Almost 200 children from 11 Piarist presences in Poland, from schools and parishes, took part in the Parafiada. There were 13 teams from the cities of Bolesławiec, Bolszewo, Kraków, Elbląg, Łapsze Niżne, Łowicz, Poznań, Rzeszów and Warsaw. The event took place in Kraków on the holiday from 1 to 4 May and consisted of sporting competitions, cultural activities and educational moments, in the spirit of the stadium – theatre – temple triad. The trophy and the title of the most versatile team, which developed all dimensions of the triad, was won by the team from the school in Poznań.
The participants began their competition with a knowledge contest. This year it was about the games of the XXXII Olympiad 2020 in Tokyo. After this first encounter, the sports games continued in three sports disciplines: Basketball, Volleyball and Football. Athletics included a field race and a ball throw. As a formative part, the young people listened to a talk by Mateusz Łyczko, the lay leader of a very large group of altar servers from the parish in Krakow-Wieczysta. – “Life is like a game” he said.
Our coach is Jesus, who is with us when we win and who is always with us when we fall. A special guest was Fr Roland Márkus, who was accompanied by Tamas Takacs from the Hungarian province. In his sermon at the Eucharistic celebration at the end of the Parafiada, immediately after the awards gala, he spoke to us about the gaze, i.e. the need to look at others and not only at oneself, to look forward in life, upwards and towards heaven.
The closing gala was moderated by Father Rafael Roszer, President of the Parafiada Association. The winners received simple prizes in the knowledge competition as well as medals and trophies for the podium places in the sports competition, which were very important for the young players. The Fair Play prize, a photo of the Polish national ski jumping team with the autograph of Dawid Kubacki, was presented to Miłosz Bielecki from Elbląg, who saw his injured team-mate from the opposing team during a football match and ran to the first aid team to help him, even though the referee did not stop the game.
