This year's Stations of the Cross at Majdanek, organized by the AL Catholic Youth Association and the AL Center for Youth Pastoral Care on the grounds of the State Museum at Majdanek, was the twenty-fifth anniversary event in the history of the whole undertaking. Its motto was: the Cross is the Way of Hope, in reference to the jubilee year currently underway in the Catholic Church, running under the motto Pilgrims of Hope. “Golgotha of Lublin”, despite extremely difficult weather conditions, gathered more than 4,000 people, a large part of whom were the youth. Archbishop Stanislaw Budzik, The Metropolitan Archbishop of Lublin thanked the youth for coming, quoting St. John Paul II: "I have been looking for you, and you have come to me. I think Christ and the Pope want to thank you today," he said.
Also present were the Director of the State Museum at Majdanek, Tomasz Kranz, Rev. Bishop Adam Bab, Auxiliary Bishop of Lublin, who has been associated with youth organizations for many years, the clergy of the Greek Catholic Church, and Rev. Bogdan Kowalik - a former prisoner of the concentration camp at Majdanek, who with emotion thanked those gathered for coming and reminded them of the need to keep the memory of the difficult past alive so that it is not repeated again. "This is your testimony to us survivors that we are not alone," he said.
Searching for Light in Darkness
"Amidst the meditations of this year's Stations of the Cross, we want to look at those pilgrims of hope who lived at Majdanek in the past century. We want to try in their stories, the realities of their lives, to find the answer to the question, “Was there room for Hope in the concentration camp?”, said Rev. Mateusz Wójcik of the Youth Pastoral Center.
Part of the meditations during the service were testimonies of former prisoners in the form of recordings, describing the realities of life in the camp. There were also reflections on the challenges facing humanity today. The service was enriched by the Stations of the Cross hand-prepared by young people, while the cross was carried by representatives of various communities.
The event ended with a prayer for peace, traditionally recited jointly by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Catholic Church.