Maciej Biedron is a young Polish priest from the diocese of Tarnów, a mountainous and rural area in southern Poland. He is 30 years old and was ordained more than four years ago. After his priestly ordination he was the vicar in one of the largest parishes in his ecclesiastical see, a diocese rich in priestly vocations (currently about 1,400) and in popular piety, especially Marian devotion.
He is now studying at the University of Navarra D. in Theology after having been sent by his bishop thanks to a scholarship of CARF.
In an increasingly secularized world, he defends the importance of good formation, prayer life, priestly fraternity and the Eucharist as the center of Christian life. "Without these pillars, priests can be overtaken by a post-Christian and hostile society in the faith," he says.
Thus he speaks of priestly fraternity: "The priest who separates himself from his colleagues, who can understand his problems and his needs, can fall very quickly. That is why human formation is so important for priests to live with friendship and fraternal charity, and not with a sense of rivalry or the search for their own fame".
At the present time, a diocesan synod is being held in his diocese to improve pastoral work in the face of the problems arising from today's world.
"The synod wants to draw attention especially to the question of the family, of young people and of the service of priests. One of the concerns of my bishop is the formation of priests. That is why I am studying spiritual theology, because after the synod, the bishop wants to develop a priestly spirituality in my diocese," he explains.
For Maciej, evangelization is not only pronouncing the truth about God, but also about man.
