Christmas Meeting for the University Community

Just before the Christmas holidays, the University of Economics in Katowice community traditionally gathers for Christmas meetings, which combine a review of the past year with joyful carol singing, sharing the Christmas wafer, and exchanging wishes. This year’s meeting for the entire academic community, with the participation of the University Authorities, took place on December 16, 2025, in the CNTI Auditorium. Held in a festive atmosphere, the event included the presentation of Rector’s Grants and Distinctions. One day earlier, a Christmas meeting was also organized for retired employees of the University.

The ceremony began with a welcome address by HM the Rector prof. dr hab. inż. Celina M. Olszak, who in her speech emphasized the importance of attentiveness and the presence of another person in our lives:

“The approaching time of Christmas and the coming New Year encourages us to pause for a moment and look back at the past months not only through the prism of tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities, but also relationships, meaning, and what remains between us, even when it is not always named. It is a moment worth asking ourselves what truly sustains a community in a world full of haste, tension, and an excess of stimuli. What makes us, despite fatigue and uncertainty, able to be present for one another?

The inspiration for today’s reflection was the Nobel lecture on angels by László Krasznahorkai. Although rooted in tradition, it is in fact a text about us – contemporary people living in a world of rapid acceleration, full of contradictory messages, and at the same time a quiet longing for meaning and attentiveness.

(...)

I would like to wish all of us that the coming time fosters such attentiveness. That we are able to notice the wingless angels of our everyday lives. That we can stop by another person before their silence becomes a burden. That we make space for goodness – not abstract, but concrete, human, and close. That we ourselves become such angels – people who build meaning where the world leaves miracles behind.

May this Christmas be a time of true light, present not only in symbols but above all in encounters. May the New Year bring more attentiveness than haste. More empathy than impatience. More community than loneliness.

I would like to sincerely thank you for another very intense year of work, effort, and responsibility, and for all the moments in which you were new angels for others. I wish you a beautiful and good Christmas and a New Year that is wise, calm, and deeply human.”

The festive atmosphere was further highlighted by a Christmas carol concert performed by the Choir of the University of Economics in Katowice, conducted by Michał Brożek. The artists performed carols such as “Ach ubogi żłobie,” “Gdy się Chrystus rodzi,” “Dzisiaj w Betlejem,” and together with the academic community “Bóg się rodzi.” This was followed by a performance by the band of the Song and Dance Ensemble “Silesianie” together with the youngest participants of the event.