Bringing “hope and healing” to Poland

By Matt Johnson, Marketing Manager

When Lech Wojewodzic began his career in medicine, he never imagined that he would become an OB-GYN. “I made all the vocation training in Germany and Italy in orthopedics,” he said, “because it was for me — a man who can fix some fractures and so on.” But then in 2009, an article in the Catholic Polish newspaper Gość Niedzielny (“Sunday Guest”) made him reconsider. It was an interview with Pope Paul VI Institute Director Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers and the impact NaProTechnology was having in Poland. “I was riveted,” Lech said. “[Dr. Hilgers] invented all this stuff with NaProTechnology. I was like, ‘Wow, this is for me!’”

Lech was still unprepared for this career change. “I was praying for God to show me the way,” he said. “When I opened the Bible, there was Abraham … it was the place where God told him that his children will be as many as sand on the beach.” Still, he needed convincing. “So I opened at another place, and it was about Mary, mother of Jesus, who already conceived. It was about her giving birth to the Lord.” Moved by this sign of divine intervention, Lech went to his priest for one last confirmation. “He says to me, ‘If you have prayed, you can choose this other specialization.’”

Lech applied for residency as an OB-GYN, and there were only three available openings in his area. When he received the results back from his test, he placed third — only 0.3% higher than the next applicant.

Lech then bought the textbook, “The Medical & Surgical Practice of NaProTechnology,” learning new ways of treating infertility that were unheard of in Poland at the time. “I was someone who was already converted,” he said, telling his colleagues, “‘In America, they do this and this and this!’ They were laughing, ‘You will do surgery in all those complicated cases?’” After five years, however, Lech gained the respect of his colleagues. In 2016, he passed the Board State Exam for OB-GYNs in Poland with the second highest score in the country.

There is still an uphill battle in bringing these natural, procreative methods to Poland. “About 70% of the population are pro-IVF … They are Christian and they are Catholics, but they think in a different way.” Lech believes, however, that the results of the Creighton Model System will win them over. “It’s the time to show them, even if they don’t believe in God, even if they don’t believe in Natural Methods, they can see fruits of it, and maybe this will convince them about our work and our services.”