More Polish priests urgently needed in UK

The sheer number of Poles arriving at parishes in the UK is proving a major headache for the Polish chaplaincy. "We have recently got in eight new priests from Poland. We need more but the problem is where to accommodate them," said Monsignor Tadeusz Kukla, the Vicar Delegate for Poles in England and Wales. "There are over 500,000 Poles working in Britain. We encourage them to integrate but we want to preserve their religion and culture. Once they lose their identity, they lose everything," he said. Fr Kukla, who overseeing more than 130 Polish-language churches in his mission, said: "Confession is the language of the heart. I have been here over 25 years but I still pray in Polish." Father John Boyle, a parish priest in Ashford, Kent , said young Poles queued up at his church when he invited a Polish priest to hear confession. "There is a sense of isolation," Fr John said. " Many are not badly educated but are living in poor accommodation." "There must be hundreds here in Ashford that we are not reaching. If a Polish priest wants to come here once a month, I would be very happy," he said. "I am anxious they are not lost to the church."