TRANSCRIPT: "Sister Małgorzata Chmielewska: We Must Not Remain Silent | 11th Festival of Protestant Culture" Date of publication: 11.11.2025 Duration: 55:30 --- [0:12] Ladies and Gentlemen, this award means a great deal to me. [0:12] Ladies and Gentlemen, this award means a great deal to me. [0:17] Our community has received many awards over the years. [0:22] But this one, I would say, belongs in the top three. [0:27] The first was the Totus Award, the second – Rev. Tischner Award, [0:32] and now – this one. [0:38] Why? Because it connects us. What was said here about the second laureate, [0:45] and what the Bishop mentioned just a moment ago – I believe it’s all true. [0:51] We live in difficult times. [0:55] There have never been “good” times – that’s an illusion. [1:02] But we live in an era where the danger [1:08] of what Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced [1:14] is frighteningly real. It is already happening. [1:17] And we, as followers of Christ and as decent human beings, [1:25] must not stay silent – and we must not stop acting wherever we are. [1:31] Our community is, in a way, ecumenical – we even have a small Orthodox branch. [1:42] For fifty years now, our community has tried to gather together [1:53] what most deeply pains God. That is my profound conviction. [1:59] Hatred divides; God did not create us to harm one another. [2:15] And at the same time – the fact that I am here, that I could come, [2:24] that I have two hands, two legs, and still a bit of reason – [2:29] that I was able to study, that I speak a few languages – [2:34] that is not my merit, it is my task. [2:40] I believe our role, as people and as followers of Christ, is a task – the task of shaping the world [2:53] as God created it and as He intended it to be. [3:00] That is all we can do – and all that Bonhoeffer himself embodied, [3:07] even unto martyrdom. [3:18] He was one of those who sacrificed their lives for truth, love, honesty, justice, and peace. [3:25] And perhaps it sounds odd – for who am I, living in a small village [3:35] in the Świętokrzyskie region [3:39] with thirty homeless people – Poles, and also two refugees from Nigeria, Protestants, [3:49] and Ukrainian women with children – and yet what pains me deeply, [3:55] and what I say to all of us, including myself, is this: why did we, as Christians, [4:06] not speak out – not as politicians, but as disciples of Christ – [4:13] when people with disabilities protested, or when mothers and children, [4:19] refugees from Ukraine, were denied the right to live with dignity in our country? [4:28] These are people who have endured terrible suffering – and many others still do. [4:33] Let my inner plea be this: may the patron of today’s ceremony [4:41] remind each of us – myself above all – [4:46] that we must not stay silent and we must not cease to act. We must not be afraid – [4:56] even when we are afraid, for fear is human, but we must not be afraid. [5:01] And I wish that courage for myself too – because there are times [5:06] when one simply has had enough, [5:08] when one must fight again and again, facing insults and hostility from every side – [5:16] often, sadly, from our own "Christian brothers and sisters". [5:23] But that is another matter – true followers of Christ neither act nor speak that way. [5:32] What we need now, and will need even more in this world of ours, is courage. [5:39] May He — the One who, I believe, is now on the other side, [5:42] together with thousands of the righteous — may He support us in this. [5:49] I want to thank all of you deeply. This award is also a great honour [5:52] for my co-workers. [5:54] One of the youngest is here with us. She was born in our community — [6:00] her mother was one of the founders. [6:03] Today she runs a home for the homeless in the Świętokrzyskie region. [6:08] So in a way, it’s a bit like a “hereditary mafia” — but not only that. [6:14] We have over sixty staff members from outside the community, [6:18] so it is not a family business. [6:20] Although some of our foster and biological children, and families within the community, [6:27] have chosen to continue this path we began many years ago. [6:31] I thank you all profoundly and express my deepest respect [6:37] to everyone who keeps alive the memory of a man [6:41] who gave his life for truth, freedom, and justice — [6:47] and who also defended the weakest. [6:53] As was mentioned, Hitlerism meant not only the killing [6:57] of those considered inferior, but also of people [7:01] with disabilities, the weak, and the mentally ill. [7:05] And, ladies and gentlemen, this is not something far away from us. [7:09] Believe me — it is closer than we think. [7:12] Thank you. --- Prepared by: [Joanna Gacka] Contact: []