Abstract

The first parish priest who took the Holy Family and St. Jude Thaddeus parish in Słupsk on behalf of the Salesian Society was Fr. Franciszek Krajewski. By 2012 the parish had had altogether 11 Salesian parish priests. Their assistant staff consisted of 66 priests, 44 clerical students doing their pedagogical and pastoral practice, and 5 coadjutors. The parish brought forth 10 priestly vocations. Originally, the parish covered the whole of Zatorze district. In 1977, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s parish was separated from it. The subsequent parish priests converted the church buildings from 1920, which were only a makeshift place of worship, into a church attached to a parish hall. In the 1980s, when permission was obtained from the authorities, a new religious house and a spacious church were built, along with a chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians. The Salesians from Słupsk also took care of their parishioners’ spiritual life. In the years 1983 – 1989 they organized a walking pilgrimage from Słupsk to Częstochowa. From 1991, the parish magazine Holy Family was published. Apart from ordinary pastoral work, there were numerous prayer groups, movements, communities and organizations, such as the Living Rosary, Caritas, the Catholic Association of Polish Railmen, the Eucharistic Crusade, altar servers groups, the Home Church movement (Ruch Kościół Domowy), the Desert of Cities youth movement (Ruch Młodzieżowy Pustynia Miast), the Charismatic Renewal, the Light-Life Movement, the “Gift of Jesus” Alcoholics Anonymous Community, the Neocatechumenate, the Salesian Sports Organization of the Republic of Poland, the Association of Mamma Margaret, the Association of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian Missionary Voluntary Service, and the Salesian Cooperators.