{"id":78772,"date":"2026-01-05T23:42:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78772\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T23:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:42:43","slug":"a-dream-of-bethlehem-community-a-house-for-the-poor-in-village-where-st-francis-staged-first-nativity-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78772\/","title":{"rendered":"A dream of Bethlehem community: A house for the poor in village where St. Francis staged first Nativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An art workshop ran by Pawel Dusza and organized for the occassion of World Day of the Poor is seen on an undated photograph in the Betlejem (“Bethlehem”) community in Jaworzno, Poland. Betlejem community for the homeless and people in need was funded in 1996 by Polish diocesan priest Father Miroslaw Tosza, who says it brings back dignity of those in need by showing they also have a lot of things to share with the world, such as artistic and handcraft talents. (OSV News photo\/courtesy Betlejem community)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

GRECCIO, Italy (OSV News) \u2014 Eight centuries ago St. Francis of Assisi came to this hillside village to show the world that God chose to be born among the poor, staging the first Nativity scene in a cave outside the town of Greccio.<\/p>\n

Today, that same Franciscan vision has drawn a Polish priest and his community to Greccio \u2014 and left them praying for a Christmas miracle to realize their dream of having a retreat house for the poor in a place where God asked St. Francis to renew his church.<\/p>\n

For almost 30 years, Father Miroslaw Tosza, a priest of the Diocese of Sosnowiec in southern Poland, has lived in the Betlejem (Bethlehem) community in Jaworzno \u2014 a house shared by people who have lost jobs, families, homes, health, sobriety and, very often, trust in anyone at all. Now, he dreams of establishing a retreat house for his poor in Greccio.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

He insists the idea of the original Betlejem house was not really his. \u201cThe impulse? I simply keep trusting that the impulse came from above,\u201d he told OSV News. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just an idea. I received a kind of vocation within a vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a young priest in Paris, he spent some time with the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem community. Once he returned from overnight adoration only to realize at 4 a.m. that he had no key. As he waited under an archway, a homeless woman with a child appeared at the monastery door.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the whole situation was irrational \u2026 like an apparition,\u201d he remembered. \u201cLater I read it as a double adoration \u2026 first Christ in the Eucharist, and then the same Christ at the door of the monastery. It\u2019s the same presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment, he said, became the theological root of what came later: one Christ present both on the altar and in the poor.<\/p>\n

Back home in Jaworzno \u2014 a town that is part of the industrial pattern of southern Poland\u2019s Silesia region \u2014 on Feb. 14, 1996 \u2014 \u201con Valentine\u2019s Day,\u201d he noted \u2014 he stopped by his home parish for coffee. The pastor told him the city wanted to give away an abandoned school for charitable work. \u201cDo you have an idea what we could establish there?\u201d the pastor asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to see the school,\u201d Father Tosza recalled. \u201cIt was in total ruin,\u201d he said, feeling at the same time it was precisely \u201cthe place God was sending me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

He moved in \u2014 and immediately invited others. \u201cFrom the beginning, the intention for the house was that we would not do something for the poor, but together with them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t wait until the house was ready. We entered the former school as it was and tried to renovate it together with the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The name came later, inspired by Bethlehem and the first adoration of Christ. \u201cGod chose the poor as the first ones who were to welcome him here,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt all came together \u2014 that in Bethlehem<\/a> the poor come to the poor. It\u2019s about an encounter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, he said, the name became a kind of script for their life. \u201cThe longer the name stayed with us, the more we discovered that \u2026 we find in it a whole program of life for us. We established a little slogan: \u2018Bethlehem, a place that changes you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

At the heart of the Betlejem community is reciprocity. \u201cReciprocity is at the heart of the Gospel,\u201d Father Tosza said. \u201cThe new thing in the New Testament \u2026 is, \u2018Love one another as I have loved you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

