the sisters to improve a day care center in Kraków, Poland, where they care for about 20 preschool- and school-aged children from Ukraine.
The children take language classes to facilitate their studies in Polish schools, but also have plenty of opportunities to play on the center’s sports field, playground and climbing wall. Thanks to the Knights’ donation, meals, educational materials and team-building trips for the little ones have also been made possible.
Expressing gratitude for the support, Sister Anna Pietrasik, visitator of the congregation, did not hide her emotion. “On behalf of the congregation and the Ukrainian children, we thank you for this valuable assistance offered by the Knights of Columbus,” she said. “It contributes to the development and education of children who are deprived of their own living environments and are adapting to other conditions.”
In Stryi, Ukraine, the Sisters of St. Joseph used a donation from the Knights to install heat pipes, heaters and dryers in their shelter for the poor. The center has become “a place of peace and security” for many refugees, said Sister Mateusza Ciszewska. And the benefits of the donation are not only material.
“All the communities that want to help — their tremendous support — [gives us] the feeling that we are in this together. There is great strength in such unity,” Sister Mateusza said. “We can’t defend ourselves against politics and whatever the great of this world come up with, but we can lean on each particular person. That’s what Christ did. I think that’s what has the greatest value.”
Sister Bernadeta Węgłowska of the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters recalls how refugees whom the sisters are sheltering in Lviv reacted to a delivery of food boxes from the Knights. The families received more than 70 K of C care packages last Christmas.
“Each family, when I handed them a package, was touched to receive such concrete and such abundant help,” she said. “Emotion, admiration and joy — it was all mixed in them. It was all on their faces. Every single time. These people really knew how to accept a gift.”
Sister Bernadeta stressed the urgency of the continued need to help the people of Ukraine.
“For every new day of life, we thank God, because in our situation every day is uncertain. This misfortune that the war brings is still going on, is still real,” she said. “People are tired, more and more of them are losing possessions, loved ones, the achievements of their entire lives.”
All the sisters promise to remember the Knights and other donors in their prayers and express their deepest gratitude.
“I assure you of our daily prayers for these big-hearted people,” said Sister Mateusza.
To learn more about our work in Ukraine and to support those efforts, visit kofc.org/ukraine.
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MATEUSZ PARKASIEWICZ writes from Kraków, Poland.