More on Karol Wojtyla's priesthood

In the previous write-up we focused on Father Karol Wojtyla's work as a parish priest in Niegowic, Krakow. Here we shall explore further his activities as a priest, a university chaplain specifically, in the parish of St. Florian, also in Krakow, where he was reassigned. There the new scene of action for the young priest was the Jagielonian University where a new center of ministry to students was opened. His schedule was hectic and he had to work from sixteen to eighteen hours a day, conferencing, lecturing or just attending to liturgical services.

To counteract the culture of atheism being propagated by the communist regime at the university, Father Wojtyla would engage the students intellectually through a series of evening discussions centering on two issues: The existence of God and the spiritual character of the human person. In addition, he organized study groups that took up the works of St. Thomas Aquinas particularly the Summa Theologiae. His lectures began to attract students and Krakow intellectuals for their incisive treatment of issues and for the lecturer's openness to criticism. As a result, he became a sort of celebrity in the university as well as in the learned circles of Krakow, a status which he took advantage of in his evangelization work.

One of Father Wojtyla's initiatives as a chaplain was to implement some aspects of the liturgical renewal movement he was exposed to during his graduate studies. The idea was to make the liturgy meaningful to lay Catholics by revitalizing some features of the Mass. For example, the chaplain taught a group of students how to sing the Gregorian chant so that they could render it during the Mass. He also promoted the use of the daily missals to enable them to follow the eucharistic celebration intelligently and to participate actively in it. This made the Mass a really community event and this attracted many students.

Liturgical concerns however did not prevent Father Wojtyla from initiating other socio-religious activities within and outside the university. Making use of his know-how in play-writing and directing, he formed dramatic club among students one of whose activities was a presentation of biblical "mystery plays" during Lent. At the same time the priest played an active role in the promotion of theater plays in Krakow acting as consultant and critic in the art of make-believe.

One significant project of Father Wojtyla in Krakow was strengthening of family life as a counter move to the communist regime's anti-family program. In parish activities involving the young he and his fellow priests saw to it that the parents were around. Family attendance in the Mass was encouraged and in the religious classes conducted for the youth, the presence of the parents was urged.

Relative to this was Wojtyla's marriage-preparation program carried out in the form of an "encounter" between would-be couples and the priest. The idea was to systematically prepare young couples for Christian marriage and condition them to the exigencies of a healthy and spiritually enriching family life. Such initiative taken under a repressive social order was really significant. So significant, in fact that in later years the Church adopted Wojtyla's marriage preparation program as a requirement before the sacramental ceremony.

In talking to young couples, Father Wojtyla did not shy away from discussing the matter of conjugal sex, a subject which most people considered too sensitive for a clergyman to handle. In one forum, he told his young audience: "The sexual drive is a gift from God. Man may offer this drive to God exclusively through a vow of virginity. He may offer it to another human being with the knowledge that he is offering it to a person. It cannot be an act of chance. On the other side there is also a human being who must not be hurt, whom one must love. Only a person can love a person"

Words like this reached deep into the consciousness of the young whose formation was Father Wojtyla's obsession. Reinforced with sacramental exposure, this approach would have been sufficient for most school chaplains. But Father Wojtyla went further - he used what he called the ministry of "accompaniment". Thus he made his presence felt by the young not only in the sanctuary and the confessional but also outside, especially in such activities as sportsfests, camp outs, reunions and other celebratory events.