And he is blunt about a common sin we commit toward the poor: \u201cIt is the notion that they have nothing to give,\u201d he said. \u201cPope Francis often said: there is no one so rich that they need nothing, and no one so poor that they have nothing to give. A person wakes up to life when they discover that someone needs them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betlejem is not an institution, Father Tosza said, but a house. \u201cWhat makes us different is that we have managed to create a house in which the poor \u2026 do not feel ashamed to say they live in Bethlehem. They say their real names \u2026 show their faces without shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalls one man, Lukasz \u2014 a well-known massage therapist who fell into alcoholism \u2014 arriving at their house on the feast of Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Father Miroslaw Tosza is seen next to St. Barbara\u2019s church in Barbach, Austria, on this undated photograph. In 1996, he started the Betlejem (\u201cBethlehem\u201d) community in southern Poland\u2019s Jaworzno. The community \u2013 which gave homeless people a home and occupation through art, now aims to start a retreat house in Greccio, Italy, where St. Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene 800 years ago. (OSV News photo\/courtesy Betlejem community)<\/p>\n

\u201cHis wife brought him here with a suitcase \u2026 She had kicked him out of the house. So we had a Corpus Christi at the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man stayed five months, began therapy and stopped drinking. \u201cThe beautiful thing is that he wasn\u2019t ashamed that he lived here,\u201d the priest said. By now, he is \u201creunited with his wife\u201d \u2014 and returns from time to time to finish tasks he once promised to do. He shows up \u201csimply because he said he would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beauty itself, Father Tosza believes, is part of the healing. Over time the Betlejem house has developed a vivid artistic style \u2014 bright colors, mosaics, following the style of Austrian famed artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered how important creativity is \u2026 to create works we are proud of \u2026 truly beautiful and original in themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many who arrive at Betlejem have lost almost everything \u2014 \u201chouse, family ties, money, health, respect, freedom, sobriety,\u201d he said. Some come with nothing but a plastic bag.<\/p>\n

Art, Father Tosza said, \u201chelps us discover that we are made by the creator of all creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The meal of the Betlejem community next to a mural named \u201cThe risen Christ sends Mary Magdalene to the apostles\u201d is seen on an undated photograph. Betlejem (\u201cBethlehem\u201d) community was started in 1996 in southern Poland\u2019s Jaworzno by Polish diocesan priest, Father Miroslaw Tosza. The community now aims to start a retreat house in Greccio, Italy, where St. Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity scene 800 years ago. (OSV News photo\/courtesy Betlejem community)<\/p>\n

That, he said, applies equally to homelessness<\/a>. \u201cHomeless people are often reduced to one dimension \u2014 their material needs. \u2026 But a person can have a roof over their head and still be lonely and homeless in their heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town has been gathering around the Betlejem community for three decades now. While 15 people live in the house \u2014 three Sunday Masses draw about 300 people, including around 30 homeless living outside the community. Afterward, residents serve Sunday lunch to their guests.<\/p>\n

Father Tosza\u2019s vision now stretches beyond Jaworzno. In Greccio \u2014 the \u201csecond Bethlehem,\u201d where St. Francis created the first Nativity scene<\/a> \u2014 the community purchased an old hotel and stone house for a retreat center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt a call to create a kind of sister house there,\u201d Father Tosza said.<\/p>\n

The project, however, has put the original community under financial strain. \u201cWe never had big money, but we never had big debts either,\u201d he said. Now a second loan installment is due in the summer of 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are convinced we must have some secret source of money \u2026 but we really don\u2019t. We live from the work of our own hands\u201d \u2014 like art \u2014 \u201cand from donations,\u201d Father Tosza said.<\/p>\n

If the community cannot raise the needed funds, they may lose the house in Greccio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already allowed myself to face the possibility that maybe we will have to go through some humiliation \u2026 unless something happens,\u201d Father Tosza told OSV News, hoping deep in his heart a miracle donor arrives to make Betlejem\u2019s mission cross borders and concluding: \u201cPeople wake up to life when they discover they are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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