Polish Catholic Church promotes August sobriety with Diocesan March

The Diecezjalny Marsz Trzeźwości (Diocesan March of Sobriety) was walked from the church of Blessed Karolina in Tarnów to the church of St. Stanislaus in Skrzyszów. Participants, many of them former addicts or relatives of alcoholics, prayed for personal and national sobriety and shared testimonies about how alcohol harms individuals and families.

Bishop Tadeusz Bronakowski, head of the Polish Episcopal Conference’s Apostolate of Sobriety, declared August the traditional month of sobriety, tying the campaign to the 70‑year anniversary of the Jasna Góra vows. He called on Poles to practice voluntary abstinence and warned of persistent problems with adult and under‑age drinking. Father Zbigniew Guzy, director of the Department of Sobriety and Addicted Persons, added that abstinence brings freedom and moral renewal.