Fr. Ziggy’s presentation begins at 1:34:30 in the above YouTube video
Fr. Ziggy Morawiec, SCJ, vice rector of Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, gave the interfaith address at the April 27 Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration (Yamim) organized by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The text of his address:
MY NAME IS FR. ZBIGNIEW MORAWIEC, I am a member of the congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I was ordained a priest in 1990. I come from a small village in the south of Poland. From my earliest years the subject of the Holocaust was present in my consciousness. Near my family home lived two people who survived Auschwitz Death Camp and often talked about the horrors of that place and time.
However, the real shock and the moment from which I never again freed myself from the thought of what happened in this evil place (and many others like it), was my first visit to Auschwitz. The first time I went to Auschwitz was in the early nineties. I remember that the guide was one of the surviving prisoners. His testimony was overwhelmingly powerful. Listening to him, it was difficult not to repeat in one’s soul the question that Primo Levi put in the title of his book “Se questo e’ un uomo” (If this is a Man).
Since that day I went to this place many more times with various groups. Most often with my fellow priests from various countries. I want to mention my last trip to Auschwitz in the company of my friend from Brazil. After a few hours we arrived at the ruins of the crematorium. We were tired. My friend sat down on the concrete slabs warmed by the midday sun. At one point she burst into spasmodic crying for several minutes. For many hours no words were spoken.
What did I take away from my visits to sites of the Holocaust in Poland – and how did those visits impact me and my role as a Priest?
First of all, I realized that man is a being who needs metaphysical grounding. That in making life choices, especially those that determine the type of relationship with others, he must subject them to ethical and moral judgment.
The question “how was it possible?” is followed by another one: “what can be done so that it never happens again?”. And further, what is my role and my personal responsibility in this matter? For more than 25 years I have worked as an educator and lecturer in Catholic seminaries. For the past 10 years at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Hales Corners. This gives me a special opportunity to sensitize future leaders of Catholic communities to the issues of promoting the dignity of every human person, recognizing the inalienable rights of every ethnic or religious group.
It is with satisfaction that I would like to mention Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology’s Lux Center, and the important role it plays in the overall formation process of our students. It is our highest priority to sensitize our students to any form of prejudice against others, any form of racism or antisemitism.
For me as a Catholic priest, this question is extremely important. Professing my faith and accepting the responsibility for shaping people’s hearts, I recognize that my highest duty is to love God and neighbor.
I was born in Poland, a country that before World War II was home to some 3.3 million Jews. By the end of the war in 1945, about 380,000 had survived. Comparing these two numbers gives us an idea of the scale of the tragedy that took place at that time. And let’s also hear the most famous names of the places where these people suffered and died, the six death camps: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I silently bow my head in homage to all the victims of this unimaginable tragedy. Never again!
