“When I passed matura exam, I told my dad that I wanted to study medicine and only medicine. I remember when we came with my father from Toruń to Poznań. I was not yet seventeen at the time. My father went with me to the Dean, to talk to him and enroll me for studies. We went into the room, and the Dean looked at me and asked my Dad: Are you not afraid of letting such a young daughter to go on medicine alone? And Daddy nodded his head and replied: She said she would not go anywhere else… The Dean went quiet. And so they enrolled me”.
“I have devoted myself to the activity of this organization very much. This was being done with an enthusiasm, as without it nothing would be done. We who belonged to the organization, knew each other well. Maybe there was not a lot of interest from students, but we were very close to each other in this group. We put a lot of effort and heart into this work. (…) Throughout the joint action, we developed a strong bond between all of us. We had correspondence contact with missionaries, with Polish missions. We were writing to them, sent them season greetings. Whenever there was a possibility to collect something, we would send parcels. It was such a lively contact. (…) We were meeting once a month. At the beginning we were praying and then we had a meeting, mainly presentations, always relating to the subject of missionary, of course. We also had parish chats. It would not be so attractive without it… We were trying to get others interested in this subject – and it worked! As the young man says, when you do things with enthusiasm, also others are happy. This work was interesting and beautiful”.
The Academic Missiological Circle (originally the Academic Missionary Circle, AKM) was established on January 20, 1927 at the University in Poznań. The initiator of the movement was Kazimiera Berkan. The youth held meetings in parishes, propagated the missionary ideas of the Church in various environments. There was a correspondence with Polish missionaries, the books about missionary subjects were read and speeches were given at the national and international conventions and conferences. Wanda Błeńska joined the AKM in the first days of her studies. Her commitment was soon noticed and in November 1929 at the Congress of the Delegates of the Academic Missiological Circles in Cracow she was appointed to the Main Board of Missionary Circles in Poland. Shortly thereafter, she became the editor of the scientific magazine “Annales Missiologicae”. There were a lot more tasks, and missionary enthusiasm was growing. Even Pope Pius XI noticed that, rewarding several students – including Wanda Błeńska – with a diploma for spreading the idea of the Pontifical Work of Propagating the Faith. The activity of the Academic Missiological Circle was interrupted by the explosion of World War II. With the initiative of Joanna Muszyńska, AKM was reactivated in 2002 at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan. For more information, please visit www.misja.info.