1981/1982 Academic Year Inauguration at Gdynia Maritime University on 16 October 1981, No. 79/9
As October traditionally marks the beginning of the academic year, we present scanned copies of speeches from the inauguration of the Academic Year 1981/1982 at the Gdynia Maritime University (at that time called the Higher Gdynia Maritime School).
We begin with the speech of Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak, the parish priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gdynia. It was delivered during the Holy Mass celebrating the 1981/1982 Academic Year Inauguration at the Gdynia Maritime University in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gdynia on October 16, 1981. In his speech, Father Hilary Jastak expressed his delight at the festive session of the Senate, and the Appeal to the Fallen that took place in the building of the Gdynia Maritime University, as well as at the Holy Mass at his parish church in Gdynia. He recalled the attitudes and words of General Józef Haller, Bishop of Chełmno, Stanisław Okoniewski, Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, and Bishop Kazimierz Kowalski. He also mentioned the song by Franciszek Karpiński “When the early aurora rises, to You, the land and the sea…”. Moreover, Prelate Jastak quoted the Book of Psalms: “For the sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land”.
The second text attached is the speech by the Rector of the Gdynia Maritime University, Associate Professor Mikołaj Kostecki, Ph.D., Eng. He referred to the democratically elected Senate of the University, inter alia. He addressed the issue of changes in teaching curricula, to the educational system in maritime schools, and to the features of the self-governing school. He recalled the famous saying by Plutarch: “Navigare Necesse est, vivere non est necesse” (“Navigation is necessary, living is not necessary”). Furthermore, he invoked the words of Rear Admiral Kazimierz Porębski and Dr. Florian Hłasko: “Where the Polish ship sails, even to the other hemisphere, everywhere is the Polish sea”.
If you would like to see more scans from the Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak Collection, No. AKKS 347/79/119, they are to be found here:
Diapositive photos in the Priest Prelate Hilary Jastak Collection
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