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Dr Mleczko's work with the Polish Bishops' Conference
Dr Mleczko's work with the Polish Bishops' Conference
FE Director Dr Agata Mleczko on her recent work presenting to the Polish Bishops' Conference's Council for the Family:
On 27 February 2026, the Institute of Catholic Church Statistics (ISKK) presented findings of a major study, "Who Are Contemporary Engaged Couples?" (Kim są współcześni narzeczeni?), at a press conference held at the Secretariat of the Polish Bishops' Conference in Warsaw. The study, commissioned by the National Centre for Family Pastoral Care, surveyed 4,047 people across 41 Polish dioceses between April 2024 and May 2025.
The research reveals that over 66% of engaged couples already cohabit before the wedding, with nearly half having done so for more than five years. Most are aged 25–35 and hold secondary or higher education. While cultural motivations play a lesser role than commonly assumed, religious aspirations remain significant: 92% value marital fidelity, 82% emphasise the indissolubility of the bond, and 70% desire the grace of the sacrament.
Archbishop Wiesław Śmigiel, Chair of the Council for the Family, observed that psychological motivations — above all romantic love — tend to outweigh explicitly religious ones, and that marriage preparation must become a serious catechesis, not merely an administrative formality.
It was against this backdrop that the Council for the Family convened its session on the same day. Among the presentations that followed was one offering a concrete pastoral response to the very needs the research had identified.
Dr Agata Mleczko, Programme Director for Further Education at Maryvale Institute, was invited together with her husband Andrzej to present to the Council. Their presentation drew on their work with the Misterogrande Foundation, which they co-founded in 2021 together with Fr. Przemysław Kwiatkowski, who has served as the Foundation's pastor from the very beginning.
Dr Mleczko opened with a personal account of how the couple came to recognise a gap in the way the sacrament of marriage is understood and communicated. As spouses, they found themselves searching for a deeper understanding of the grace at work in their marriage. That search led them to the Misterogrande project in Italy and the work of Fr Renzo Bonetti, whose approach centres on rediscovering what the Church has already taught about marriage as a living source of grace. Fr. Kwiatkowski joined them on this journey from the outset, bringing a priestly perspective that has proved essential to the Foundation's mission.
Among the key insights: that the grace of the sacrament of marriage is real and active, that the differences between spouses are a gift ordered towards unity, and that the love between spouses is itself a channel of grace through which God's love reaches us.
Since 2017, Dr Mleczko, her husband, Fr. Kwiatkowski, and a growing team have organised retreats, courses, and conferences across Poland dedicated to proclaiming the beauty of the sacrament of marriage. Key milestones include the foundation of Misterogrande in 2021, home-based courses reaching over 400 participants, and two editions of the international congress Discover Marriage in Gniezno, attended by over 500 people in the last few years.
A substantial part of the presentation was devoted to six guiding principles shaping the Foundation's work:
The presentation concluded with an open question to the bishops: what next for proclaiming the good news of the sacrament of marriage in Poland? The ISKK research had shown that engaged couples arrive with high expectations but need deeper evangelisation. Dr Mleczko and her husband offered their journey as a starting point and invited the Council to explore the future of marriage preparation together.
This invitation reflects Dr Mleczko's growing contribution to the theology and pastoral practice of the sacrament of marriage at the highest level of the Church in Poland. She also directs a six-month course at Maryvale Institute dedicated to helping couples and spouses discover the grace of the sacrament of marriage, furthering the Institute's mission to make this teaching accessible to a wider audience.