From November 16 to 23, 2025, an Interprovincial Retreat took place in Poland at the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity in Krakow, led by Father José Antonio González P. CM, Director General. Forty-one Sisters from three Polish Provinces participated, as well as Sister Anna Wojciechowska, Visitor of the Chełmno-Poznań Province, and Sister Agnieszka Szerewicz, Visitor of the Warsaw Province.
The main theme of the retreat was BELONGING, and its essential content can be summed up in the question: where is the foundation of our heart; on what solid rock is our life based and, consequently, TO WHOM DO WE BELONG. Father spoke about the various dimensions of belonging to the Daughters of Charity. He invited us to deepen our reflection, ask ourselves questions, and give courageous answers.
As Daughters of Charity, we belong to Jesus Christ. This belonging inspires gratitude and, at the same time, means entering onto the path of the Cross, which is a requirement of total love. We also belong to ourselves. The first gift we receive is the reality of ourselves. We belong to ourselves as a divine gift, which we are through the thousand details that make up our being. Through her vocation, a Daughter of Charity belongs to the community and to the poor. A unique space of belonging for the Daughters of Charity is prayer, the example of which was left to us by Jesus Christ himself and on which St. Vincent placed so much emphasis, as well as hope, which renews us and never runs out. Belonging also consists of opening ourselves to God’s surprises and to conversion. The time of retreat was truly a time of grace, of silence, of remaining close to the Heart of Jesus, to whose dimensions the Daughter of Charity is to expand her heart, of rediscovering the deepest essence of vocation as a gift of self.
On Saturday, November 22, Father Director General met with the Sisters in the community of St. Catherine Labouré, including older and sick Sisters, as well as with the Sisters of the Provincial House and the Krakow communities. He shared his reflections on the logo of the Conventions: “Artisans of peace and hope.”
Before the retreat began, Father Director made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady Queen of Poland at Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, where he concelebrated Holy Mass. After the retreat, he visited Wadowice, the hometown of St. John Paul II.
He was accompanied on his travels by Sister Katarzyna Dzierżanowska, Visitor of the Krakow Province, Father Bogdan Zapotoczny, Director of the Krakow Province, and several other Sisters.
We thank God for this special time of Father José Antonio, our General Director, being among us, for his joyful witness of faith and love for the Vincentian charism. The word sown in our hearts will be the subject of our reflection and prayer. We ask God to make it bear abundant fruit.
Sister Monika Dłubacz