Great Britain: a Polish bishop for a migrant church

Bishop Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman shares her journey from Polish opera student to head of the church in the UK

(LWI) - As an immigrant from Central Europe, Bishop Paulina Hlawiczka-Trotman follows directly in the footsteps of many Lutheran refugees from the region, fleeing to England to seek safety and stability in the aftermath of the Second World War. In 1948, many of them came together to form what is now called the Council of Lutheran Churches, an umbrella group for different Lutheran congregations from a wide variety of languages, cultures and worship traditions.

As a young Polish teenager, Paulina dreamed not of a career in the church, but rather as a star of the world of opera and drama. In fact, when she did hear a call to the ordained ministry, she spent many years trying to ignore it, knowing that in her native country, the church continued to exclude women from ordination, a practice that would not change until 2021.

But despite her efforts, as she puts it, “the church kept finding me” and in the end, she successfully pursued both career paths as a professional singer and as a Lutheran pastor, being ordained into the Lutheran Church in Great Britain (LCiGB) in 2014. Ten years later, after serving Lutheran congregations in the central English cities of Nottingham and Corby, as well as a Polish congregation in London, she was consecrated as bishop of the LCiGB in January of this year.

You grew up a long way from London, didn’t you – tell me about your childhood?

Yes, I grew up in the mountains of southern Poland. Even though Poland is a predominantly Catholic country, my family were Lutheran for many generations since the time of the Reformation. My predecessors escaped to the mountains from the Counter Reformation in the neighbouring Czechoslovak region.

My family was very involved in the church especially through music and singing. We always sang in the choir and my parents were soloists which was very inspiring for us. But I never wanted to work for the church. Instead, I wanted to study performative arts because my dream was to become a singer or an actress.

What made you change your mind?

One night, when I was 18 years old, I received a call and I understood that I had to commit my life to the church. Although women could not be ordained priests in those days in Poland, I believed that would change and I thought it would be possible, in a few years’ time, for me to follow that path.

I enrolled in university to study theology in Warsaw, but I couldn’t let my childhood dreams go and at the end of my second year I also started studying opera. I managed to dedicate myself to both degrees simultaneously, studying theology in the morning and then attending opera school in the evenings.

What was your first job?

At the end of my theological studies, the presiding bishop at that time asked me why I wasn't married. He said he didn't know what to do with me if I wasn't married to a pastor and that upset me very much. I decided to ignore the call and focus on opera instead, but the next day I received a job offer from the army chaplaincy to become assistant to the army bishop. I was trying to run away from my calling, but then this job offer came out of nowhere and I worked in that position for four years.

But then tragedy struck, didn't it?

Yes, in 2010 there was a plane crash with the Polish president and most of the top military and government officials on board. We lost so many people and those of us who had stayed behind, we had to respond to the crisis, bringing back the bodies and arranging for 96 funerals. I did this for 10 months and then we were all advised to leave the country to recover from what had happened.

So many of us lost not only colleagues, but close friends and family members. It was such a difficult experience, but on the other hand, I learned a lot about pastoral care and I also worked very closely with the Prime Minister and his office, which was helpful for me later when I served on the Polish Ecumenical Council during the Polish presidency of the European Union. But at the time, it was so traumatic as I left the country and I left the church because I didn't see any possibilities there.

Where did you go?

I went to Germany to recover as I had family members there. A few months later, I was called back to Poland to work for the Ecumenical Council, but it was not easy because the bishops knew that I was part of the campaign for women's ordination. During my work, I travelled to different places for conferences, including the UK and when my project work finished, I stayed on in England to rest and to pursue my musical interests. But the church found me again and I began training for ministry with the Lutheran Church in Great Britain (LCiGB) in 2012.

How difficult was it to integrate into a new life there?

For the first five years it was so hard because of the language, the culture shock and because I missed my friends and family, my life in Warsaw so badly. It was difficult making new friends and it was hard finding jobs that were not a plumber or a cleaner, because that was what Polish people were offered in those days. Getting a job in the opera is also extremely difficult, not just in London but everywhere.

Getting used to a different style of worship was also very challenging for me and I found it hard to pray or preach in another language. I had never heard of most of the hymns and the worship felt like it was not coming from my heart. But then I saw that the church was made up of migrants who all wanted to worship in their own mother tongues and so I saw there was a bigger picture that I could be a part of. When I crossed that ‘bridge’, I stopped feeling like an outsider and I can say that I grew up here, in terms of recognising God's work in so many different cultures and traditions.

You also got married, didn’t you?

Yes, my husband is a Methodist minister and he was director of the office for racial justice of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. I learned a lot from him and became strongly committed to racial justice work in the LCiGB where we have people from all around the world struggling with these issues.

I can say now that I have stopped running away from my calling to different ministries in the church. Even though women can now be ordained in Poland, it is not the moment for me to go back and I just follow where I am called. Though I knew some people opposed my candidacy for bishop because of my age and I was tempted to give up, I was supported by my colleagues and I followed through with it.

You also received death threats around the time of your consecration, though?

Yes, I had expected some opposition from within the church, but I had not expected this kind of threat which was taken very seriously and the police were involved. Even though the consecration had to be a closed event, rather than the open one which I wanted, I was so grateful to all those who took responsibility to protect me. We still managed to have an ecumenical event with many different leaders of the churches in the Nottingham area, including the Catholic bishop who led some of the prayers which was wonderful.

You have now taken over as president of the fourth group of Churches Together in England (CTE) haven't you?

Yes, I am very pleased to have this opportunity and the agenda is long but very interesting. It is important that, as CTE presidents in this country, we can speak together to the government and bring some concrete changes. I don't want any more meetings, committees, writing reports just to put on the shelf.

You mentioned racial justice and ecumenical relations but what else do you see as priorities for your time as church leader?

In the UK at the moment, we are struggling with growing far right-wing views and behaviours, as seen in the recent riots on the streets of many different cities and towns where refugees and mosques were attacked. We have seen how easy it is to spread fake news and it is very frightening to see how it can cause such hate and aggression. Racism is still real and present in this country, the ongoing aftermath of colonialism and slavery.

This is a pressing issue for me regarding my work with migration and refugees, to remind people that it is a human right to apply for asylum. This country needs workers after so many people left following the Brexit referendum, including many thousands of Polish people. We also want to be an inclusive church and we have created a document which stands firmly against the violence in some of our parishioners’ countries of origin.

Another priority is to develop our teaching and conversations about hope. I have written a lot about this and how hope that is rooted in God is much more than simple optimistic thinking. There are many priorities, but this is a very important issue for me personally.

What does it mean for you and your church to be part of the global LWF family?

People often say that we are one of the smallest churches in the world, but I think we are the biggest in terms of the different origins of our people. There is hardly a country which would not be represented in the LCiGB or within the Council of Lutheran Churches, of which I am a trustee. I think this is such a great privilege: sometimes it feels like you are in heaven and meeting the whole of God's creation, with so many different outlooks and backgrounds.

I have attended many different LWF training seminars or events and it has always been important for me to make connections, as well as bringing back new theological insights. For example, during the Assembly last year, I connected with a Tanzanian bishop and we are now discussing new possibilities for our Swahili mission here in the UK. It is a fantastic opportunity and I am grateful that the LWF cares so much for its member churches.