SECOND NOVITIATE...
FOR THOSE APPROACHING FINAL VOWS, IN TUCHÓW, POLAND
Br Peter Morris CSsR and Br Charles Randall CSsR recently took part in the three week ‘second novitiate’ at the Redemptorist seminary in Tuchów, Poland. The gathering, organized by the Redemptorists’ European Conference, lasted from 14th July to 5th August. Participants included those preparing for perpetual vows in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and numbered 13 brothers form different countries of Europe: Slovakia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and also from Zimbabwe in Africa. Two fathers from Italy and eight from Poland also participated in the first weeks of the course, as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of their perpetual vows.
Lectures and prayers during the gathering took place in three languages: Polish, English and Italian, with simultaneous translation carried out by confreres who had given their time as interpreters during the course. Each day’s schedule was filled with prayers, special lectures and discussions with guest speakers from within the Congregation and from without. The first speaker was the coordinator of the European Conference of the Redemptorists, Fr. Jacek Zdrzałek CSsR. Over the course of three days, he talked about the current landscape in which the Congregation finds itself, of the challenges facing us today, about initiatives being undertaken in Europe by the Congregation (including our new mission in Albania) and also about the joys and hardships of being a Redemptorist today.
Fr. Jacek was followed in the programme by Fr. Ronald McAinish CSsR, provincial of the London Province, who gave three days of conferences on the theology and history of our Constitutions, and their practical implications for today. Fr. Alonso Amarante CSsR, Professor of the Alphonsian Academy in Rome then arrived, to approach the topic of the history and spirituality of the Redemptorists and in particular the moral theology of St Alphonsus. Contemporary developments in moral theology were also discussed, as was the pressing need for Redemptorists to continue to dedicate themselves, through study as well as in the field of their apostolic work, to this foundational element of our charism.
Fr. Janusz Sok, provincial of Warsaw Province also met with participants of the course. He talked about the identity of the Redemptorist in the 21st century. The next two days were spent on lectures and practical exercises with a lay psychologist, Mrs Jadwiga Juros from Poland. These exercises were dedicated to issues such as human formation, understanding our emotions, and living an integrated vowed life. She encouraged the participants in their daily examen of conscience, including a daily ‘emotional inventory’ as a means to reflect on and process events.
Mrs Juros also pointed to sport as an important means of letting off steam in religious life, but she needn’t have worried on that score as many evenings saw the participants outside in the sun playing volleyball and football, and one afternoon saw the course participants decamp to the nearby Polish novitiate, located high up on a nearby hill, to visit those on their (first) novitiate and to challenge them to a volleyball match.
In the penultimate week of the course, Fr. Michal Zamovsky CSsR from Slovakia presented the topic of preaching parish missions. Fr Michal also accompanied the participants to REDCAMP (the International Redemptorist Camp of Evangelization) in Krakow, where the group joined the lay participants and Redemptorist organisers for a workshop on the new evangelisation, and a meeting with the organisers of the next World Youth Day, which is scheduled to to take place in Krakow in 2016.
The next speaker on the course, Fr. Andriy Oliynyk CSsR from Ukraine, lectured on Redemptorist work with immigrants, and specifically those of Eastern rites – particularly relevant since some of the participants on the course were Greek Catholic Redemptorists from Ukraine. A whole day was also dedicated to vocations ministry within the different CSsR Provinces. The Redemptorists students also had the chance to share their vocation stories with each other, and it was a very enriching experience to hear the different and unique ways in which God had called each of us.
As was emphasized by the participants, this time of being together helped us to better understand other cultures and rites in our Congregation and was an opportunity to get to know each other and the respective units represented. This meeting also fostered greater openness to joint initiatives within the framework of the Redemptorist Conference of Europe and beyond, and it was also a good opportunity to remind ourselves of our Redemptorist saints, blesseds and servants of God, who were taken as the various patrons for each day of the renewal course. Our liturgies together were at times very beautiful, with the Zimbabweans and Ukrainians in particular filling the seminary with song.
On the Sundays during the course, after mass in our parish, the participants also had the chance to be tourists! Highlights included visits to the new St John Paul II Center in Krakow and the nearby Divine Mercy shrine, the birthplace of John Paul II at Wadowice, and also the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp and museum, as well as the stunning Polish mountains and countryside.
We invite you to pray for our brothers from the different countries in Europe and Africa, who have decided to dedicate their lives to preaching the Gospel of Christ the Redeemer as members of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
Br Charles Randall CSsR
