Philosophy in English - The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow

18/09/2026

We are currently in our final round of enrollment. If you are interested in enrolling in MA Philosophy, Ethics, and Religion, you can do so until September 22.09. Send us an email at [email protected] to get started.

05/09/2026

When we last left Fr. Blachnicki, he had organized the “Oasis of the Children of God” retreat, and it was a great success. He went on to repeat the retreat model in Stryszawa in 1955, where he incorporated further elements into the program. By 1957, his Oasis format had become an established method for altar-server retreats in the Katowice diocese. And that’s when we see a gradual shift begin...he realized the method could be used for more than altar boy retreats.

In 1958, Fr. Blachnicki organised the first Oasis retreats for young women in Koniaków. Around the same period, experiments began with retreats for young people, adults, seminarians, and priests. This was a major point of growth in Oasis’s history: Oasis was becoming a general method of Christian formation rather than simply a type of young people’s retreat.

02/09/2026

Throw back to that time when we were walking around Krakow and saw Minerva at Wawel Castle!

Once upon a time, in the world of Greek mythology, the goddess Minerva would survey the world and observe the formation and lives of civilizations. She would send her owl out to watch these epochs in the world's history. As the civilizations eventually reached their conclusions, the owl would return to Minerva to bring her all of the wisdom it had gained...

We at UPJP2 MA Philosophy in English invite you to join us in our Civilizational search and rescue mission...to find and preserve the knowledge and wisdom of the ages!

The quest starts tomorrow with Fr. Zuziak's lecture!

20,04,2021

Meeting link:

https://upjp2.webex.com/upjp2/j.php?MTID=mfb86ac5e553c9cc64edd6fb124356e07

Meeting number:

181 908 2709

Password:

OPEN_LECTURES

25/08/2026

Summer is coming to an end and so is our recruitment...The last day to submit documents is August 31, so hurry up and drop us an email at [email protected] to secure your place today!

20/08/2026

After his ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Blachnicki was placed in charge of his parish’s altar servers. Part of this responsibility entailed looking after the spiritual well-being of the altar servers and organizing retreats for them. Fr. Blachnicki was not satisfied with the typical method of conducting retreats, as he saw it focusing more on overall instruction. To correct the shortcoming he had identified, he began transforming the retreats, developing them from 1951-1952. His retreats went beyond the spiritual aspect and included elements of community – including activities, Bible study, community life, games, and Christian formation.
In 1954, this work with retreats grew. From July 19 to August 1, 1954, Fr. Blachnicki organized the first Oaza Dzieci Bożych (Oasis of the Children of God) for the altar servers. What made Oasis more than a retreat was that, beyond simply offering a spiritual retreat, Fr. Blachnicki offered the attendees the opportunity to form a Christian community, where, for the duration of the retreat, they could come together and live as Christian people. In their community, they could pray, learn, and grow. This retreat is commonly regarded as the beginning of Fr. Blachnicki’s’ Oasis Movement.

Come back Friday to hear about the role St. John Paul II played in Oasis!

18/08/2026

In August 1942, Franciszek’s death sentence was commuted to 10 years of imprisonment. Subsequently, he spent time in various German prisons and camps until he was liberated from the Lengenfeld concentration camp by the United States Army’s soldiers on April 17, 1945.

After his liberation, Franciszek returned to Poland. His family encouraged him to wait to apply to the seminary because his health was poor after years of imprisonment, but he did not want to postpone the decision. On August 6, 1945, he applied to enter the Silesian Higher Theological Seminary in Kraków. He studied at the Faculty of Theology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he graduated with a master's degree in Theology in 1950. Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki was ordained a priest on June 25, 1950. While a seminarian, his vocation became more concrete. His writings show him grappling with how to deepen his faith and become the kind of person—and eventually priest—who could help others encounter God.

What is interesting about this period of Fr. Blachnicki’s life is that, later, he was imprisoned in Katowice again in 1961 under the Communist authorities for his religious activities. He saw a major distinction between his imprisonment under the N***s versus his later imprisonment under the Communists. This distinction would become quite important for understanding his later theology of inner freedom: under the N***s, he had been physically imprisoned for his actions. Under the Communists, he was physically imprisoned for his beliefs; nonetheless, during this second imprisonment, he possessed an interior freedom that his captors couldn't take away.

(The pictures are Fr. Blachnicki's prisoner photos at Auschwitz and the medals he was given posthumously.)

17/08/2026

Sometimes, we get questions here at Philosophy in English inquiring where someone can see the impact of philosophy in real life. Specifically, where can we see St. John Paul II’s philosophy “in action”? So, as the summer days roll by and some of us are considering the next steps to take in life, we’d like to talk about the Life-Light movement, also known as the Oasis Movement.
The Light-Life Movement was started by Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki. Imprisoned for his membership in the Resistance during the Second World War, Fr. Blachnicki spent about 14 months in Auschwitz. Afterwards, he was transferred first to an investigative prison in Zabrze, and then to a prison in Katowice. It was there, during his five months on death row, that he experienced a profound movement of faith. He was inspired, at a time when he was standing face to face with his mortality, to give his life to Jesus Christ. As he was experiencing this radical change in his soul, Franciszek Blachnicki understood Christ’s love. He lost his fear of death, and made the decision that if he survived this time of his life, he would give his life to God.

So what happened next? We invite you to return tomorrow to read the next part in our end-of-summer reflection series!

09/08/2026

Today we have a late post in honor of St. Edith Stein. A tremendous philosopher, St. Edith Stein was elected patroness of the Faculty of Philosophy by our Faculty Council. We ask this great saint and intellectual's intercession for us and our academic efforts.

07/08/2026

Begin your academic journey with us today. Send an email to [email protected] to get started.

https://lnkd.in/dhyzCEYW

07/08/2026

Begin your academic journey with us today. Send an email to [email protected] to get started.