photos from www.zmichowska.pl

Our students range in age from 13 to 19. For some years, in collaboration with other teachers, I have been giving them the chance to join in the reflection days at the State High School in Warsaw where I work. In Poland the present law on education allows public schools 3 days to hold what they call “the school retreat”. During this time of Lent the parishes usually offer some pastoral activities: meetings with priests, and celebrations of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation.

When I saw that a certain number of these young people were “marginalised”, left out, I had the idea of suggesting to all of them, whether they were believers or not, something they could experience together. And so was born “The School of Joy”, which, I think, is very successful. At 9.30 those who wish can take part in the parish activities (talks, songs, meeting guests), spend a certain time there, and then come back later to join those who have stayed at school.

This enterprise is my specific response to the challenges of the 2000 Chapter, to the sharing of our spirituality, and to a desire to help teenagers take their life in hand and live it creatively. That is just how I try to announce the Gospel through simple, real-life means, accessible to teenagers.

At “The School of Joy” we organise various workshops which are often run by the pupils themselves; they are free to sign up for any of them. Bright posters advertising the workshops are designed by the group leaders or the organiser. Signing up for them is done in classes, with the help of the Internet; we use the Excel programme to do it automatically; the class representatives register each student’s choice. We have to create at least 16 groups a day (our school has 620 students). There is no shortage of ideas! Each year meetings in the parish and workshops at school are focused on a single word (the theme), e.g., in previous years, “Joy”, “Meeting”, “The Road”, “Word”, “Light”, “Life” and “Time”.

Here are some examples of groups:

• Interreligious (visiting the synagogue, an Orthodox or Protestant church)
• Iconography
• Bible study
• Christian meditation
• Films related to the theme, shown in different languages
• Deep reflection on, e.g., the meaning of life
• Drama
• Meeting with volunteers (who dedicate their time to visiting sick children or the elderly) or else going out themselves to visit the sick
• Visiting prisoners
• Painting
• Dancing
• Music
• Sport (playing against the young Dominican brothers)
• Scribes (who copy beautiful texts “in a medieval setting”)
• Excursions to various places, e.g. a visit to a museum
• Meeting with people who are famous for what they have done (and who also have moral authority), such as Mark Kaminski, who took a handicapped boy to conquer the North and South Poles, André Wajda, the famous director who was a real educator of the nation during the time of the communist regime, and others.

The teenagers seem to like this programme, as I can see from surveys. They learn to be more tolerant, to work in groups. They see that they are not alone in their faith.

For two years, we have also been doing “The Musical Street”, which is a joyful march to music along the street leading from the church to the school (about twenty minutes). It’s a fine sight! You can see the photos and films on the school web page:

www.zmichowska.pl

1. O szkole --> galeria 

2. There you can visit Szkola Radosci (which means School of Joy) and then go on to see the photos.

3. You can also look at Archiwum and find Szkola Radosci 2006 and see the films (very short, there are 3 of them); they need to be downloaded, but you can feel the atmosphere!

Anyone interested in this initiative can contact me by email: aniela8(at)yahoo.fr