FOUNDATION ‘OUR SUNDAY’ HAS BEEN STARTED

Anna Cichobłazińska talks with Fr. Ireneusz Skubiś – the editor in chief of ‘Sunday’

ANNA CICHOBŁAZIŃSKA: – Priest Editor is a founder of the Foundation ‘Our Sunday’. How did it happen?

FR. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ: – I have been planning to establish the Foundation for many years. I have conducted interviews with lawyers for 10 years, in order to ask for help in forming statutory assumptions. I decided to register the foundation under the name ‘Our Sunday’.

– The name: ‘Our Sunday’ suggests relations with ‘Sunday’ which Priest Editor presides…

– Surely, the title of the weekly whose chief editor I have been for over 30 years, is a kind of aspiration. However, it is known that a Foundation is not established for a particular venture, it has more general purposes. Therefore, its statute gives possibilities of broader actions, especially for the sake of culture.

– So, what actions are anticipated for the Foundation?

– First of all, we would like to support good Christian works, which serve to evangelization and popularizing the teaching of the Church and the Catholic social teaching.

– What is the Foundation ‘Our Sunday’ going to serve?

– The Foundation is going to serve to the social good. I am its founder but it is going to function in its own way, work for its account under the lead of the management board and the council control. It must function according to the statute, it is going to be accounted forby suitable state offices.

– Could Priest give any examples of Foundations which are followed by Priest?

– There are many of them, and some of them are close to Catholic media – for example, ‘Gość Niedzielny’ or the group of Radio Maryja have a Foundation (‘Lux Veritatis’). These foundations have some help from recipients friendly to their titles which can show society purposes of a particular foundation, and find sponsors.

– Does Priest have any experiences connected with sponsoring in Częstochowa?

– Unfortunately, they are not positive. Well, in the beginning of my work (the 80s of the last century) it happened that a priest helped me somehow so that we could function at all. During over 30 years, however, the editorial office of ‘Sunday’ has never received any financial help. In this respect, we differ from the West and other countries because in those countries supporting good works through foundations is positive.

– What made Priest Editor establish the Foundation?

– I think that the issue of bringing up the society is extremely important. People must know that there are good purposes which must be supported. Existing foundations for Catholic newspapers support their functioning, for example, by attaching a CD to Catholic newspapers. It helps a particular editorial office in functioning, editing supplements, not raising the price of a magazine. Such actions are really needed also in respect of readers of ‘Sunday’. Especially that there are many people who want to support the functioning of Catholic press, but they do not know how to do it. The Foundation ‘Our Sunday’ is going to coordinate such actions.
We are also undertaking the first actions, among the others, we are preparing a film entitled: ‘In the brightness of holiness of John Paul II’. There are also various attempts concerning, for example, support of enclosing a DVD to the newspaper, there is a suggestion of preparing a film about the pioneer of the Polish cooperative movement – Franciszek Stefczyk. A lot can be done for the Catholic culture, which is suffering from insufficient finances.

(AA)

"Niedziela" 9/2014

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl