Some random impressions from Poland

• Immersion in an authentically Catholic culture with over 1050 years of history.
• The presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in all of life.
• Extraordinary youthfulness and vitality: a living Church.
• A joyful expression of the Catholic faith.
• A Church with an intellectual life.
• Energy and strength: a Catholicism that is virile and resilient.
• Silence of the faithful in the churches.
• Manifest reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament.• A Church unafraid of being visible and vocal.
• Great numbers of priests under 35 years of age.
• Great numbers of young consecrated women religious.
• Catholic sacramentality in all of life: sacred images, blessings, the wearing of the soutane and religious habit.
• Widespread and unaffected use of traditional Catholic forms of greeting: “Laudetur Iesus Christus!“