In Jan Paweł II progymnasium a monument to the patron was erected

Today in Jan Paweł II progymnasiumis taking place the ceremony, that is devoted to the opening and consecrating a monument to the patron of the educational centre – saint Jan Paweł II. ‘Together we honored in a special way the great Pole, who is respected and beloved by every person – saint Jan Paweł II’, said the headmaster of the progymnasium Janina Wysocka.

The monument is a work of sculptors and a married couple – Irena and Jerzy Piechniki from Opole. It is made of bronze. This is the first open-air monument of Jan Paweł II in Vilnius.

The monument was built on the initiative of the National Secretariat of Mine and Energy Workers Union of the Independent Self-governing Trade Union ‘Solidarity’ (pl. Sekretariat Górnictwa i Energetyki NSZZ „Solidarność”), Śląsko-Dąbrowski Region of the ISTU ‘Solidarity’ and National Section of Coal Mining of the ISTU ‘Solidarity’. The ceremony of opening the monument was held by the chairmen of The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (pl. Akcja Wyborcza Polaków na Litwie, lit. Lietuvos lenkų rinkimų akcija) : Waldemar Tomaszewski i Kazimierz Grajcarek and the chairman of the National Secretariat of Mine and Energy Workers Union of the ISTU ‘Solidarity’.

‘For this great gift of memory and love I would like to thank with undisguised excitement the sponsors of the monument, our faithful and longstanding friends. We are immensely grateful to everyone, who supported the idea’, said the headmaster of the Jan Paweł II progymnasium Janina Wysocka.

The monument was consecrated by bishop Arūnas Poniškaitis, who celebrated the holy mass together with priests from Wileńszczyzna and Poland.

‘I hope that under the intercession of Patron, who is always with us, your school will be home, in which the new generation will be growing and forming, who will have hearts open for truths, good, happiness, God and human’, pointed in his homily bishop Poniškaitis.

After consecration of the monument the delegation of politicians, representatives of state institutions, social and educational organizations put flowers at its button.

The crowning of the ceremony was a concert, where the students of the progymnasium were performing and together sang ‘Barki’ – Pope favourite song.

Source: http://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/w-progimnazjum-jana-pawla-ii-odslonieto-pomnik-patrona/

Tłumaczenie by Diana Doniczenko w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Diana Doniczenko within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.